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The Analysis of Our Town

This play by Thornton Wilder is set in the small town of Grover's Corners between 1901-1913 and focuses on the Webb and Gibbs families. It examines themes of appreciating life and seizing the day. The play uses devices like trains and tombstones to represent the passage of time. A stage manager acts as the omniscient narrator, moving between characters and time periods. The play encourages audiences to cherish ordinary life and reminds them that time marches on.

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1K views15 pages

The Analysis of Our Town

This play by Thornton Wilder is set in the small town of Grover's Corners between 1901-1913 and focuses on the Webb and Gibbs families. It examines themes of appreciating life and seizing the day. The play uses devices like trains and tombstones to represent the passage of time. A stage manager acts as the omniscient narrator, moving between characters and time periods. The play encourages audiences to cherish ordinary life and reminds them that time marches on.

Uploaded by

indra_uh05
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SOCIAL CHANGE IN

THORNTON
WILDER’S PLAY
(OUR TOWN)
BY :

RIZKY HANDAYANIF211 04
012
ANDI MAURAGA F211 05 039
OUR
TOWN
Our Town is short play drama which is consist of three
acts written by Thornton Wilder

The first performance of this play took place at Mc


Carter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey on January 22,
1938
The first New York performance was at the Henry Miller
Theatre, February 4, 1938.
INTRODUCTIO
N
Our Town is one o the most frequently staged American plays. It is
an unconventional work in that it has no scenery or props except for
tables, chairs, ladders, and a few other objects. Author Thornton
Wilder presented the play in this way to force the audience to
concentrate on the characters and the themes.
INTRINSI
Exposition : This dramaC
begins with the daily activities of
each characters. Husbands goes to work, children goes to
school, mothers do the house activities and gardening, the
milkman delivers the milk to families n Grover’s Corner, Joe
delivers the newspaper, choir-member bussy with their
practices. The residents of Grover’s Corner eat, sleep, work,
study, greet,
Rising Actionetc.: George and Emily is a close friend since
childhood. They expressed their feeling about each other.
George asks Emily to be his wife, and they married. They had
a child, but Emily dies while giving birth to her second
childbirth.
Climax : The deceased Emily returns to life briefly in the final
act to visit Grover’s Corner. She tells that she is not enjoyed
her life yet and she wants to come back to human life.
Falling Action : Emily returns to the day of her 12th birthday.
Her experience bitter sweet making her realize the importance
of simple, ordinary events that makes up the pattern of life.

Resolution : Emily returns to the cemetery. She realizes that


now her life, her condition is totally different. Stage manager
tells the audience to get a good night’s sleep
 
CHARACTERS
Round Characters
Stage Manager : He sets up the stage, introduces the pay, describes the setting, provides
background information during the play, and sometimes steps into scenes to talk with
the character. In some ways, he resembles the chorus of an ancient Greek play or the
omniscient narrator of a novel
Emily Webb : Intelligent, pretty, engaging daughter of Charles and Myrtle Webb. She
marries next-door neighbor, George Gibbs, but dies nine years into her marriage while
giving birth to her second child.
George Gibbs : Upright son of Frank and Julia Gibbs. He is a star baseball player who
has always loved Emily Webb. When she dies, he is broken-hearted.
Julia Gibbs : Devoted wife of Dr. Gibbs. She dreams of visiting Paris with her husband
but never gets the chance. She dies o pneumonia after 20 years of marriage
Frank Gibbs : Hard-working physician who goes out to tend to his patient at all hours.
At the beginning of the play, he arrives home after just delivering the twins of a woman
in Polish town, a section of a Grover’s Corners
Charles Webb : Editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel and the father of two children,
Emily and Wally
Myrtle Webb : Devoted wife of Charles Webb.
Louella Soames : Choir member and friend a Myrtle Webb and Julia Gibbs. She
criticizes Simon Stimson for his drinking.
Flat Characters
Wally Webb : Little brother of Emily. He dies after his appendix ruptures on
a boy scout camping trip.
Rebecca Gibbs : Little sister of George
Howie Newsome : Milkman who makes deliveries from a cart drawn by his
old horse Bessie, 17 years old.
Joe Crowell : Newspaper boy who became an outstanding student in high
school and later at MIT but died in Word War I.
Si Crowell : Joe’s younger brother. He takes over his brother’s paper route.
Sam Craig : Emily Webb’s cousin. He went west to pursue his career but
returns for Emily’s funeral.
Joe Stoddard : Undertaker in charge of Emily Webb’s funeral.
Bill Warren : Constable who keeps law and order and once rescued a man
from a snowdrift.
Professor Willard : Expert on the geological and anthropological
background of Grover’s Corners. In a boring speech, he helps the stage
manager describe the town and its history to the audience.
Simon Stimson : He is the choirmaster (church organist) at the
Congregationalist church and a town depressed alcoholic.
Woman in the balcony
Man in the auditorium
Lady in the box
Three baseball player
A woman from among the dead
The man from among the dead
Mr. Carter
SETTIN
G
Setting of time: Between 1901 and 1913
May 7, 1901 at dawn (act 1)
July 7, 1904 on the morning (act 2)
Summer of 1913 (act 3)

Setting of place : Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire


just North of the Massachusetts line
 
THEM
E
The theme of this drama is “seize the day” or in Latin phrase Carpe
diem. This Latin phrase urges people to live for the moment, seizing
opportunities to enjoy or enrich their lives. Life is short, after all; such
opportunities may present themselves only once. This is an old literary
motif, written about many times over the centuries.

In Our Town, Wilder reminds the audience again and again that time is
“a-flying” with references to passing trains-which, like life, move swiftly
forward-and with references
to the generations of Grover’s Corners residents who have come and
gone. The flowers in the gardens of Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb are still
another reminder; Smell and appreciate them now, for they will not last
long. The wheels of history and its life cycle spins rapidly.
 
SYMBOLIS
M
Among the symbol in the play are :
Trains, the tombstones, and the stage manager’s watch all representing
the passage of time and the inevitability of death
The birth of the twins in Polish town, the birth of Emily’s second child, and
the blooming of flowers all representing the continuing life cycle
The moon, the mountains, the lakes, and the gardens of Mrs. Gibbs and
Mrs. Webb, all representing the glories of nature that people tend to
ignore.
 
 
 
 
POINT OF
VIEW
This drama use omniscient point of view. It is “all knowing” and
“shifting multiple” narrator firmly imposes himself between the
readers and the story, and retains full and complete control over the
narrative. The omniscient narrator is free to dramatize or
summarize, to interpret, to philosophize, to moralize or to judge.
The character stage manager as the omniscient narrator of this
drama
EXTRINSI
C
Life style : Consists of fashion, food, music, performing
acts.
Social Life :   Introducing the 1910's. The 1910's was a
decade of entertainment, science, technology, fads and
many more!  Some popular interests in the second decade
were,  going to the movies, a dance craze called the Tango,
and The Saturday Evening Post.  People also enjoyed the
abstract work of Picasso and Matisse. A different type of
artist people enjoyed was Stravinsky. In the years before
WWI, there was enormous confidence science and
technology. For as long as many people could remember,
inventors had produced one wonder after another, and
there seemed no reason why this should not go on forever.
Then in 1912 came a disaster, and shook this confidence,
Science and Technology : There were many new
the sinking of the Titanic. 
inventions in the 1910’s some of them I can’t imagine
living without. One thing that is very important is the
telephone and traffic light. Another thing that was
invented was the refrigerator. Can you imagine life
without a fridge? This one is really funny, the zipper.
There were many different inventions. See if you can
find some more. 
THE OTHER SIDE OF
COIN
For all the optimism, prosperity, power, and scientific,
technological and educational advances, however, much of the
American life at the turn of the century was unworthy of celebration.
Everywhere one could see glaring examples of exploitation,
corruption, and injustice, and much of the ear, ugliness and pain was
directly related to industrialization, urbanization, and the other new
developments that were generally associated with progress.
Increasingly, men and women were becoming sensitive to the nation’s
social and economic problems and were challenging the assumptions
that dominated American lie and thought. Indeed, a powerful age of
reform was on the horizon
(taken from Twentieth-Century America a Brief History by Thomas C.
Reeves ).
MESSAGE
S
People should appreciate life while
they are living it

Little things in life are really big


things

No town can isolate itself from the


rest of the world

No community is perfect, not even


idyllic Grover’s Corners
 
THANK YOU

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