What is the meaning behind Our Town?
What is the meaning behind Our Town?
“Our Town” represents Americana; the small-town life of the early 1900s, it is a world most of us have never experienced. The fictional village of Grover’s Corners contains quaint activities of yesteryear: A doctor walking through town, making house calls.
What is the purpose of Our Town play?
Our Town is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover’s Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.
What makes Our Town a Metatheatre?
Our Town tells the story of Grover’s Corners, a small fictional American town, and the everyday lives of its inhabitants from 1901 to 1913. The play is particularly notable for the very specific style it adopts – metatheatrical devices employed by Thornton Wilder.
Why did Thornton Wilder write Our Town?
He didn’t want to define that for his audience. He wanted each member of each audience to bring his or her unique experience, unique imagination and memory to the experience of that play.” “He wrote the play all over that map.
Who is Simon Stimson in Our Town?
Simon, the town drunk and choir director, is the sore thumb that sticks out in Our Town’s perfect tableau of small town life. His drinking problem is by far the most serious problem we see in Grover’s Corners, yet none of the townspeople makes an effort to reach out to him.
Is Our Town still relevant?
Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Our Town” is even more relevant now than when it was written, said director Russ Wooley. When first presented, Wilder wrote it with a minimal set and few props. …
What does Mr Webb do for a living?
Mr. Charles Webb The editor and publisher of the Sentinel, the town’s newspaper, and one of its most important citizens. He lives across from the Gibbs family.
Is our town a comedy or tragedy?
At a Glance: genre Wilder’s play defies most conventional theatrical genres. It is neither a comedy nor a tragedy, neither a romance nor a farce. It is, rather, a contemplative work concerning the human experience.
What is Joe Crowell job?
Joe is the paper boy in the first act and also during the flashback, when Emily returns to life. A scholar at Massachusetts Tech, he is killed in France during World War I before he can use his education. Si Crowell Joe’s younger brother, who takes Joe’s job as paper boy in Act II to indicate the passage of time.
What is Thornton Wilder’s main purpose for writing this play?
Wilder’s principal message in Our Town—that people should appreciate the details and interactions of everyday life while they live them—became critical at a time when political troubles were escalating in Europe. World War II was on the horizon when the play hit theaters in 1938.
What does the moon symbolize in Our Town?
The moon in Our Town symbolizes beauty and the eternal. This is a bit of a stretch though, because the moon itself may just be the moon.
Why did Simon Stimson commit suicide?
Soames’ idealism is the negative view of Simon Stimson, who committed suicide because of his alcoholism.