Our Town Essay, Research Paper

In the play Our Town there are many complex ideas concerning life. The three acts of the play each concentrate on an important stage of life- birth and growing up, love and marriage, and death. As the play moves on, the emotions become more complicated and involved, and they show meanings which are hidden. George Gibbs, one of the main characters in the play, is involved in each act, and experiences each of the stages of life and the emotions that come along with them.

The play begins in 1901 in Grovers Corners, New Hampshire. The first act is called “Daily Life” because in this town there is a routine for everything. Almost everyone in the town wakes up, eats, and goes to sleep at the same time everyday. This act starts out with George?s father, Frank (Doc) Gibbs, talking about a set of twins that he has just delivered. This part of the first act suggests the stage of birth. From a young age George Gibbs and Emily Webb have been good family friends. They live next door to each other, and their parents are also friendly. One day in school Emily presented a speech to her class about the Louisiana Purchase. George listens and watches intently with a loving eye towards Emily. After school that day, George congratulates Emily on a job well done. He also asks Emily to help her with her homework, and she later provides him with hints to the right answers. These two children were born and raised in families with similar values, and therefore they mesh well together when they are older.

The next act, Love and Marriage, displays George and Emily?s growing affection towards one another. This act starts in the same town about three years later. As the paper boy, Si Crowell, brings the morning paper, he talks to Mrs. Gibbs about losing their towns best pitcher, George Gibbs, because of his engagement. The scene next shows Mrs. Gibbs expressing her nervous feelings about the wedding. She feels that Emily and George are too young for marriage. When George finishes his breakfast, he goes over to Emily?s house to see her. Because of the old superstition about the bride seeing the groom before the wedding bringing bad luck, the Webbs would not let George see Emily. So, George then talks to Mr. Webb about marriage. He gives George advice on how to handle women.

Before the wedding scene, the Stage Manager brings the audience back to Emily and George?s high school on the day of Student Council elections. George was elected the senior class president, and Emily the secretary-treasurer. While Emily is walking home, George stops her and asks her permission to help her. He tells her that he is glad she was elected, but he gets a sour response. Emily is mad at George because ever since he became a good baseball player, he is conceited and an obsessive baseball player. George then explains to Emily that it is hard for him, and he asks her to have an ice cream soda with him. When they go to the drugstore, George thanks Emily for telling him the truth. They talk about George going away to agricultural school for college. Emily tells George that there really is no need for him to go to college, especially since his uncle will be giving him his farm soon. George agrees with Emily and decides not to go to college. He also tells Emily that he has always noticed and liked her. She then tells George that she likes him too, and they are glad that they had this talk. This is the first flame of their relationship.

As we return to the scene of the wedding we hear Mrs. Gibbs saying that people were made to live two-by-two. Mrs. Webb then states that sending girls out into the world at this young age is horrible, and she hopes that none of Emily?s friends will do as Emily did. Before the marriage takes place, Emily tells her father that she is scared to marry George, and that she wants to go away with him. Mr. Webb then calls George over, and the two are married. Act two of Our Town shows the second stage of life, marriage.

Act three portrays the last stage of life, death and the loss of someone. As we return to Grovers Corners, we see that almost all of the characters have died except for George. We soon learn that Emily has died in complications in the childbirth of her second child. This scene shows Emily?s funeral, and her life after death. During the scene, we go back and forth from comments of dead people, to comments from living people. When Emily arrives in heaven, she tells her old friends and relatives about her life, but they are not interested. Emily then realizes that she is able to go back and relive all of her days on the earth. Although everyone advises her not to, Emily does so. She returns to 1899 on her birthday. The day is relived, and at the end, Emily realizes that when you are living you do not realize how much your life means to you until you cannot live it anymore. Emily soon sees her husband at her grave. He is so beside himself that he has fallen across Emily?s feet. He has to deal with the loss of his wife, and does not know what to do. As the scene closes, we see Grovers Corners return to its regular routine where everyone is sleeping at about the same time, and everyone is happy once again.

This play is a good representation of life through its three main stages. It not only portrays life with characters, but it makes the reader feel as if they are in the story so they can get a good portrayal of life. The play also describes the emotional impact of these events and other important events in the life of mankind.