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.













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