Themes in Our Town

It can be argued that one of the reasons that Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, has been produced for over 60 years is its use of universal themes. Below are some thoughts Mr. Wilder himself shared on the pervading themes and issues he presents in the play. As you read the play, see if you can find some examples of these and other predominant themes.

Quotes from Thornton Wilder*

“…the absurdity of any single person’s claim to the importance of his saying, “I love!” “I suffer!” when one thinks of the background of the billions who have lived and died, who are living and dying, and presumably will live and die.”

“At first glance, [Our Town] appears to be practically a genre study of a village in New Hampshire. On second glance, it appears to be a meditation about the difficulty of, as the play says, ‘realizing life while you live it.’ But buried back in the text, from the very commencement of the play, is a constant repetition of the words ‘hundreds,’ ‘thousands,’ ‘millions.’ It’s as though the audience—no one has ever mentioned this to me, though—is looking at that town at ever greater distances through a telescope.”

“Our Town is not offered as a picture of life in a New Hampshire village; or speculation about the conditions of life after death…It is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events of daily life.”

*all quotes taken from The Greenhaven Press Literary Companion To American Authors: Readings on Thornton Wilder, David Bender et al., Greenhaven Press: San Diego. 1998.

Pictures taken from the private collection of Dr Thomas Fay.