OUR TOWN

Emily Webb

graduates at the top of her class, marries George after graduation, dies giveing birth to her second child, wishes that she would have noticed the little things, receives a post-card album for her birthday

stage Manager

narrator of play, tells audience that Grover's Corner has no culture, can see the future, assuemes the roles of the drug store owner, a minister, and the undertaker

supersition about wedding

bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, Mrs. Webb will not allow George to see Emily before the wedding

George Gibbs

high-school baseball player who plans to attend state agricultural college; marries Emily Webb,

Grover's Corner is in

New Hamsphire

Simon Stimson

choir master, alcoholic, hung himself

Dr. Gibbs

George's father and the town doctor. he is also a Civil War expert. He delivers twins, travels to Gettsburg every 2 years

young people of Grover's Corners ...

mostly stay in the town after they graduate High School

Mrs. Soames

sings in the choir, the town gossiper, and appears at the end among the dead talking about Emily's lovely wedding

Choir members

Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Soames, and Simon Stimson is the choir director

Joe Crowell Jr.

The town paper boy. He dies in World War I. He was the smarest kid at M.I.T

Rebecca Gibbs

Daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs. Sister to George, cries at beginning of Act 2 because

Wally Webb

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Webb. Brother to Emily. Dies on a camping trip to North Conway. His Appendix Burst

Mrs. Gibbs

mother of George and Rebecca, died of pneumonia

Mr. Webb

Emily's father and the published and editor of the Grover's Corners Sentinel (newspaper)

Howie Newsome

Milkman who makes deliveries from a cart drawn by his old horse Bessie.

forshadowing in Act 1

stage manager tells audience that Joe Crowell will go to war, Dr. Gibbs will die and cars appear in five years

Our Town

(Thornton Wilder, 1938).It is divided into three acts:Act 1 "Daily Life" , Act 2 "Love and Marriage", and Act 3 "Death" . A Stage Manager talks to the audience and serves as a narrator throughout the drama, which is performed on a bare stage.

Why does George want to commuicate with Emily through their windows?

to get help with his algebra

How does Emily know she can go back to the world of the living?

she can feel it

What does Dr. Gibbs mean when he states that Mrs. Gibbs will be "losing one of her chicks?"

that George is getting married and moving out of the house

flashback in Act 2

shows how George and Emily fall in love

What happens while George and Emily are drinking their sodas?

George decides not to go to agricultural school and admits he loves Emily, Emily admits she loves George

How many years pass between Act 2 and Act 3?

9 years

Before his mariage, what did Dr. Gibbs worry about?

he worried that he and Mrs. Gibbs would run out of things to talk about

Mr. Webb's advice to George

Never ask for advice on personal matters

George congratulates Emily for

being elected Secretary-Treasurer of their class

gold watch

George offers to leave this with the drug store owner until he returns with the money to pay for the sodas

Emily criticizes George

for acting stuck up

Joe Stoddard

Emily's cousin who comes home for her funeral

"Ma, I don't want to grow old. Why's everybody pushing me so?"

George tells his mother right before the wedding

setting for Act 3

in a cemetery

Changes to Grovers Corner by Act 3

more locked doors, fewer horses, more cars

"There is something way down deep that's eternal about every human being."

stage manager's statement in the cemetery

characters who are dead and are in the cemetery in Act 3

Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Soames, Simon Stimson, Emily

When Emily states, "They're sort of shut up in little boxes, aren't they?" What does she mean?

most people are blind to the joys of life

Why is it painful to relive the past?

because you know what's going to happen afterwards

Emily goes back to what day?

her 12th birthday

"Goodness! That ain't no way to behave!" What was the dead person refering to when she made the statement?

George throwing himself at Emily's grave

George lies to the drug store owner about the reason

Emily is crying

Bessie

Howie's horse

What questions does the audience ask about Grovers Corner?

Is no one aware of social injustice?

Is there much drinking?

Is there any culture or love of beauty?

seeting and time of the play established by

the stage manager

How does Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Gibbs and other women spend their weekly night out?

choir prcatice and gossiping

Mr. Gibbs deal with the fact that George is not doing his chores by

talking to him about how hard his mother works and yet she still needs to chop wood

Mrs. Gibbs complains all George thinks about is

baseball

Difference between beginning of Act 1 and Act 2

Si Crowell delivers the paper in Act 2 and his brother, Joe delivers it in Act1

Themes in Our Town

life, death, love, and marriage

central theme "appreciating everything and everyone each day" or appreciating the "ordinary" in life