Critical Analysis of Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Critical Analysis of "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897 in Madison, WS. He lived in Shanghai and Hong Kong for four years when his father had been appointed American Consul General. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1920 and went to Rome, where he studied archaeology. By 1926 he had received an M.A. degree in French literature from Princeton University. In the same year appeared his first novel, The Cabala. From 1930 to 1937 he taught literature and classics at the University of Chicago. Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize for Our Town, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and The Skin of Our Teeth. In 1962 Wilder also received the first "National Medal for Literature" at a special White House ceremony. That was the last award Wilder received before his death on December 7, 1975 in Hamden, CT.
Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, is sometimes known as one of his best works. "Beautiful and remarkable-one of the sagest, warmest and most deeply human scripts to have come out of theatre...A spiritual experience" (Burbank 151). The play deals with at least three themes. The first theme appears in the first act dealing with daily life. A second theme shows up in Act II dealing with love and marriage. The third theme appears in act III having to do with death. Set on May 7, 1901, the play is told by the omniscient stage manager whose purpose is to provide exposition of background facts. In the first act the stage manager introduces two families: the Gibbses and the Webbs.
In act I, Wilder shows us the "activities that go on in the day-to-day life of average people" (Gallup 32). The mother's of the two families get up and get their children ready for school, prepare breakfast for them and do the chores around the house. "These are the events that comprise human life" (Gallup 32). The theme of love and marriage appears in the second act. Two childhood friends and neighbors, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, grow up together, fall in love and get married. Connected to the theme of death, act three begins at the site of Emily's burial. In this act we are introduced to the...