Our Town Review
Our
Town by Thornton Wilder is a play that comments on life and its importance.
As I first began to read it, I thought that it was a bit boring and was really
just going through a day in the life of these people. Going a bit further in
the text, I began to realize the real meaning of it and its purpose as a piece
of writing. Many of its aspects, including its set and plot, helped to create
the perfect tone for the story that was to come.
Act I has to do with the life and
times of the people living in the community of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire.
The Stage Manager who gives some backstory of the various people in the town
explains it at the start. We meet two families, the Gibbs’s and the Webb’s, who
respectively have two children: George and Rebecca as well as Emily and Wally.
As the children are sent off to school, the two mothers enjoy gossiping and
talking of their dreams to see the world. There are also many brief appearances
by characters such as Professor Willard and Mr. Webb describing the town. The
Stage Manager also explains a bit more after being asked questions by various
characters strategically placed in the audience. We then travel into the
relationship between George and Emily as they talk to each other and become
closer. Both of their stories of growing up are emphasized by their conversations
with their parents. As we begin Act II, we learn that George and Emily, three
years later, have fallen in love and are going to be married. There is an
encounter between George and Mr. Webb where they discuss marriage and the
responsibilities that come with it. We then travel back in time to see an
encounter between Emily and George where their feelings were made clear to each
other. We then travel back to the wedding as they both get extremely nervous
and their parents calm them down. The two end up going through with the
marriage and they are both content. Act III begins with Emily’s funeral as she
has just died in childbirth. Some of the people who have already died,
including Mrs. Gibbs, welcome her into death. Most of the people who have died
are quite indifferent to the goings on of earth while Emily is very inclined to
travel back and revisit her life. After being advised not to, she still asks
the Stage Manager to have her travel back to her twelfth birthday. As she
observes it, she realizes nobody is noticing anything and she believes that
everything is going too fast. She begins to appreciate the life she had and
feels sorry that the people that were living it don’t feel the same way. Once
she has traveled back to the cemetery, George who is devastated by her death
visits her. Emily sees now that the living don’t understand the importance of
life and that to be fully content, you must truly live it instead of just being
in it. The play ends with the stars coming out and everyone in Grover’s Corners
going to sleep.
This play truly captures the essence
of life and all that it inhabits. The main themes that are presented in the
text are life, love, and death. These
themes are conveyed in this quote in the text: “This is the way we were: in our
growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying” (Wilder 32).
These three themes are some of the most common ones among writing. I really
liked how Wilder was able to compact them all into one piece of work to create
something unique. If any of the acts inside the play had stood on their own, I
don’t think they would have been as powerful. Act I really portrays community.
I liked how realistic it was. There were definitely times where I saw myself as
the children, sleeping late and not wanting to get up for school. From the
gossiping mothers to the growing up of George and Emily, there is something all
of us can relate to. Act II was mostly about love. Personally, I think this
might have been my favorite act because the way Wilder goes from it being their
wedding day to them being in high school telling each other about their
feelings. Having this occur really helped me to view the entirety of their love
for one another. Act III pertains to death, although I didn’t find it to be
what I had imagined. I thought that the entire act would be gloomy and sad but
to my surprise, it was more inspiring than anything else. Having there be some
sort of afterlife I thought was really awesome. Seeing Emily’s reaction when
she went back made me realize how much of our lives is just go do this and then
that without really taking the time to enjoy anything. Like she said, “It goes
so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another” (Wilder 100). This
occurrence is horrible but it happens almost every day. It inspired me to enjoy
and notice life while I still have it. Another theme that occurs in the play is
time or the artificiality of theater. While most of the events that occur in
the play could actually happen, there are many things that show that this piece
of writing is indeed a play. One of these things is the Stage manager himself.
He acts as a narrator in the story and directly interacts with the audience. He
also affects time and can bring us wherever he wants. We could go into the past
or flash forward to the future. This another factor that makes up this theme.
I felt that the choices made
pertaining to set and staging were really quite clever. Not having much of a
set at all and minimal props really gives you more room to enjoy the actual
content of the play. What I mean by this is that there are less distractions or
mishaps that could occur while the play is being performed. Though without a
set, this could be a potential problem for the staging, but I think that Wilder
did a really nice job having the characters pantomime things in order for the
message to get across. Such an instance where this occurs is when Howie Newsome
would carry milk to each home. There really was no rack of milk cartons but he
pretended to be carrying something and the sound of clinking bottles was heard.
Even without a fancy set or props, the message and understanding of the play
was not disturbed.
In the writing, Thornton Wilder has
an excellent cast of main characters such as the Stage Manager, George, and
Emily, but also includes an array of minor character such as Professor Willard and
Simon Stimson. In my personal opinion, I thought that the Stage Manager was one
of the best characters. I liked how Wilder made him describe everything in
detail and how he actually became some of the characters in the story himself.
It was a really interesting use of his character. George and Emily’s character
development was spectacular. We got to see what they were like as children and
also as a married couple. It really helps the reader to truly understand them.
The minor characters really help with the telling of the story. Such characters
as Professor Willard are put in for further information about the town as well
as for humor because he is speaking about topics nobody would really care
about. Also, characters like Simon Stimson are more connected with the story
and they help the reader understand more about the town and the main message of
the entire work.
Thornton Wilder, the playwright, was the son
of a newspaper owner and a poet. Just based on this play which was one of his
earliest, you can tell that Wilder is a fantastic writer. Being the son of a
poet, this might have sparked some of his interest in writing and I believe
that his father might have been a model for the character Mr. Webb for he owns
a newspaper as well. The way Wilder forms his dialogue is really incredible
because it makes me feel like I am right there in the room having a
conversation with these characters. It fells that natural. Also, using the
Stage Manager’s lines, he really paints a picture of the setting of the entire
play. His writing style is really intimate and you can really relate to it and
understand it. I is simple enough to understand but also unique enough to be
one of a kind. Also, with his involvement in both of the world wars, it is very
obvious why he would choose such a theme as life to be in one of his plays.
Being in a war, you never know when you are safe so you have to live in the
moment. That is what is touched upon at the end of the play when Emily realizes
how precious life is. The way he writes, which is very conversational but also
has a formal touch to it, is really terrific.
Overall, I thought that Our Town was one of the best pieces of
work I have ever read. I could really connect to it and it inspired me in
writing as well as life itself. All of the content of the play was phenomenal
and Thornton Wilder is now one of my role model as a young writer. The play was
a huge success when it first came out and it’s not hard to see why. I encourage
all people to read this play because it has something to teach everyone.
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