1148 Wilder, Thornton
the following flashback scene, George and Emily
depict how they realized their true feelings for one
another, the Stage Manager says, “But before they
do it I want you to try and remember what it was
like to have been very young. And particularly the
days when you were first in love; . . . [y]ou’re just a
little bit crazy. Will you remember that, please?” This
request connects the memory of the audience to the
memory-laden action of the scene. Through this
call for remembering the positive feelings of first
love, the Stage Manager prepares the audience for
the more difficult and “painful” memories required
in act 3.
Words closely associated with the theme of
memory—remember, memory, and forget—are
repeated constantly throughout act 3. Emily, having
died recently in giving birth to her second child,
appears in the cemetery and begins her adjustment
to leaving the world of the living. Learning that she
can return to relive any day of her choosing, Emily’s
choice of her 12th birthday is strongly criticized
by the dead who have suffered from the lessons
experienced previously. Wilder’s commentary on
how society misses or overlooks the most important
aspects of life are found in the forlorn description of
the living. The dead refer to those in the living world
as “blind”; they speak of “[i]gnorance and blind-
ness,” and say “they just don’t understand.” Wilder
uses Emily to express what his audience does not
or cannot realize about the irretrievable qualities of
their daily lives. In what is commonly referred to
as the “memory speech” in the theater profession,
Emily says good-bye to aspects of life she never
took the time to appreciate: “Good-by, Good-by,
world, Good-by Grover’s Corners . . . Mama and
Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking . . . and Mama’s
sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed
dresses and hot baths . . . and sleeping and waking
up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to
realize you.”
As Emily enters her childhood home of 14
years ago, she is struck by the memories of return-
ing that the others, already in the cemetery, warned
her about. Her line “I can’t look at everything hard
enough” clearly states another aspect of Wilder’s
memory theme, for one cannot remember what one
fails to realize in the initial experience. It is only
through returning home after dying that Emily
recognizes what she failed to see when she was alive.
Two separate stage directions contrast Emily’s
realization with her mother’s blindness to the special
moments. Emily enters her childhood home, and
the birthday girl is greeted by her mother. “Mrs.
Webb: Crossing to embrace and kiss her; in her char-
acteristic matter-of-fact manner.” For Wilder, Mrs.
Webb represents society and the failure to “see” or
recognize and take the time to enjoy the smaller
moments that create events, such as birthday cel-
ebrations. Thanking her mother for her gift, Emily
attempts to embrace her mother, but the tasks of the
morning take the focus. “Emily: She flings her arms
around her mother’s neck. Her mother goes on with her
cooking, but is pleased.” The pain of Emily’s newfound
awareness is also contained in her language. She
repeats “I can’t bear it” and “I can’t—I can’t” three
times in seven lines. The memories and the subse-
quent understanding associated with them become
too much for Emily: “I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes
so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I
didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never
noticed. Take me back—up the hill—to my grave.”
Wilder uses the theme of memory to emphasize to
his audience what should be remembered: the seem-
ingly insignificant moments that make life special.
In Our Town, the memory theme is a literary
element associated with recognition, realization, and
pain. Near the conclusion of the play, Emily asks
the Stage Manager a question that Wilder asks of
his audience through this theme. “Emily: She looks
toward the stage manager and asks abruptly, through
her tears: Do any human beings ever realize life
while they live it?—every, every minute?” The Stage
Manager’s response indicts and incites, articulating
Wilder’s thematic point.“Stage Manager: No. . . .”John PricereSponSIbILIty in Our Town
Thornton Wilder illustrates the theme of respon-
sibility in Our Town through his characters’ actions
and attitudes. Their collective personal work ethic,
dedication to family, and commitment to the com-