The Theme in Our Town From Eco—criticism

孙琪+王钦明

（1云南師范大学 云南 昆明 650500； 2昆明理工大学 云南 昆明 650504）

Abstract： Thornton Wilder's Our Town， whose theme has a double meaning of human existence. One side， it confirms the universality and imperishability of the daily life's value. The other side， it points out as one part of the universe human is endowed with human spirit immortal.

Key Words： certainty； life； death； faith

Ⅰ.Introduction

Thornton Wilder， O'Neill， Miller and Williams are four American playwrights. Thornton Wilder is the sole man of letters acquiring the Pulitzer Prize for both novel and drama. Our Town is the crowning achievement of his drama writing. In this play， Wilder shows us a small town named Grover's Corner in New Hampshire and the events happening on the town This play consists of three scenes. The first scene starts with milkman and newsy. The second scene happens after three years when George and Emily got married. The third scene is in the summer of 1931 when Emily died from parodynia. This play has no complicated plot and exaggerated conflict， filled with cozy rural feeling tone. Wilder endows this small town universal significance and composes a pastoral lyric eulogizing life beauty and praising life. It is said that literary works reappears the social life that is a crystallization of culture. Thus I wants to investigates Our Town from ecocriticism.

1. Man and Nature

The discovery of the New World rekindles the European traditional faith---there is a Garden of Earthly Delights in somewhere of eastern Europe. The settlements in the New World try their best to conquer the wasteland for their survival. However， they form their dependence and revere on Earth Mother. This kind of feeling gets development and sublimation in the literary movement of American romanticism and transcendentalism. Emerson， Thoreau， Whitman and Emily Dickinson call upon people to acquire enlightenment to hunt for truths for meaning. Ardently loving nature has already become a main subject of American literature. Our Town is a modern continuation of this tradition. In the first scene， a woman in box asks， "is there any culture or love for beauty in Grover's Corner？" The editor Webb says， "We have a lot of fun. We like climbing to the sky under the sun from the back of the mountain. We focus on the happiness and sorrows of birds.....". Indeed as he said， what throughout the drama is people's special love for the nature. For example， stage supervisor describes the sun shines little by little. They comment stars at dawn. Children wrestle for watching the moon in the night sky. And more notably， the cirrus and flesh flowers on Gibs' door. There are many sunflowers in her garden. All this make people feel pastoral clearness， fragrance and tranquility.

The natural intimacy with town residents also appear as their peaceful co-existence and interdependence with animals. First， the play opens at the dawn of a new day with the cry of the cock. Then milkman holds imaginary house comes along with yo-heave-ho. Dr Gibs says that delivered smoothly as cats. Dr. Gibs says the voice of his wife is like a raven. She also recalls， "she blindly marries like a bat". People's rural life needs animals' help or use that 125 horses as conveyance. These images jointly create a cultural dimension of this small town---tranquil， pureness and assimilated into nature.

2. the Localism in Our Town

Local literature sprang up in occident in the 19th century. The climax of American local literature emerges in the 1920s and 1930s. American famous local writers include Mark Twain， Hovell and so on. The difference between local literature and other literary features is that it depicts the local culture and customs in a given area or slather slang in an area. As American famous rural playwright， Wilder's masterpiece Our Town express local creative ideas. The play scenario is in a small town named Grover's Corner in New Hampshire that gets away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The residents here keep close contact with nature， enjoy leisurely rural life， love traditional customs and have great affection for their community. In the first scene， Wilder describes the morning activities of the townspeople. These residents' life enjoy local characteristics. Mrs. Webb's and Mrs. Gibs' gardens are full of various flowers and plants in the nature. In the first scene， there is a scene depicts Mrs. Gibs' life. After making breakfast for children and sending children to school， Mrs. Gibs fill her apron with chicken food and then goes to backyard to feed them and chat with them. "Go away， go away. What is wrong with you " "Beat， beat， beat. You know rub. You are not my chook. Where are you from....Do not be afraid . Nobody would hurt you ？" These pictures vividly describe living thing of the common day， enjoying typical localism.

What Grover's Corner in New Hampshire shows us is rural scenery away from cities. It is silent and overflowing. Residents are harmonious with nature， which ismanifested in two dimensions： first， residents' love for nature. When a woman in Box asks if there is any "culture and love of beauty" in the town， Mr. Webb answers that though the town itself has little cosmopolitan culture， the residents appreciate the simple pleasures in life. Done taking questions， Mr. Web retires to his house and begins mowing the lawn. The stage manager's vivid description for the sky and children' eager to see the moon in the sky all reflect people's love for nature. Second， the harmonious contact and interdependence between people and animals. local residents frequently use many symbols in colloquial speech. These vivid language images separate residents from citizens， showing the unique charm of this small town.

3. Localism and Nostalgia

In the play， Wilder does not mould a small town named Grover's Corner as a backward and closed place. In contrast， the cultural atmosphere here is syncretic and open. At the beginning of the first scene， when stage manager introduces the town's layout to audiences， he says， "a station is behind the street， station extends from this way. A Poland city is across the railway. Some Canadian families are also there. （turn left） Congregational Church is over there. Presbyterian Church is crossing the street. Christianity Church is far away from railway". From the layout， for one thing， the town is not totally closed. Because there is an updated railway. Various immigrant families settle down and various religious faith are obvious. For another thing， modern civilization represented by railway has already invaded American traditional town represented by Grover's Corner. Social economy and culture is in the transitional period， which causes the great changes of the modern society and survival crisis of modern people， particularly the identity crisis for individual identity and collective identity. However， nostalgia is the most universal way to solve identity crisis.

Under the impetus of modern science and technology， modern society is developing fast and people seeking modern urban civilization as well as the stimulus brought by money and power. Nevertheless， traditional human's notion is also shaken in the developing process. Thus modern people are so confused by themselves. Our Town is published during the great depression of American economy. Experiencing the pain caused by imbalance of economic development， people turn to look back in the hope of balancing modern life by virtue of the good old days. So many leftist writers no longer pursue new philosophical ideas but compliment those customs and precedents helping America to pull through crisis， which contributes to the emergence of nostalgic theme in literature. They reexamine history and realize the similarity between present and past. Even they are eager to treat the tradition left by Lincoln as guiding principle against bad factor disrupting American life. They miss the past and long for recovering the past things. And this drama is such an example. George gives up the opportunity to study at the state-owned Agricultural University and choose to take over his uncle's farm in town. Mrs. Gibs' best wish is to visit Europe. But when getting a fortune， she continues to stay at this town. Even after she dies， her corpse come back. Dr. Gibs and Editor. Webb's favorite hobby is to study civil war history. Every two year Gibs goes to the civil war and he holds， "biennial visit civil war is enough for everyone. This is a common town， but people who once left here eventually come back here， even those college students come back after graduation. Returning the town is a return for local culture.

Ⅴ Conclusion

This paper mainly uses the theory of Ethical Literary Criticism to analyze Thornton Wilders play Our Town. Thornton Wilder， with the nostalgia in his heart， shows to all the readers from America to the whole world that human can find a sense of belonging and regain confidence in life. Even more， they complete self-identity construction.

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