Thornton Wilder

never know when our time is up. Our Town is a play in three acts by Thornton Wilder that portrays this way of life. Wilder expertly utilizes the setting and literary devices to show that humans should appreciate the beautiful transient life one is given. The whole play is basically structured in three days. Thornton begins the play at the crack of dawn when everyone is waking up and concludes it with the dead at the cemetery. Thornton sets up this allegory by comparing the sun’s cycle to the…

Thornton Wilder’s, Our Town is no ordinary play. This play goes through a human being’s ordinary life, learning to cherish the present moment. The play begins with no scenery nor curtain, which gives the audience confusion for the stage manager setting up tables and chairs. However, Wilder displays what is given to them in the present moment. His central theme of this play is understanding and cherishing the beauty of God’s existence in the present world. Thornton Wilder clarifies the…

‘Our Town’ Essay In the play ‘Our Town’ written by Thornton Wilder, Wilder gives the reader(s) a message or instead perhaps a life lesson. Wilder’s character Emily Webb says in Act III (Page 108) “ Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?- every, every minute? ” The quote is based on this woman going back and reliving her life but only finding sadness. As said Thornton wrote this as a lesson really to all the living, and here might be why. When a person passes away being able…

The early to mid 1900s were a dark time. It was a period of extreme racism, and depression. Our town by Thornton Wilder, is a stage play that takes place in the early 1900s. It takes place in a town called Grover's Corners, NH. It is about a young girl named Emily Webb, who marries a young man named George Gibbs. She later dies in childbirth. After death, Emily Webb learns that the living don’t realize how much life is worth. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about a little girl named Scout…

Thornton Wilder, a playwright, was very influential on the world of theater. He found an artistic way to introduce the public to different ideas about theater which were not really portrayed in the plays of that time. In Our Town, the unique role of the Stage Manager displays and exhibits these ideas. Thornton Wilder’s use of the Stage Manager is one of his great concepts. Physically, there are no specific requirements of this part. He always has a hat on and may smoke a pipe (Austell 95). He…

Our Town: Is the “Great American Play” Deserving of its Title? The “Great American Play,” Our Town by Thornton Wilder, is packed full of references and symbols that relate to the idea of the “American dream.” The ideas represented in Our Town expose both the negative and positive sides of the American dream. Wilder idealizes small town life by writing about the gimmick of “Small Town, USA.” Wilder also uses symbolism to write in between the lines of the play. The idea of the American dream has…

Thornton Wilder wrote the play “Our Town” with a philosophical approach. He does this in order to convey his message to the audience. This approach allows for the central theme of the play to be revealed. Wilder’s philosophical approach reveals the purpose of the play that is to value your time when you are alive and appreciate everything that you have. This method teaches the audience a moral lesson throughout the play. Though critics may argue that a philosophical approach is not the way…

Thornton Wilder: All About The Stage Manager Thornton Wilder was a very famous writer in the twentieth century. His works contain writing about the daily routine of life and he uses a Stage Manager. In his play Our Town, he uses these ideas about the Stage Manager and the daily routine of life. The Stage Manager is a big and meaningful role in the play Our Town (Papajewski 4). He is almost like the town of Grover's Corner, beautiful in a unique way, but not amazing (Austell 96). This actor…

Thornton Wilder seamlessly knitted many well-developed themes into his play, Our Town. With precision and skill he created a work that changed the way one reminisces on the past, lives in the present, and anticipates the future. Wilder broadens one’s view of the “bigger picture” by advancing the two most important themes of the play. The themes time, change, and continuity, and marriage and family are developed throughout Our Town by broadening the idea of a grand story and by expanding the…

Throughout both Will Eno’s, Middletown, and Thornton Wilder’s, Our Town, many parallels are formed due to Harold Bloom’s idea of strongly misreading text. Bloom argues that authors distort and alter prewritten texts to make a creative space for their own. Eno strongly misreads the Stage Manager in order to develop interesting yet intriguing characters of his own. First, Eno strongly misreads the Stage Manager’s desire to cover up the faults in Grover’s Corners in order to create the Cop in…