When, for example, Mrs. Gibbs expresses her desire to see Paris, the audience knows she will not ever get to achieve her dream because of her husband's stubborn closed-mindedness. Emily's frustration with the lack of awareness on the part of the living in the third act also draws attention to the stubborn clinging to outmoded ways of thinking that can characterize small town existence. Wilder explores small town insularity with aplomb in Our Town, and this in-depth exploration is the play's greatest strength. Globalization dawned around the turn of the century, introducing East to West and West to East and in Our Town, Wilder delves into Buddhist and other Eastern philosophies. The playwright does so subtly and possibly unintentionally, examining the barriers between reality and fiction, life and death. The Stage Manager begs the audience to rethink their role as viewers. Whereas most plays take for granted the audience's suspension of disbelief, their unwavering attention to the characters and their concerns, in Our Town, the audience is asked to participate more fully than they normally would. This element is ultra-modern and ultra-realistic in keeping with the modernist theme that evolved in the arts during the fin-de-siecle. The Stage Manager's dramatic irony also adds an Eastern element to the play by demanding a be-here-now attitude on the part of audience members. Instead of passively accepting what transpires on stage, the audience is continually reminded...
Being asked to relate the play's plot and theme to their own life, the audience views the production with an engaged and self-reflexive attitude. The Buddhist undercurrent culminates in Act Three, when Emily has died. Meeting the dead encourages Emily to appreciate her life and life itself to an extent she never could when she was alive. This is the turning point of the play, the moment at which Wilder clarifies the reason for writing Our Town.
By capturing the these seemingly simple values in the life of a "typical" American small town, Wilder was telling a profound story that exploded the accepted norms of drama and in one explosion catapulted the American play from the nineteenth century to the twentieth via the chautauqua esque visage. This is why it is a mistake to typecast Wilder as a traditionalist. Rather he was a modernist that translated
happiness of the Gibbs and Webbs families with the misery of Simon Stimson. Is it true that Simon is just not cut out for small town life, or is there more to it? On the surface, Thornton Wilder's drama Our Town depicts the happiness present in small town life. Its major plot revolves around the marriage of Emily Webb and George Gibb. Emily dies and in the third act when
Towns, Alike in Dignity Modern theatrical literature has become increasingly concerned with the goings-on in small towns and often largely un-notable communities. The epic plots and larger-than-life characters that occupied plays in Shakespeare's day and in much subsequent drama took place either in large metropolises, both real and imagined, or else in wildernesses of untamed forest or uninhabited isles. The small towns and hamlets that most people occupied were largely
All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you'd be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There's something way down deep that's eternal about every human being (Wilder, p.68). Looking at what happens in Act III with reference to that quotation, it is clear that Wilder is trying to say that something about Emily lives on in the
Eugene O'Neill's play, "The Emperor Jones (1921)," is the horrifying story of Rufus Jones, the monarch of a West Indian island, presented in a single act of eight scenes of violence and disturbing images. O'Neill's sense of tragedy comes out undiluted in this surreal and nightmarish study of Jones' character in a mighty struggle and tension between black Christianity and black paganism (IMBD). Jones is an unforgettable character in his
She laments that no one looks at one another, and really listens during the seemingly casual rituals of the precious day. However, it is also possible to view the play as a tragedy: despite their ambitions (George wants to go to college), the pressures of society and the pull of unexplored sexuality cause George and Emily to enter into an overly hasty marriage. Emily dies in childbirth as a result
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