Our Town Classic Ed [Paperback]

 

 

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When I first learned that I would be required to read "Our Town" as a part of a required reading assignment for English class, I didn't think that I was going to like it. As Wilder begins the play, the reader immediately notices that there is almost no action, suspense, characterization, or setting. The play is all about universality -- Wilder's lack of literary elements is actually a subliminal attempt to communicate the play's theme to everyone who reads it. The first act is a narrative of everyday events in a small New Hampshire town; Wilder titles this act "daily life" because it focuses on the monotony of trivial affairs. The second act is called "love and marriage," which discusses the process in which two people fall in love. The final act is based on "death" and it sums up the first two acts by casting them against the fact that everyone will die someday.

The main theme that Wilder tries to convey is that even the most insignificant, unimportant things in life need to be appreciated. The protagonist asks in the final act, "Do human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?" The answer, of course, is 'no.' We all tend to rush through life like it is a giant marathon, and all too often, we trample on other people along the way. Also in the final act, the protagonist wishes that she would have been nicer to people while she had the chance; she wishes that she would've let the other characters know how much she loved and appreciated them. In writing this drama, Wilder wants to tell us that we should all live our lives to the fullest; we should take time every day to give thanks for all that we have; we should always tell our friends and family just how much they mean to us -- we can only do these things while we're living, and none of us know exactly how much longer that will be. Reading this play has really given me a "wake up call" and has allowed me to cherish everyday, ordinary things like the beauty of nature. I felt that the play was, in retrospect, brilliantly written, brief, and poignant. I recommend this play to everyone because it teaches a message that we all need to remember -- take time to savor the simple things, because they often carry the greatest rewards.

Our Town showed me a warm conforting town where everyone was like family. It reminds me of the good things in life and how easy it is for that to change over time. Our Town was a magnificent book, with great descriptions. I like acting out along with it and I could always picture what the scene looked like. Thorton Wilder captured life and love in Our Town. I reccomend this book for ages 10 and up. Our Town will be a great read. I hope everyone gets a chance to read it just as I did.

Superficially a folksy, American nostalgia piece, "Our Town" spans the first thirteen years of the twentieth century in the life of Grover's Corners, a small village in rural New Hampshire. It's the archetypal town of the American Mythology. A place where the names on the oldest gravestones are the same as those of the townspeople today. Where the doctor delivers twins before breakfast, and is home in time to shoot the breeze with the paperboy. Where the kids share an ice-cream soda, their mothers sing in the church choir, and a girl grows up and really does marry the boy nextdoor. The play's fond recollection of an America that never existed was nostalgic even in 1938, yet Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama became an instant classic and remains one of America's most loved and frequently performed plays. America today is the shambles of a destroyed hope, the stillborn ruins of the way of life "Our Town" imagines but which in reality was never achieved. For those immune to the appeals of the American Dream, or more familiar with the reality of the American Global Empire, the play may seem deliciously rich in unintended irony. You could be forgiven for thinking the American preference for escapist, self-aggrandizing fantasy might account for its enduring appeal. Yet you would be wrong. Scratch the surface and "Our Town" is no quaint tale of hayseed family life. Wilder was an intellectual, an admirer of the avant-garde and the experimental works of James Joyce. Steadfastly minimalist in its presentation, engagingly postmodern in its insistence that we see the cast as actors rather than characters, and more thematically challenging than we are initially led to expect, "Our Town" is a work of social criticism which indicts us with personal responsibility for the way we see our lives. Wilder turns our nostalgia against us, demolishing our vision of the past as a Golden Age, and demanding we live here and now, simply and fully. The play shows ordinary lives in pursuit of universal meaning, and by confronting us with our own mortality it challenges us to explore our small allotment of years in the same way. This isn't so much a play of memories as a play about memory - private and public. It evokes nostalgia to warn against it, and argues instead for an acceptance of transience, a celebration of life while it is lived, and a recognition of that small, unknowable fragment of the self that is eternal. It's with this universalizing, evident in the final act, that "Our Town" transcends twentieth-century America and becomes an enduringly relevant work of art - one about memory, fantasy, and the power and price of both.

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5.0 out of 5 stars As satisfying a read as a novel or a book of poetry
Like many other people who have read this (and loved it!), it was required. Actually, we were required to watch a filmed stage version of it - starring Paul Newman as the Stage... Read more

Published on Mar 22 2004 by D. COLLIER

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a Poignant Life!
This beloved classic and most frequently performed of Wilder's dramatic works still charms and captivates--despite the decades since its first production in 1938. Read more

Published on Mar 17 2004 by Plume45

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those that you HAVE to have a copy of...
I first saw this play acted out by my high school's drama class...and I loved it. I read the play earlier this year...and loved it again. Read more

Published on Dec 5 2003 by Aimee L

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Thorton Wilder's Our Town
Thorton Wilder's Our Town is an excellent play for adult and young adult reading. Wilder uses a stage manager to set each scene. Read more

Published on Nov 27 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring, with udder simplicity
This book was not a life chaging mark. It did not have any solid foundation to grab you and make you want to read more. There is no main conflict. Read more

Published on Nov 11 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars All time winner
This play is one of my all time favorites. I enjoy watching it performed, and I also love just reading it. Read more

Published on Oct 17 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Our Town Review
The play Our Town is a fantastic book full of conflict and adventure. It teaches its readers about life and what to do in certain situations. Read more

Published on Oct 17 2003 by Sarah A D

3.0 out of 5 stars In Its Day
There was a time when the simpler things of life mattered more than they seem to today. Or maybe I've got that wrong. Read more

Published on Aug 3 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Still a classic!
... I have recently begun spending time rereading literature that I first read when in school.

The question that I posed to myself was whether the "classics" that I had to... Read more

Published on May 4 2003 by Blaine Desantis

5.0 out of 5 stars MY FAVORITE
This is my favorite book. I love the idea of Emily seeing everyone after she dies and wanting to go back. I usually don't like the to read plays, but this one is an exception. Read more

Published on Feb 4 2003 by unonumero1

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