PREVIEW： Chronicles #12 ｜ Our Town
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Summary
Our Town is Thornton Wilder's play about the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, and the lives of the town's middle-class families. Amongst the colourful cast of characters, it is the life of the eldest children that lies at the heart of this story.
Transcript
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Chronicles, where today we're going to be discussing
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Our Town by Thornton Wilder. And to those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular play,
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my hook is simple for you, which is to say that this is my favourite play of all time.
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That shouldn't be taken as to mean I also think it's the best play ever written, but it is my
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favourite, and I'm looking forward to exploring many of the reasons for that as we go through.
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But let's begin by talking a little bit about Wilder. So Wilder was a remarkably intelligent
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man. He was born in 1897 in Madison, Wisconsin, and he was actually a surviving twin. His other
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twin was a stillborn, and he had four other siblings. They travelled a lot. He actually
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attended an international school in Yantai in China. And then from there, he went on to get
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his degree at Yale, studying archaeology and Italian. He then went on to go to a postgraduate
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in Rome, where he went on to do further archaeology. And then he went on to do a master's at Princeton.
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So an incredible academic pedigree behind him. What's more, as well as English, obviously, he also spoke
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French, German and Spanish. And one of the other interesting things to note about him was that he
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was actually a lieutenant colonel. And what's more, of course, a very, very famous writer in his own
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right. And Our Town is definitely, I would say, his most famous play. So shall we begin talking about it?
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Every act, every scene, every moment of the play takes place in the fictional town of Grover's Corners,
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New Hampshire. The play is introduced by the stage manager. It is his play, and the manager is all
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knowing. He recounts the past, he speaks of the present, and he alludes to the future. Of the town's
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history, the manager says, the earliest tombstones in the cemetery up there on the mountain, say,
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1670 to 1680. They're Grover's and Cartwright's and Gibbs's and Hersey's. Same names as are around
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here now. The first act begins in 1901, and we are informed that this act will simply cover the goings
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on of a single day. It is morning, and we see this small town aglow with the innocent tranquility of
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everyday life. The paper boy chipily does his rounds, and the stage manager gives us a summary
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of his life. Want to tell you something about that boy, Joe Crowell. Joe was awful bright. Graduated from
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high school here, head of his class. So he got a scholarship to Massachusetts Tech. Graduated,
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head of his class there too. It was all wrote up in the Boston paper at the time. Going to be a great
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engineer, Joe was. But the war broke out, and he died in France. All that education for nothing.
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Mr. Newsome delivers the milk with his horse, Bessie, and the neighbouring Webb and Gibbs's families send
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their children to school. Amongst the colourful cast of characters, it is the lives of the eldest
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children that lies at the heart of this story. George Gibbs and Emily Webb. After the children have
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left for school, the neighbourly mothers gossip with one another in the garden, and Mrs. Gibbs tells
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of her lifelong dream to visit Paris. But her husband is a settled man, with responsibilities
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as the town's most eminent doctor, and he only ever leaves the town biannually to visit the
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battlefields of the Civil War, his greatest historical passion. The stage manager then moves the day
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forward a few hours and introduces Professor Willard to the audience. The professor lectures on the age
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of the land with evidence of Devonian basalt, the vestiges of Mesozoic shale, and the fossils found
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about the land surrounding the town. He then comments on the population of the town as 3,149.
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The next local to speak is Emily's father, Mr. Charles Webb, who is the editor and publisher
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of the town's local newspaper. It meticulously explains the town's political demography. 86%
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Republican, 85% Protestant. An all-round very ordinary town, if you ask me. A little better
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behaved than most, but our young people here seem to like it well enough. 90% of them graduating from
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high school settle down right here to live, even when they've been away to college. The afternoon
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continues, and the children begin to return from school. Emily is giddy with triumph from her
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speech on the Louisiana purchasing class, and George Gibbs compliments her on it. He clearly has a crush
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on her, and asks if she could give him a few hints on the homework from their bedroom windows sometime.
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It's clear that Emily feels similarly, and asks her mother if she's pretty enough to get a boy's
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attention. To which Mrs. Webb dubiously assures her daughter that she's pretty enough for all
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normal purposes. The stage manager then remarks on the new bank that is being built in the town.
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They're going to have a cornerstone put in, and a few special texts encased in a protective glue.
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Then, they can be examined in thousands of years, if they're ever unearthed. The Bible, naturally.
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As well as some works of Shakespeare, a copy of Mr. Webb's local sentinel newspaper, and a copy of the
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play that the audience is watching. You know, Babylon once had two million people in it, and all we know
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about them is the names of the kings, and some copies of wheat contracts, and contracts for the sale of
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slaves. Yet every night, all those families sat down to supper. And the father came home from his work,
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and the smoke went up the chimney. Same as here. And even in Greece and Rome, all we know about the
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real life of the people is what we can piece together out of the joking poems and the comedies
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they wrote for the theatre back then. So, I'm going to have a copy of this play put in the cornerstone,
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and the people of a thousand years from now will know a few simple facts about us. More than the
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Treaty of Versailles and the Lindbergh flight. See what I mean? So, people a thousand years from now
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will know this is the way we were in the provinces north of New York at the beginning of the 20th
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century. This is the way we were in our growing up, and in our marrying, and in our living, and in our dying.
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Time trickles on. The townsfolk are at choir practice, and singing the Christian hymn,
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Blessed be the ties that bind. As nightfall descends upon Grover's corners, the moonlight beams,
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and George and Emily speak with youthful flickerings of romance. George wants to be a farmer, and he's
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been told that one day he can inherit his uncle's farm. But George is young, and more amused with his
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hobbies, such as baseball. His father sternly tells him to start being more responsible about the house,
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and chop wood for his mother. After all, farm work is a great labor, and if George is serious
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about the future, he needs to start developing his work ethic. The women return from choir practice,
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the town settles down for the night, and Mrs. Gibbs is unsuccessful, and talking her husband into a
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trip to Paris. Upstairs, George and his sister stare intently at the moon. Before it is time to go to
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sleep, and as the day draws to an end, so does the first act. That's the end of the first act, friends.
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You can go and smoke now, those that smoke. Act two begins three years on, and our manager sets the scene
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once more. The first act was called Daily Life. This act is called Love and Married. There's another act
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after this. I reckon you can guess what that's about. It's July, 1904. The flowers in Mrs. Gibbs's garden
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weep in the rain. In the house, Mrs. Gibbs is weeping just as readily. It's a big day, and emotions are high.
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Both George and Emily had to be married. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs reflect on their own marriage,
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with Mr. Gibbs chuckling as he admits to thinking he'd run out of conversation after three weeks.
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George bursts down the stairs, and heads over to the Webb household. He startles Mrs. Webb,
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bursting into a kitchen, overcome with excitement at spending the rest of his life with his childhood
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sweetheart. The Webs were up all night preparing, sewing her wedding dress, packing her belongings.
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Comedy and embarrassment ensues, as George is left at the table with his father-in-law to be.
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And Mr. Webb pensively remarks, it's the women folk who've built up marriages, my boy.
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For a while now, the women have had it all their own. The man looked pretty small at a wedding, George.
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All those good women, standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a
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mighty public way. But he quickly assures George of his belief in the institution.
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The stage manager returns, and turns the clock back, so that we are presented with the day that
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George and Emily realize that they were truly meant for one another. They're both seniors at school.
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Emily is still the intelligent, driven young talent that she was in the first act, and George is still the
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baseball-playing jock with a sensitive soul. George offers to carry Emily's books home as they walk,
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Well, up to a year ago, I used to like you a lot, and I used to watch you as you did everything,
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because we'd been friends so long. And then you began spending all your time at baseball,
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and you never stopped to speak to anybody anymore. Not even your own family you didn't. And, George,
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it's a fact. You've grown awful conceited and stuck up, and all the girls say so. They may not
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say it to your face, but that's what they say about you behind your back. And it hurts me to hear them
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say it, but I've got to agree with them a little. I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings, but I can't be
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sorry I said it. I'm... I... I'm glad you said it, Emily. I never thought that such a thing was happening
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to me. I guess it's hard for a fella not to have folds creep into his character. I always expect a man
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to be perfect, and I think he should be. I don't think it's possible to be perfect, Emily. Well,
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my father is. And as far as I can see, your father is. There's no reason on earth why you shouldn't be
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too. But Emily's talk is all brought forth by her fears. George is going away to state agriculture
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school so he can devote himself to studying the technical expertise of farm work. And Emily is
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deeply upset to lose him. She's emotional, and George asks her to join him for an ice cream soda.
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Over their strawberry sodas, the two share a sweet moment, and George begins to piece together how
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Emily feels about him. In the spur of the moment, he declares that he won't go to college. Some of them
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say it's even a waste of time. You can get all those things anyway out of the pamphlets the government
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sends out. And Uncle Luke's getting old. He's about ready for me to start taking over his farm
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tomorrow if I could. And like you say, being gone all that time in other places and meeting other
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people. Gosh, if anything like that can happen, I don't want to go away. I guess new people aren't
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any better than old ones. Bet they almost never are. Emily, I feel that you're as good a friend as
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I've got. I don't need to go and meet the people in other towns. Listen, Emily, I'm going to tell you
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why I'm not going to go to agriculture school. I think that once you've found a person that you're
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very fond of. I mean, a person who's fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be interested in your
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character. Well, I feel that that's just as important as college is, and even more so. That's
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what I think. The whole community is assembled, and both Emily and George have private doubts about
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going through with it. But they're consoled by the respective parents, and the newlyweds depart the
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stage to a scene of euphoric revelry. And on that remarkable high point of their lives, act two
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draws to an end. Nine years have gone by, friends. Summer, 1913. Gradual changes in Grover's Corners.
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Horses are getting rarer. Farmers coming into town in fords. Everybody locks their house doors now at
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night. Ain't been any burglars in town yet, but everybody's heard of them. You'd be surprised,
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though. On the whole, things don't change much around here. The act begins in the cemetery,
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and we are told that several of the characters have now passed on. This here is a new part of the
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cemetery. Here's your friend, Mrs. Gibbs, and let me see. Here's Mr. Stimson, and Mrs. Soames,
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Owen, a lot of others, and Editor Webb's boy, Wallace, whose appendix burst while he was
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on a Boy Scout trip to Crawford Notch. The deceased sit on chairs beyond the sight of the living,
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and an empty chair is between them. A man called Sam Craig has come from Buffalo to attend the funeral
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of his cousin, who is revealed to be none other than Emily Webb, who passed away due to complications
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giving birth to her second child. Emily then comes on stage and sits with the souls who have passed on.
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They speculate as the mourners gather for the funeral, with George, Mr. Gibbs, and Emily's parents in
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attendance. But Emily's soul is certain. But Mother Gibbs, one could go back. One could go back there again,
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into living. I feel it. I know it. Why, just then, for a moment, I was thinking about,
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about the farm. And for a moment, I was there, and yes, of course you can. I can go back there and
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live all those days over again. Why not? All I can say is, Emily, don't. But it's true, isn't it?
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I can go back and live. Back there, again. Yes. Some have tried, but they soon come back here.
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But I won't live over a sad day. I'll choose a happy day. I'll choose the day I first knew that
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I loved George. Why should that be painful? You not only live it, but you watch yourself living it.
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And as you watch it, you see the thing that they, down there, never know. You see the future. You know
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what's going to happen afterwards, but Emily insists and chooses her 12th birthday, February 11th, 1899.
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She walks the streets and sees the familiar faces of the paperboy, the milkman, and the policeman.
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She stands in her family home, that haven of happiness that she'd awoken to for 18 years,
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and sees the table at which she had eaten 20,000 meals, surrounded by the love of her family.
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As she watches her birthday play out before her, the emotional strain becomes unbearable,
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as she sees the joy and beauty of the single moment play out before her. Every word, every name,
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every second, now so precious. I, I didn't realize. So all this was going on and we never noticed?
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Take me back, up the hill, to my grave. But first, wait, one more look. Goodbye. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners.
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Mama and Papa. Goodbye to ticking clocks and Mama sunflowers and food and coffee and new iron dresses and
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hot baths and sleeping and waking up. Oh, Earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
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Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute? Emily returns to the
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other souls and comes to terms with her fate. But for George Gibbs, he must persevere with life as he
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returns to Emily's grave and collapses before it in misery. As the dead lament that the living do not
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understand. The stage manager then draws a play to an end with these final lines. There are the stars
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doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky. Scholars haven't settled the matter yet, but
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they seem to think that there are no living beings up there. Just chalk or fire. Only this one is straining
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away. Straining away all the time to make something of itself. The strain is so bad that every 16 hours,
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everybody lies down and gets a rest. 11 o'clock in Grover's Corners. You should get a good rest too.
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Good night. Structurally, Our Town is a remarkably well-crafted play. By having all the three acts take
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place over various stages of life, going first through just aspects of daily life and then deeper questions
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such as love and marriage and then of course finally death. The play explores a great scope of what it
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means to live and asks questions about what makes a fulfilling life. You have lots of characters within
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this play. Many of them are trying to figure out their way through life and many of them are very content
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with the hand that they've been dealt. One thing to say about the staging as well is that Our Town is
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a minimalist play. You won't watch a production of Our Town and see grand elaborate sets and a whole
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profusion of props. On the contrary, Our Town, traditionally speaking, is all played by mime. So you wouldn't
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actually have a knife and fork for a scene where the people were eating their dinner. You would simply
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mime the action. So basically by removing everything material from the action, the minimalism allows you
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to focus even more entirely on just the human action, the human experience of living. And it draws you in
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more to the conversation and the relationships between the different characters because you have
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nothing else to focus on. So let's talk about the stage manager because he might seem to begin with
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a very unorthodox, very strange character to include in a play like this. But actually the stage manager
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as a creation is a stroke of genius. He functions in many ways a lot like an ancient Greek chorus
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in that he does not move events within the story, although he does have the ability to meddle with
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time and obviously move some events forward, allow events to be played back. But, and characters do
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interact with him, but really you are just viewing life in the town through his observations of it and
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occasionally he will speak and say something incredibly profound and then the action will pick up
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with the characters again. Also because of the meta theatrical style in which you are constantly
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reminded whilst you're sat there that this is a play and are even told in many cases or is certainly
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alluded to what is going to happen towards the end of the story. That takes out a lot of the tension
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and guesswork within the story for what is going to happen next because it wants you to, so say for
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example with the example of the paper boy Joe Crowell, by telling you beforehand that it is going to be his
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fate to perish on the battlefield of World War One, it means that going forward every time you see the
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character in the play there is this dark twisted sense of doom about the character who is really for all intents and
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purposes just your typical good natured lad doing the paper rounds with his little flat cap and his
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first job. By knowing what is going to happen to him later it makes the moments that you see of him have
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more weight because you know how limited his time is and you know that he's going to be dead in about 15
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years and so by taking on the stage managers omnipotent you're able to experience more broadly the
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triumphs and tragedies of all of the characters involved in the play. We'll approach this by just
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going through the acts one at a time and I'll talk about them as we go. So let's begin mostly in depth
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with act one. If you enjoyed this piece of premium content from the Lotus Eaters head to our website