Our Town (structure)

[wong alex]

Notes for Our Town (Structure)

-Traditional drama involving 3 acts, like other American Theater Show.

Opening Scene
Lack of description of stereotypical events
- “No curtain. No scenery.”

Brief descriptions of the action of the stage manager
- “begin placing a table and three chairs downstage left”
- “also places a low bench at the corner”

Stage Manager
-Stage Manager setting up the play from the very beginning instead of
a traditionally stage that is set
-Stage Manager introducing the play, narrating the play
-e.g. Grover’s Corners, 1901 May morning
-Announces the ending, death of Gibbs and Emily

Why does Thornton choose to use an unique structure for the opening
scene?
- Catches the audiences’ attention
- Forces audience to imagine and be a part of the play
- An opportunity for audiences to witness the process of developing
the “town”
-Emphasize things that may SEEM ordinary to us, that we usually ignore
and restore importance to life's trivia, finer details of life
A Doll’s House
- Setting of the whole play, i.e. “A comfortable room, furnished
expensively, but with taste”
-Stage directions which lead to the start of the play
-Little to no narration
- Typical Drama



Time Manipulation
-Reverse in plot allows the characters in the play to reflect upon
their life in Act 3
-Death of Emily has led her to realize the worth of each details in
life
-Audiences sees a replay of Emily’s past, puts the audiences into
Emily’s position
-Simon regrets for wasting his life on alcohol, describing life as
“cloud of ignorance. at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or
another“
-Theme is communicated through the words of the protagonists, which
could potentially be the audiences if they do not start realizing the
worth of surroundings and embrace it.

Central Idea

Act 1: Daily Life
Act 2: Love and Marriage
Act 3: Death
Life Cycle, human life summed up in three acts, all of which flow
along in a perfectly normal pattern

For instance, Act 1 - Daily Life
Town manager narrates simple facts about the town,
Then, the milkman and paper boy make their rounds.
Later, two children return home from school

Short familiar scenes intended to render a picture of everyday
activities
Purpose:
-Milkman, paperboy are the little things that make up the town yet
people are unaware of them or pay little to no attention

Would it be different if all these details in life are gone?

Collocations and phrases:
-Wilder’s unique use of structure helps to develop […]
-Time manipulation is crucial in signifying […]
- Wilder employ a structure allows him to present a generalized view
of small-town life in America
- emphasize ordinary things and to restore importance to life's trivia
Examples of paper II questions:
- Consider the ways in which scene changes may highlight the
development of the characters and their relationships in two or three
plays you have studied.
- Comparing the opening scenes of at least two plays, discuss what
audience expectations are aroused and how.

[wong alex]

Collocations:

1. [Literary device] employed as a structural device renders ……
2. … is considered surplus to ……
3. [Literary device] brought [effect] to prominence ……
4. …contributes to the development of ……
5. purposefully using [literary device] to state ……
6. By paving the …… from one extreme …… is emphasized.
7. … serves as a sequel to ……
8. In attempts to describe ……
9. The subtle link to……
10. … uses similar sentence structure to give ……
11. Richly decorates