Term
| "The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go,-doesn't it?" p.4 |
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Definition
Stage manager to the audience Wilder is drawing our attention to details and natural beauty. The stage manager is providing exposition.
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Term
| "There's some scenery for those who think they have to have scenery." p.5 |
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Definition
Stage manager to audience telling the audience that you don't need to have realistic things and special effects he is providing exposition
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Term
| "Nobody very remarkable ever come out of it, s'far as we know." p.6 |
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Definition
Stage manager to audience He is saying that the town is normal, or ordinary. It could be any town, even our town. he is providing exposition
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Term
| "A shelf of Devonian basalt crosses it with vestiges of Mesozoic shale, and some sandstone outcroppings; but that's all more recent: two hundred, three hundred million years old... no evidence of humans before the tenth century of this era. p. 22 |
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Definition
Proffesser Willard to the stage manager and the audience He is telling us that we are so small in comparison to the earth. We usually think that the earth revolves around us and Wilder is trying to make us see how small we really are. For example, if you made a clock and put when the earth was created at about the 1, humans come in at eleven fifty-nine. this is a paradox, which is a seeming contradiction that reveals some truth. He is also trying to give us perspective, and show a comparison between humans and the earth. His is giving us information about Grover's corners
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Term
| "Very ordinary town, if you ask me. Little better behaved than most. Probably a lot duller." p.24 |
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Definition
Mr. Webb to the stage manager and the audience. Again, he is saying that this town is not special, and is not famous. This town could be our town. he is giving us information about grover's corners
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Term
| "We like the sun comin' up over the mountain in the morning, and we all notice a good deal about the birds. We pay a lot of attention to them. And we watch the change of the seasons, yes, everybody knows about them." p.26 |
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Definition
Stage manager talking to the lady in the box He is trying to remind us to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. He is saying that we don't need things that cost a lot of money because we have nature's beauty. We have the birds and the sunrise, which is beauty that we can have for free. He is answering the lady when she asks, "Is there any culture or love of beauty in Grover's corners?"
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Term
| "Y'know--Babylon once had two million people in it, and all we know about 'em is the names of the kings and some copies of wheat contracts ... and contracts for the sale of slaves. Yet every night all those families sat down to supper, and the father came home from his work, and the smoke went up the chimney, --same as here. And even in Greece and Rome, all we know about the real life of the people is what we can piece together out of joking poems and the comedies they wrote for theatre back then." p.33 |
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Definition
The stage manager is talking to the audience about a time capsule and what he wants people to remember. Wilder is reminding us that we are small, but important (a paradox), but also that all of these people were the same around the world. There is an archetype, or a universal pattern. These people were the same as us. He is also trying to tell us that the stories survive. The poems and plays will be what people in the future know about us.
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Term
| "This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying. p.33 |
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Definition
This is the stage manager to the audience. He is talking about the time capsule, and how people in the future will know how we live and all about our culture. This is archetype over cycle of life.
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Term
| "Good evening Simon ... Town seems to have settled down for the night pretty well.... Good evening... Yes, most of the town's settled down for the night, Simon... I guess we better do the same. Can I walk along a ways with you?" p.44 |
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Definition
This is Mr. Webb talking to Simon Stimson when he is drunk. Instead of laughing or gossiping about Simon, he is worried and is trying to help. He is not passing judgement, he is giving Simon sympathy and concern.
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Term
| "I never told you about that letter Jane Crofut got from her minister when she was sick. He wrote Jane a letter and on the envelope the adress was like this: It said: Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover's Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire, United States of America. But listen, it's not finished: the United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the Mind of God." p.46 |
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Definition
This is Rebecca talking to George and telling him about a letter that a lady got when she was sick. This is a paradox, because we are reminded that we are small, but important. Compared to everything and everyone we may seem unimportand, but to the people around us, we may mean everything to them.
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