Our Town Themes

Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, is known as one of his best works. It is usually referred as beautiful and remarkable, one of the sagest, warmest and deeply human his scripts. One of the themes captured in the play is the one of family relations. We can trace this particular theme though the whole play.
In the 1st act we are introduced to 2 families of the Gibbses & the Webbs. Charles and Myrtle Webb and Frank and Julia Gibbs give us a possibility to have a look at the day-to-day life of an average American family at the beginning of the 20th century. Charles is the editor of the local paper, The Sentinel. He is a forthright, intelligent man and a leading citizen of Grover's Corners. He also functions as a speaker of homespun philosophy and bits of wry humor. Myrtle and Julia represent the typical mother and housewife. Involved in motherhood roles of
Two childhood friends and neighbors, George Gibbs and Emily Webb fall in love and get married. With the story of George and Emily Wilder shows the power of love and the need for love among humans. As Mrs. Gibbs puts it: "Yes...people are meant to go through life two by two. 'Tain't natural to be lonesome." And the Stage Manager repeats it again: "Like Mrs. Gibbs said a few minutes ago: People were made to live two-by-two." This repetition emphasizes Wilder's statement that the family is the germ cell of society and therefore has a significance in our living. At the same time Thorton Wilder takes some good natured jibes at the monotony of most marriages. As he puts it into the mouth of Stage Manager: “I’ve married two hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I don’t know. I suppose I do. M marries N. Millions of them. The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday afternoon drives in the Ford—the first rheumatism—the grandchildren—the second rheumatism—the deathbed—the reading of the will—Once in a thousand times it’s