The 1938 drama titled Our Town, made its writer Thornton Wilder achieve his second honor in writing. He was awarded Pulitzer Prize due to his outstanding writing and display of humanity in his drama. The main goal of the drama was to display humanity; finding love and eventually, a sagacity of belonging. The drama was written after the World War 1 when the people of America were finding conform after the miserable years they had passed through. The play was set in New Hampshire a town which had a deep rooted political, cultural and social past. The American traditional rules were represented in New England. Even if the audience targeted by the writer could not identify with the reference of town in subject, they could have it in the mind and lived to believe the town existed.
The drama, Our Town had a setting with its main events being simple and basic. The use of ordinary lives and events lead the readers to the understanding of how one's life was worth. It painted a possibility of attaining the American dream. This dream was well outlined by Thornton Wilder and his interpretation of this great dream was depicted in his creativity rich writing. His understanding of the dream was vital and the reader's understanding all rotated in the need of acceptance. To be able to achieve the American dream, everybody was loved, accepted, cherished and treasured. It's showed the need for acceptance and how worth the human life was.
The story was written in a colloquial style making the Wilder drama become a reality and a break from the monotony of the past. Moreover, the writer had put in place a speech. This represented everybody and each individual. Everybody speech provided a practical and a realistic outline for everybody's attitude and action of the play.
In his writing, Wilder uses events that actually happen in the real life. The use of hymns is evident as an authentic event. Throughout his work, the hymn, "Blessed be the tie that binds," is used to highlight the worthiness of humanity and an individual relationship with the other. During the first night conversation of George and Emily's family, the writer uses the hymn. At this point, he was showing how it was important the two families need the talk they were having. There was a need for one another and each party felt accepted. Also the hymn recurs in their wedding still showing the value of humanity and love for one another. In the funeral, he used the frequently appearing hymn to insist on the essence of humanity which can only be articulated through individual connections with other human beings. In the funeral, the writer used the hymn to show the disconnection with the dead person making it appear as if this was not that permanent as the people in the funeral thought. He still insisted on the human connection to those who were left behind because warmth can only be shared when we relate with other people in life.
In his works of writing, Wilder shows a number of human connections. On some he insisted convention like the passionate bond of relationship between George and Emily's family. Some were not that conventional like the connection between the living and the dead. The worth of individual lives was well elaborated in the drama through the continuous depiction of these human relationships. There was parent to child relationship which if it existed; there would be more advantages to it than in its absence. The other relationships were of those who lived close to one another; neighbors and then human connections of the actors and the audience. At the end, Emily learnt the importance of the humanity relationships and appreciation of those people you love strongly and willingly.
Wilder's drama shows home is the best and there is no place like it. This is contrary to the traditional norms of literature on exploration and adventure. In this canonical literature, there writer espouses the other side of the custom. There is no adventure as in other plays in the past. The writer wants to insist the need to appreciate the people around you posing the unnecessary need of traveling away from home in search of comfort and appreciation elsewhere. We get to understand that the writer wants the audience to recognize the need of human connection and appreciation for the present traditions and customs in one's area of birth. The writer insists that the desires of the heart are within and around you. Just in your vicinity, that's where you can get to know your worth. The writer was reinforcing the town's old motto of finding the desires of the heart in the backyard and if you did not find them there, there was no need for the search anyway.
In the play, the writer puts in actors who understand the value of other humans in Grover's Corners and this makes them ignore the act of moving away for adventure. The need for other humans and their appreciation is the core theme. Dr. Gibbs refuses to travel to Europe because he found out that, the distance would lead to disconnection from the people of his town. George also failed to go to college as he knew he would lose the interests of his people in Grover's Corners. That's how humanity and the individual life are worth.