Our Town Summary
Thornton Wilder

Everything you need to understand or teach Our Town by Thornton Wilder.

Our Town Summary & Study Guide
13 Student Essays
2 Encyclopedia Articles
17 Literature Criticisms
...and more

30 Our Town Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
...and more

Our Town Summary

Our Town is a play by Thornton Wilder that revolves around life in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. It is considered one of the greatest American plays. Specifically, the play focuses around the lives of George and Emily as they come together, only to be separated in the end.

When the play begins, George and Emily are teenaged neighbors and good friends, as are their parents. Over...

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Study Pack

The Our Town Study Pack contains:

Our Town Study Guide

Plot Summary

Chapter Summaries

Free Quiz

Characters

Symbols and Symbolism

Settings

Themes and Motifs

Styles

Quotes

Encyclopedia Articles (2)

Our Town - Thornton Wilder - 1938

7,035 words, approx. 24 pages

Our Town - Thornton Wilder - 1938 Introduction Thornton Wilder won his second Pulitzer Prize for the 1938 drama Our Town, with its understated but resonant depiction of the fundamental goal of humanit... Read more

Our Town

2,971 words, approx. 10 pages

Our Town by Thornton Wilder After attending Yale University, Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) became a novelist and a writer of unconventional plays that engage the audience by addressing them directly,... Read more

Thornton Wilder Biographies (7)

Thornton Niven Wilder

802 words, approx. 3 pages

Novelist and playwright Thornton Niven Wilder (1897-1975) won two Pulitzer Prizes for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, written in 1938 and 1942 respectively. His most renowned novel, The ... Read more

Thornton (Niven) Wilder

531 words, approx. 2 pages

Thornton Wilder, the only writer to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both plays and a novel, once observed, "I guess I was the only writer of my generation who didn't 'go to Paris!'" For him the road abroa... Read more

Thornton (Niven) Wilder

10,351 words, approx. 35 pages

On the strength of only three full-length plays and a bare handful of one-acts, Thornton Wilder ranks among the top half dozen playwrights in the history of American theatre. The modest volume of his ... Read more

Thornton (Niven) Wilder

4,086 words, approx. 14 pages

Thornton Wilder, one of the last in the line of the New England puritan writers, was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on 17 April 1897. Second son of Amos Parker Wilder, a native of Maine and a descendant ... Read more

Thornton (Niven) Wilder

14,633 words, approx. 49 pages

Thornton Wilder was a student of the human condition; in his writing he aimed for and achieved the universal. His plays in particular were concerned with both the timely and the timeless, and he most ... Read more

Thornton Niven Wilder

11,258 words, approx. 38 pages

Biography EssayOn the strength of only three full-length plays and a bare handful of one-acts, Thornton Wilder ranks among the top half dozen playwrights in the history of American theater. The modest... Read more

Thornton Wilder

4,534 words, approx. 16 pages

A noted dramatist, novelist, and essayist, Thornton Wilder's name is known to most U.S. high school and college students because of the fame of his play, Our Town. First performed before American thea... Read more

Essays & Analysis (30)

Interview by Thornton Wilder and John Franchey

1,087 words, approx. 4 pages

2,640 words, approx. 9 pages

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Critical Essay by Malcolm Goldstein

2,611 words, approx. 9 pages

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Critical Essay by Donald Haberman

1,887 words, approx. 7 pages

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Critical Essay by Jan Austell

2,544 words, approx. 9 pages

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Critical Essay by Michael A. D'Ambrosio

1,264 words, approx. 5 pages

3,226 words, approx. 11 pages

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Critical Essay by Donald Haberman

3,342 words, approx. 12 pages

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Critical Essay by Bert Cardullo

5,397 words, approx. 18 pages

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Critical Review by Hap Erstein

886 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Review by T. H. McCulloh

537 words, approx. 2 pages

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Critical Review by Malcolm Johnson

676 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Review by T. H. McCulloh

695 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Essay by Arthur H. Ballet

3,119 words, approx. 11 pages

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Critical Essay by Francis Fergusson

5,590 words, approx. 19 pages

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Critical Essay by George D. Stephens

3,633 words, approx. 13 pages

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Critical Essay by Helmut Papajewski

6,109 words, approx. 21 pages

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Thorton Wilder vs. Hollywood

387 words, approx. 2 pages

Thornton Wilder vs. Hollywood Hollywood has once again destroyed a great classic, this time the victim is Our Town. There were a few good points in the movie, but these points were greatly over-shad... Read more

The Use of Stagecraft in "Our Town"

1,165 words, approx. 4 pages

Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town, gained popularity and recognition when it opened in Broadway in February 4, 1938, at the Henry Miller Theatre. Our Town is the play that blazed a trail in imaginative... Read more

Analysis of "Our Town"

645 words, approx. 3 pages

On May 7, 1901 an old man appears on stage. He introduces himself as the stage manager. The setting is in New Hampshire and the crowing of the rooster signals the early morning. This man introduces "O... Read more

Our Town

468 words, approx. 2 pages

Throughout the world there are many simple towns that relate to Grover's Corners. Over the time of this story Thornton Wilder states, "Gradual changes in Grover's Corners. Horses are getting rarer.... Read more

Our Town

614 words, approx. 3 pages

To get their jobs done, workers in all professions use devices and strategies. Playwrights use staging tricks and strategies to convey its message of the play. Thornton Wilder is one of the playwright... Read more

Through Our Life in "Our Town"

978 words, approx. 4 pages

Thornton Wilder uses many types of symbolism to show the American Dream. Wilder uses Shakespeare as an allusion in this play. He uses one main metaphor, in the hymn "Blessed Be The Tie That Binds." ... Read more

Our Town, A Review

516 words, approx. 2 pages

When Thorton Wilder wrote that, "what is important here are ideas, not personalities; universals, not individuals," he was accenting the fact that when you look at the big picture, one life doesn't se... Read more

Small Town Life in "Our Town"

639 words, approx. 3 pages

There are many stereotypes about small towns. When dealing with small towns, the first thing that comes to mind is the south. Southern towns, in the early nineteen hundreds, where everyone speaks wi... Read more

Our Town Act I

472 words, approx. 2 pages

The first act has began with the stage manager walking on stage, introducing himself as the director of this play and explaining the setting. The setting has took place in Grover's Corners, New Hampsh... Read more

Thornton Wilder's Our Town Shows the Blindness of People

341 words, approx. 2 pages

Thornton Wilder, the author of our town, tries to get a very powerful message across during the course of his book. He says at the end of act III, "Do any human beings ever realize life when they l... Read more

A Cloud of Ignorance in Our Town

1,200 words, approx. 5 pages

Cloud of Ignorance Think about this, do you spend and waste time each and every day as though you had a million years to live? Throughout Our Town Thorton Wilder illustrates the theme that people ar... Read more

The Celebration of Daily Life in "Our Town"

1,081 words, approx. 4 pages

The first act of "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, titled A Day In The Life, is a rendition of the daily routines taken on by the residents of a small New Hampshire town. Set in the early 1900s in Grover... Read more

A Fork in the Road

445 words, approx. 2 pages

The play, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, is a story of living life and the things you go through. In life, we all, at one point or another, fall in love, get married, and die. Our Town takes place in t... Read more

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