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Our Town Play Analysis

Decent Essays

Our Town, a play by Thornton Wilder and Frank Craven, is an incomplex play about everyday life. Yet it gives a strong message about cherishing every second of life. Donald Margulies depicts the theme of Our Town in the “Foreword.” Margulies gives a stupendous analysis and accurate descriptions of the theme. Margulies begins his foreword by trying to show how important the message of Our Town is, that one should cherish every small moment in life as death can come in an instant, by commenting on the fact that in order to understand the point of the play, is to watch a commendable production of the play. Actors who portray the characters in our town need to be good at their job in order to feel the emotion of the characters and to understand the lessons of everyday life. Margulies also mentions the different …show more content…

It wasn't the characters or the storyline that changed. It was Margulies. Another point of excellence of the foreword in Our Town is the description of how the play is nothing but “life itself.” Margulies describes it as simple. This shows the majority of people’s lives as most people do not live extravagant lives with ten cars and a prodigious mansion. Instead it shows the everyday life lessons that a simple life can give. Margulies also comments the modernity of Our Town in the time it was written, 1937. Plays and production during the time period usually involved great set pieces and dazzling costumes, but WIlder strips the stage except for a few furniture pieces and props to keep the mind of the audience off of the production and onto the message that Our Town gives. Margulies states,”Anyone who dismisses Our Town as an idealized view of American life has failed to see the impieties and hypocrisies depicted in WIlder’s vision.” He states that Our Town is not just another story for entertainment, but a story that gives a vital message about life that needs to be taken

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