Seo Yeon Roh22/09/12English 10 A/BOur Town Essay

Life’s Preciousness and Humans’ Ignorance; the Theme of Our Town

‘You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or

falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you’, said C.S.Lewis. This quote is

closely related to the play Our Town that was written by Thornton Wilder, because

both of them deal with life and death. Nevertheless, the theme that the author of

the play wanted to present is not as simple as it sounds, thus, it has caused many

controversies about what the play was meant to be over the past time. In my

opinion, the play has reflected the author’s nostalgic view on humans’ lives,

however, it has also reflected his cynical view on humans themselves. The author has

effectively exploited the literary elements, such as the actions and conversation that

the main character, Emily, had during the act III, to convey the main theme precisely.

Prior to explaining the reasons of what I think of the theme, the play Our

Town’s plot consists of many very crucial incidents. It mainly deals with a typical

countryside Americans’ lives, but in a seriously simple way. The characters indeed

have monotonous and dull daily routines. They have nothing much exciting or new,

but have familiar and old ways of living. There are two main families that lead the

story until the end, the Webbs and the Gibbs. Emily Webb and George Gibbs from

each sides of family get married in the end, but Emily Gibbs dies of childbirth in her

age of 27. This is the main event of act II and I. In act III, Emily chooses to go back to

a day of her life and re-live it. However, during the day she has chosen, she finds out

something very important and endeavors to deliver it to us indirectly through the

Grace 1

Seo Yeon Roh22/09/12English 10 A/BOur Town Essayconversation, and it is the part that has brought about many diverse suppositions on

whether the author’s opinion on life is positive or negative.

To start with, in many parts of the play Our Town, the characters refer their

lives to amazing bliss that is given by the god, and they are generally presented in

the form of conversations. More specifically, they are usually seen from the act III,

which’s majority is considered as climax of the play. Many of the conversations and

monologues that Emily speaks of include her and maybe the author’s affection

towards the life that she had already passed by. From the page 97 in the play, Emily

says, ‘They’re so young and beautiful.’ In this case, they not only refers to her family,

but also to every living human beings, which, I think, is the indirect message from the

author to have the readers aroused on the fact that we must realize before passing

away that the world is full of amazement. In addition to this, Emily also says ‘Oh

earth, you are too wonderful for anyone to realize you.’ This line directly divulges to

us that our life is truly beautiful. Moreover, there are some behavioral grounds from

act III that helped me think that the author cherishes life.

The play Our Town’s beginning tended to be boring. Vast majority of the

analyzers say that it was done intentionally to emphasize the plots in the act III, and I

agree with it. It totally changed its ambience into more energetic mood, and since

the previous atmosphere of the play was extremely dull, the rapid change of

emotion could allow him to have the readers be more concerned about what the

author meant to tell and show. Because there was a huge emotional change in act III,

many characters tended to do abnormal actions, standing on the boundary of life

and death. On page 91, the dead does not recommend her to live over again even

Grace 2

Seo Yeon Roh22/09/12English 10 A/BOur Town Essayfor a single day. It is considered an odd reaction because they seem to know

something but did not tell her straight away. They wanted to let her experience it,

and perceive what it is by herself. This is what the author wanted the readers do as

well. The way he used helped the readers be more conscious of the author’s own

special concept on life. Moreover, on page 100, Emily abruptly cries out with a big

and strong voice that she cannot bare any more of her life. It was indeed a sudden

response to her opportunity to look back everything and to be prepared for her

death. ‘We don’t have times to look back another’, said Emily on this page. I

personally think that the author wanted to express that life is too wonderful and

grateful for every person in the world to even realize that they are blessed. The

supposition on the author’s such expression that I have about this part is that he

wanted us to notice the pleasure of life and learn the ways to treasure it. In other

words, we should enjoy every moment because tomorrow would be too late, as

death is coming closer to us. The idea that is found in the actions from the climax of

the play also has a correlation with the fact that humans are unenlightened to notice

the life’s real value.

As mentioned previously, the author points out that the humans apt to

overlook the preciousness of their lives. Because of this fact, he expressed the

atmosphere of some characters lines and actions in a critical way when describing

how the live are. Simon Stimson, for instance, speaks in a very cynical way to show

his opinion on humans. He said, ‘That is what it was to be alive. To move about in a

cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those…those

about you.’ His line directly criticizes the fact that humans are not aware of life’s

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Seo Yeon Roh22/09/12English 10 A/BOur Town Essayimportance and prominence, thus, culminating in less wonderful life that is full of

ignorance as Simon Stimson has said. Moreover, at the end of the play Our Town,

Emily says that people do not understand, and it is the part that was embroiled in

the most disputes during the entire play. In the play, this was questioned towards

Mrs.Gibbs, but it can also be widely understood as a kind of literary element that is

questioning towards us, the readers. When reading this part, the readers commence

on thinking what they, which actually refers to the readers themselves, do not

understand and they will stick to it until the end of the play. Therefore, Thornton

Wilder must have desired to teach us that we should worship our lives through the

very last part of the play, which says ‘They don’t understand’.

As time went by, the author has passed away and there is no one left who can

explain the true meaning of the play. But I have a valid speculation that was made by

an analysis through the eyes of many characters, mainly through Emily’s action and

lines in act III. Consequently, through Our Town, Thornton Wilder wanted to tell us

that lives are extremely fantastic, and criticize those who are full of complaints about

the world. As we read and watch along this play, we will eventually realize the

greatness of the profound message from the play, therefore, I would recommend

the others to have an opportunity to watch the play.

Grace 4