Our Town

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1938

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Summary

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Repetition

Repetition is used as a plot device to represent the repetitive nature of everyday life and the cyclical nature of the human species. It is also used to drive home the idea that while our daily lives may be repetitive, each moment is precious and worth savoring. Throughout the play, several actors appear as flat characters who serve to illustrate this repetition. Howie Newsome delivers the milk each day and even comments on how old Bessie “keeps scolding [him] the hull trip” (11) when one family decides to stop taking their daily quart. The newspaper boy, either Joe or Si Crowell, delivers the papers, the doctor makes his rounds, and Constable Warren often walks along Main Street checking out one thing or another. These characters convey a sense of reliability, familiarity, and simplicity. The central characters’ lives are repetitive: the children attend school, the women tend to the house, and the men go off to work.

The repetition occurs not only on the scale of daily life but also over the years that the play takes place in and beyond. From the very first scene, the Stage Manager emphasizes that life is cyclical and repeats: “The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go, doesn’t it?” (4). The sun comes up each morning and sets every night; people are born and get married and then die. People in Grover’s Corners fall into these roles even when they do not want to, or a part of them tells them otherwise. Mrs Gibbs wants to take a trip to Paris but knows her husband will not agree, so she does not bother asking. Mrs Webb knows her daughter is headed toward a hard life when she gets married but refrains from warning her.

Both Emily and George have a moment where they feel like they are too young to get married, yet their fears are quelled, and they follow through. Even the Stage Manager notes that “on the whole, things don’t change much around here” (86) between the years, aside from the changing seasons. Although the deaths and births may be significant to the people directly experiencing them, to the audience or any outsider, they are just standard cornerstones of life that most people go through. The same families have lived in Grover’s Corners since the early settlers in the 1600s, and the “same names as are around here now” (6). There is an overwhelming sense that this continuity extends far beyond the play itself.

Sun, Moon, Stars

Celestial bodies are a repeated and prominent symbol in Our Town. They are discussed not only by the Stage Manager but also by the townspeople. In Act I, the town is introduced, and Mr Webb is brought on stage to answer some questions. When asked whether Grover’s Corners has any culture or beauty in it, he answers, “Not in the sense you mean. […] we’ve got a lot of pleasures of a kind here: we like the sun comin’ up over the mountain in the morning” (26), and immediately, the audience knows that Grover’s Corners is a town whose people are appreciative and aware of natural beauty. Mrs Soames remarks in the cemetery that “a star’s mighty good company” (110). Beyond that, they appreciate the sun because it is reliable. It comes up every day, shedding light on the town and allowing people to go about their daily lives. The Stage Manager mentions the sun again in Act II when he notes that three years have gone by, and the sun has come up “over a thousand times” (47). Although there are significant changes in the lives of the Grover’s Corners residents, particularly the marriage of George and Emily, to the audience, the town appears very much the same.

The moon is a symbol of this same reliability and eternal constancy. When it appears near the end of Act I as the day draws to a close, it lights up the entire town and becomes impossible to ignore. Mrs Gibbs, Soames, and Webb stop to admire it for a moment on their way home from choir practice, and Emily cannot help but stare out her window at it. She senses that the moon is part of something more significant and meaningful. George and Rebecca spend the evening at their window, too, discussing the possibility of the moon exploding. Finally, the Stage Manager speaks about eternity at the end of Act III. When he does so, he states that “it ain’t even the stars...everybody knows in their bones knows that something is eternal” (87-88) and seeing the stars evokes this feeling. He muses on the idea that the stars may be only “chalk…or fire” (111) and how important that makes earth and the people on it. As they make their “old, old crisscross journeys in the sky” (111), the people of earth struggle and push to make something of themselves.

Music

Music is a motif used in the play to represent the connectedness of the townspeople and the way their lives unfold. The same hymn is used throughout the play: “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds” (34). The first time it is heard is at church choir practice, where Simon Stimson is instructing the ladies of the choir. He is drunk but manages one crucial line: “Music comes into the world to give pleasure” (34). Simon knows that music is meant to bring joy and happiness to the world, but, ironically, he does not feel any joy of his own. Later that night, the hymn echoes throughout the town as George and Emily stare at the moon and each other. This foreshadows their marriage in Act II. The second time the hymn appears is when George and Emily marry. The choir sings it to symbolize the ties of marriage that will bind them together even after Emily is dead. Finally, the hymn is seen in Act III both on Simon Stimson’s grave and as the funeral attendees sing it to mourn Emily as she enters the cemetery. In this way, music connects the acts and the years together. It is also one of many simple pleasures the townspeople share and enjoy.

Stage Lighting and Lack of Props

Thornton Wilder relied on very few props to produce his play and convey the actions and settings of scenes. Unhappy with the state of theater in the 1930s, he wanted to create a play that did not rely on props, scenery, and other effects to be entertaining and worthwhile. Instead, he required his actors to mime their actions and props, and settings were conveyed using basic furniture such as a table and chairs for the Webb and Gibbs houses. Because the props are not visibly present, the audience can imagine them in an infinite number of familiar ways. Grover’s Corners is an ordinary town, and by leaving this open, the audience can place their memories in the play as they watch it. Wilder also used stage lighting as the primary means of conveying scenery, mood, and focus. The moon is not a moon, but instead, a massive white stage light is used. At the wedding, the church’s stained glass window is simply a lantern shining on the wall made to look like stained glass. It is a return to the bare essentials of theater and demands the audience to utilize their imagination. It also reinforces the idea that a play’s focus should be on its characters and thematic elements rather than fancy scenery and props.