Our Town

Our Town

• Genre: Fiction; play
• Originally Published: 1938
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 10-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 3 acts; approx. 181 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Emily and George grow up as neighbors in the small town of Grover’s Corners. The Stage Manager narrates the events of their lives as they fall in love, get married, and encounter death; through their experiences and revelations, he presents truths about small-town life in the early 1900s.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Death

Thornton Wilder, Author

• Bio: Born 1897 in the United States; died 1975; lived in China for a time when his father was stationed there; served in the army during World War I; earned a BA from Yale and an MA from Princeton; proficient in four languages; worked as translator and teacher; his play The Matchmaker was reimagined as Hello, Dolly!; his many friends included other famous authors like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Stein; received Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) and Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942); earned the National Book Award for The Eighth Day (1967); received the Edward McDowell Medal for his impact on American culture
• Other Works: The Cabala (1926); The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927); The Skin of Our Teeth (1942); Theophilus North (1973)
• Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1938); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival (1989); Tony Award for Best Revival (1989)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• People’s Lack of Appreciation for Life and the Ordinary
• The Importance of Love and Family
• The Cycle of Life, Love, and Death That Continues Throughout Human History and Eternity

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the sociohistorical context of life in 1900s America and in Our Town.
• Analyze paired texts and other resources to make connections via the play’s themes of The Importance of Love and Family and The Cycle of Life, Love, and Death That Continues Throughout Human History and Eternity.
• Plan and act out a dramatic skit that expresses a relationship to one’s town and the play’s theme of People’s Lack of Appreciation for Life and the Ordinary.
• Analyze and discuss in structured essay responses the role of gender in the play, the characterization and duties of the Stage Manager, the timelessness of the work, and other topics.