"our town" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

But to end the act on a less solemn note, the Stage Manager steps out to say, "You can go and smoke now, those that smoke."

^^^^^^^^^^OUR TOWN: ACT II

The stage for the second act still has the tables and chairs for the two kitchens, though the ladders and small bench are gone. Again the Stage Manager has been watching the audience settle down.

"Three years have gone by. Yes, the sun's come up over a thousand times." The Stage Manager tells you what's been happening--the mountains cracked a little bit more and some babies who hadn't been born three years ago have started to talk in complete sentences. Things are placed side by side like in the first act--the small and the large, the trivial detail of everyday life and the enormous force of nature.

The Stage Manager also tells the audience that the first act was called "Daily Life." This one will be "Love and Marriage." He implies that the last act will be about death.

NOTE: BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH These are the three major crises of human existence according to Wilder. He believes that most people are so caught up in the everyday small events, like the weather and stringing beans, that they fail to see the real grandeur and terror of life as it passes. It is only when one of these three crises occurs that people stand back and take a look at being alive. Usually, at these times, it's impossible to avoid being aware of the importance of the event. At other times, Wilder believes, we live out our lives in a state of self-imposed blindness.

The date is July 7, 1904, and it's been raining. Otherwise, this morning seems to begin very much the same way that the morning of Act I began--the 5:45 train has blown its whistle, and Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs are fixing breakfast.

The Stage Manager points out that "both of those ladies cooked three meals a day--one of 'em for twenty years, the other for forty--and no summer vacation. They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house,--and never a nervous breakdown. It's like what one of those Middle West poets said: You've got to love life to have life, and you've got to have life to love life.... It's what they call a vicious circle."

NOTE: THE POET AND WOMAN'S PLACE The midwest poet is Edgar Lee Masters, and the poem is "Lucinda Matlock." Lucinda, the narrator of the poem, lived to ninety-six, working hard, taking care of her family (like Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb), and enjoying every minute of it. She ends by saying:

What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,

Anger, discontent, and drooping hopes?

Degenerate sons and daughters,

Life is too strong for you-

It takes life to love life.

Is Wilder saying that women are happiest working hard and taking care of their families? Or is he saying that people are happiest working hard and taking care of their families? What do you think?

The "action" begins with the milkman and the newspaper boy (Joe's younger brother Si, this time), and they talk about a wedding and the weather. Look back to the beginning of Act I. They talked about the same things then, and Joe wasn't any more enthusiastic about marriage than his brother is now. Why do you suppose Wilder uses this kind of repetition?

Howie delivers the milk to Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs, and at each house you hear the same conversation about the weather and the wedding. If you hadn't guessed long ago, you now know that Emily and George are getting married.

Over breakfast, Mrs. Gibbs worries about the wedding ("they're too young") and the doctor reminisces about being a groom and his fears that he and his wife would run out of things to talk about.

The talk is typical of the kinds of things people say before weddings. The doctor's words are sentimental and nostalgic, but Mrs. Gibbs's words are quite different. She says, "Weddings are perfectly awful things. Farces,--that's what they are!" Wilder's feeling that marriage is neither all good nor all bad but a mixture of both is typical of his understanding of human relationships. You will meet this double perception again in the play.

The parents have a bit of trouble trying to think of their son as an adult--"that great gangling thing!" says the doctor. And when George comes down and wants to run across to see Emily, his mother makes him put on his overshoes.

It's all very typical, parents having trouble realizing that their children are growing up. But before you start thinking of it as overly sentimental, look again. Did you notice how many references to death there are in this little scene? George pretends to cut his throat; Mrs. Gibbs keeps talking about his death of cold and says, "From tomorrow on you can kill yourself in all weathers." Why do you suppose Wilder did this? Is he preparing you for the next act? Is he saying that death is always a part of life? What do you think?

Mrs. Webb won't let George see Emily. Traditionally, a groom is not allowed to see his bride on the wedding day until the ceremony begins. That's just superstition, George protests, but Mr. Webb says, "There's a lot of common sense in some superstitions...."

NOTE: SUPERSTITIONS Are customs and superstitions founded on common sense? Or do they just keep people from recognizing what life is like? A superstition will keep you on a known path that avoids risks. Do you have to step off the path to encounter the very best and worst of life? Is this what Wilder is saying?

You might want to consider the idea that customs keep people bound into a very narrow view of life. This idea is repeated near the end of the play by Emily. Can you identify any customs or superstitions in your life or in the lives of people you know? Do they put unnecessary limits on life?

The nervous groom sits down to a cup of coffee with Mr. Webb, the almost equally nervous future father-in-law. Mr. Webb makes various attempts at small talk and assures George that all men feel just the way he does. "A man looks pretty small at a wedding.... All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way."