May 14, 2014Analysis of “Our Town” Thorton Wilder's Our Town is a play set in the early 1900s and was first performed without a set. The opening of the show consists of the stage manager telling all about Grover's Corner, the small town where the show takes place. Wilder's intention was to make it look like any small town in the United States. Act I Daily Life The stage manager begins the show by telling us the date which is May 7, 1901. This alone will take you back to a time when things are very different for people. He tells us a little about the people of the town, mentions the newspaper boy who later died in the First World War. The state director tells us about this country and you have to imagine that there was no scenario so everything you see will be in your head or imaginary. It paints a beautiful picture and you can start to see the city. Indicates the places and houses where people and the people themselves live. There are two main families, the Webbs and the Gibbs. As morning arrives, the stage manager begins to introduce us to the characters and something about them. The stage manager informs the audience that Mr. and Mrs. Gibb are dead before this scene actually takes place. Gibbs was busy that morning, he had just given birth to twins. While Dr. Gibbs was walking home he stops and talks to the paper boy, his name is Joe Cromwell. We find out that Joe is very talented and probably one of the smartest kids in school, but it doesn't really matter because he would die in the war. When Dr. Gibbs returns home that morning, he is greeted by his wife with coffee. She doesn't say much, except that she would like him to talk to his son George about helping him more around the house. Webb's quote... in the center of the card... is not explained directly but more by a person on stage who has nothing but words to spark your imagination and make your brain think that's all of us. Wilder wanted to take us there to experience what he saw in his small town. Life is very ordinary, when the time comes to do something extra ordinary then you have to seize it. Dreams are something everyone has, George and Emily both had them. They didn't focus on them and instead lived according to what they knew, what was expected. If there's anything taken away from this play it's don't let the opportunity pass you by, it might be your only chance. Life in "Our Town" reminds everyone that life is a gift, it should be taken every day as if it were your last. We all live in "our town", there is nothing different in George and Emily's life compared to the present day.