Our Town by Thornton Wilder
In anticipation of Ann Patchett’s newest novel, Tom Lake, I reread Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Though Patchett’s book is set in a Michigan cherry orchard, Wilder’s Our Town is more thoroughly integrated into the plot of Tom Lake. Like many people, I had read Our Town in high school. Though I enjoyed the play, my comprehension was narrow, and my feelings were limited. Now in my 60s, I was thoroughly moved by Our Town and its focus on life’s gifts and the passing of time.
Thornton Wilder wrote this play in 1938. The setting is a fictitious town in New Hampshire called Grovers Corner. This three-act play begins in 1901 and depicts the circle of life: childhood, adulthood and death. In Act 1, babies are born. In Act 2, two young people, Emily and George, marry and in Act 3, Emily dies in childbirth and joins the other Grovers Corner community members buried in the town’s cemetery. The narrator/primary character is the Stage Manager, representing God. This central role makes it feel as if God is explaining the play and life to the reader.
Wilder’s intent does not seem to be morbid or even judgmental. Instead, he seems to be saying something both prosaic and profound. Pay attention to this miracle of life. Time goes by quickly. Enjoy the blessing of being alive. He wants people to pause and absorb both the banal and breathtakingly beautiful moments of life. Wilder was interested in human memory and said that he was interested in “the difference between the matter-of-factness and almost the triviality of life as we live it and the emotion and beauty of the same life when we remember it, looking backward from years later. “
In Act 3, Emily dies in childbirth and joins the other town members who have previously died, I was so moved. Emily says, “We don’t have time to look at one another? Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it every minute—every, every minute?”
Our Town encourages people to stop and celebrate the miracle of our humanity. The New York Times says, “Wilder cautions us to recognize that life is both precious and ordinary and that these two fundamental truths are intimately connected.” Maybe that is why it is still one of the most-performed plays in the world each year. Our Town reminds people to appreciate their time on earth and evokes a sense of spirituality.
I highly recommend reading the play or watching one of the many productions available on video. (It should be noted that most productions cast white people in all the roles including the Stage Manager.) Our Town has been characterized as being too simple; there are no explosive scenes of conflict or chaos. For this reader, the play felt ambitious in its simplicity. The stark and straightforward narrative allows readers/viewers to become absorbed in the larger meaning. Our Town is a profound play that continues to remind readers to embrace their lives. 4.5/5