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__Title and Author:__ Our Town by Thornton Wilder __Setting:__ Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, 1901-1913 __Characters:__ Stage Manager: Speaks directly to the audience, offers insight and explains setting. Omniscient narrator. Dr. Gibbs: The town doctor. He is married to Mrs. Gibbs and father of George Gibbs. Mrs. Gibbs: Has a dream to one day see Paris, is a neighbor to the Webb’s. Mrs. Webb: A no-nonsense woman who cares deeply about her child, Emily Webb. Mr. Webb: Publisher and editor of a Grover’s Corners newspaper, speaks directly to the audience about the town. Emily Webb: A smart, all-American girl who does well in school. The play centers on her as she grows through to adulthood. George Gibbs: A boy who enjoys baseball and eventually marries Emily Webb. Rebecca Gibbs: George’s younger sister. Simon Stimson: The town drunk who acts as a foil in the play. __Summary__: Act One beings when the Stage Manager arrives and plainly explains the setting, producers and cast of the play to the audience, breaking the fourth wall. There is little stage setting, so the scenery is mostly left up to the audience’s imagination. Next, a typical morning in the Gibbs and Webb households is acted out, each mother pantomiming her actions in the kitchen. After the kids go off to school, Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs talk in their gardens. Mrs. Gibbs explains that she hopes to sell a piece of her furniture so that she could garner enough money to go to Paris one day. She explains that although she dreams this, her husband wants to stay in Grover’s Corners. Next, the Stage Manager brings out a professor and Mr. Webb to explain facts about Grover’s Corner’s, both scientific and social. They show that Grover’s Corner’s is a typical small southern town, with a homogeneous population and little excitement. The choir is shown being directed by Simon Stimson, and the act ends with George discussing God with his younger sister, Rebecca. Act Two shows the preparations before George and Emily’s wedding day. The scene flashes back to a year earlier, when George and Emily professed their love to each other at a soda pop stand during High School. George decides to not go to agricultural school, and instead stay with Emily. The wedding is then shown, and the act ends. Act Three takes place nine years later at a cemetery. It is Emily Webb’s funeral, who died during childbirth. The dead sit in chairs, and among them sits Simon Stimson and Mrs. Gibbs. They are indifferent to the lives of the living, and Emily joins them. She wants desperately to go back to life, and is allowed to see one more day. She decides to revisit her twelfth birthday. The Stage Manager helps her go into the past, and there she observes life from the outside. She is overwhelmed by her parent’s youth and the transitory nature of life, and she demands to be taken back to the cemetery. There, George falls over her grave in sorrow. The Stage Manager raps up the play, telling the audience to go home and get some rest. Themes: People are unaware of the fleeting and beautiful nature of life while they are living it. The life cycle continues to move and change no matter what.

The town in “Our Town” is intentionally generalized so that it can be molded to many different scenarios. This displays the universality of the small town and its inhabitants.

Motifs/Symbols: The Universe: The Universe is mentioned several times, both in the letter addressed to Rebecca and in the Stage Manager’s final speech. It is used to show how small the town is compared to the universe and put perspective on the play. The Time capsule: The stage manager explains that there will be a Grover’s Corners time capsule, which serves as a document of the past as well as something to document the simple everyday lives of people. The Hymn “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds”: This is played various times throughout the play, and is a symbol for tradition.

Time: The play is nonlinear, jumping back and forth to emphasize ideas and contrast events. The play contrasts Emily’s death with the joy of her twelfth birthday, showing how the good things in life are fleeting and meant to be enjoyed.

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Our-Town-Critical-Essays-Thematic-Structure.id-186,pageNum-32.html

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway World War I in Italy Leutenant Fredric Henry- A young American ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I Catherine Barkley- An English nurse’s aide who falls in love with Henry Rinaldi- A surgeon in the Italian army, Fredric’s best friend Miss Gage - An American nurse who helps Henry through his recovery at the hospital in Milan Dr. Valentini - An Italian surgeon that performs surgery on Fredric Emilio-A bartender that saves Fredric and Catherine from the war and jail Lieutenant Frederic Henry is an American serving in the Italian Army as an ambulance driver. Henry, was out on the battlefield, and dining with other drivers, when a mortar shell explodes. This causes Henry’s knee to be badly wounded, and forced him to go to the Milan Hospital. There he meets Catherine Berkley, who is mourning the loss of her fianc é. Both of them quickly fall in love and spend all of their free time together, while Henry is recuperating. Before Henry goes back to the battlefield, Catherine reveals that she is pregnant with Henry’s child. The Italian forces are weakening, and a retreat is planned. Henry and the other drivers who made it through the retreat find refuge in a barn overnight. The following day they are captured and all of the officers are being executed on the spot. Henry realizes this and escapes down the river. Henry finally goes back to Catherine and they move to Switzerland to escape the war. They live in a mountain house until the last month of Catherine’s pregnancy, when they move closer to the hospital. Finally Catherine is ready to give birth. She cannot give birth regularly so they are forced to give her a C-section. The baby is stillborn and Catherine dies soon after because of multiple hemorrhages with Henry by her side. Henry tries to say goodbye to her, but he cannot and walks back to his hotel room. __ Themes __ The reality of war- The majority of the characters not happy about the war, they are resentful of the terrible destruction it causes, and doubtful of the glory it supposedly brings. __ Motifs __ Desolation-Refers to the fields in which they fight, and the emotions the soldiers have towards fighting Loyalty-In the war aspect of the novel Fredric is not very loyal to the army and even deserts the war to be with Catherine, who emotionally he stays loyal to the entire book __Symbols__ Rain-Whenever it rains in the novel, something bad follows Landscape-On the plains evil things occur (mainly the fighting of the war). In the mountains the relationship between Henry and Catherine blossoms and good occurs

Critical Analysis-http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976974116