Archetypes

There are many different achetypal characters in this book. Constable Warren is like the caregiver of the play. He is the sheriff of the town and he watches over everyone in the town, as if they were family. He gives the young boys advice and one drunk man he rescues from a ditch. He also makes sure the "town drunk" gets home safe every night. Emily and George are also achetypal characters in the way they somewhat go on a journey to find themselves and create their own life. George Gibbs was sort of an archetype of innocence/hero/good, in the way he was what every boy should be. He treated Emily righta nad also lived the all-American dream. Simon Stimson was an archetype of evil/bad. He was the "town drunk" and he also committed suicide. He was what everyone of the town looked down on and did not want to be. He was a symbol of how everyday people dont appreciate life. Emily and George also seemed somewhat as seekers. They wanted to live life young. They became married at age 17-18 and wanted to seek out life together. They were symbols of how you should appreciate life before its gone and people do have something to live for. These are archtypal characters I recognized.

Allusion.....

"Our Town" is an overall allusion to life and reality. It relates to how everyday people take life for granted until they are gone or someone else is. Emily Webb and the other characters show this. Also this play is an allusion to Shakespear's plays. Emily and George relate to Romeo and Juliet's love story, in a way. Like Romeo and Juliet, Emily and George's love ends tragically when Emily dies. The ending also somewhat implies that George commits suicide in the end. Also some of the quotes in this play are allusions to the bible and the constitution. These are the only allusions i could understand and find.

Character Growth Of Emily Webb

"Our Town" was a very short play and it was hard to identify character growths, so the only character growth I noticed was in one of the main characters, Emily Webb. In the play Emily started out as a young girl just going through every day life but in the second act she transforms into a woman/wife/mother. After becoming a woman Emily did not show what she appreciated in life until it was gone. In the last act, Emily died and this act discussed Emily's thoughts after life was gone. She learned that she did not appreciate life when she was younger and now that its gone she wished she had. She discovered that no person can ever appreciate life to its fullest or understand what it really is. This is the only character growth I saw in this play.

Why is "Our Town" a classic?

"Our Town" is a classic for many different reasons. I believe that it is a classic because this play has lived the test of time. Also, it is a very famous playwright that shows every aspect of life. Many people recognize this play and also perform this play. Not only do people perform the play, but a movie was created based on it. Wilder also brought a very strong theme to this story. The theme is "appreciate life before it is over", and this is recognized by many people. This play is also very realistic, besides going back in time.

I also believe that this play is a classic because every person can relate to the story, and many people agree with everything Wilder brings up. He makes people realize that even bad things will be missed, and nothing should go unappreciated.

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Short Summary

The play "Our Town" begins on a very normal day; they eat breakfast, the kids go to school, the men go to work, and the women talk outside in the garden. This first act is called the Daily Life and the Stage Manager introduces all the characters in this act. After this act it jumps forward six years, where two of the children from the first act are now getting married. The small town all attends the wedding and the Stage Manager goes through discussing what the people say about their wedding. After this act it jumps forward another nine years where the bride is now having her second child and dies during child birth. After this happens it shows everyone attending her funeral and shows her in the after life with other people from the town. The Stage Manager goes through explaining how all the people died and then the bride, Emily, decideds she wants to go back for just one day. She wasn't allowed to pick a normal day so she just picked her 12th birthday.
During her birthday, she had a normal morning with her parents and brother, but as the day goes on she realizes that the time is going by too fast. She decides to go back to the afterlife because it was too hard to sit there and know it was her last day with them. She began to realize that even the boring, daily life is important and should be appreciated. She decided that living people will never be able to appreciate life for what it is worth and will never understand how much they will miss it when it is gone. She explains this to her husband's mother and then realizes that her husband is walking towards her.

both sides of the story

"Our Town" recieves negative criticism for many different reasons. Wilder doesn't create complex characters, no plot, no suspence, he discriminates against women, and he doesn't deal with real life issues. He puts minorites in the background and only mentions that they live across the tracks but doesn't discuss their hardships or lifestyles. He also shows that the men in the families have power over their wives' decisions and actions. The conversation between Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb reveals this, but on the other hand in that certain time period were lower than men and men ran the families. Wilder showed revealed two sides of men ran households when he wrote the conversation between George and Mr. Webb. Mr. Webb explained how his dad once told him to make his wife obedient and to not let her get out of line but George and Mr. Webb disagreed with this. Also Wilder shows that he does not discriminate against women when he gives the most meaningful part to Emily. When Emily realizes that no living person will ever be able to appreciate all the things in life like she now does, she reveals the whole plays meaning. She shows that life is something we can never get back after it is gone so we should appreciate every little thing.

Thorton Wilder does not only make people believe he discriminates against women, but makes people also believe that Wilder does not deal with the controversial side of life. The part of life that Wilder tends to ignore is the drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, and depression. Wilder shows that people don't appreciate life but he also does not show the bad part that life can hold. He does mention the "town drunk" that commits suicide but he does not go in detail about this, it as if Wilder ignores what the reason may be. Critics believe that Wilder should have shown how life can sometimes be upsetting and hard to live, not just the parts that should be appreciate. Wilder uses the "town drunk" as a symbolism of all people that do not appreciate life, but he should have used the drunk as a symbolism of the hard ships that people should overcome,also.

Overall, critics believe Wilder did a nice job in proving his point that life should be appreciated. Wilder gives the play a nice and distinct, transformation that is easy for the audience to recognize. He also portrays the town and people very well. Wilder's play may have had some errors but it was very well played out.













http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Our-Town-Critical-Essays-Our-Town-from-the-Current-Perspective.id-186,pageNum-36.html