Our Town Essay by Ahkeyla Lee

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“Here’s the grocery store and here’s Mr. Morgan’s Drugstore. Most everybody in town manages to look into those two stores once a day (5.Stage Manager.) A small town without a lot of people, that’s exactly what the line above just told us. In the Play Our Town the stage manager tells us about a small town called Grover’s Corner. According to Professor Willard “within the town’s limits: 2, 640. (23 Willard)” That’s the population of this little town. Living in a small community can have its up’s and down. Grover’s Corner doesn’t want to modernize, nor is there any privacy, but there are some good qualities like knowing who ever you fall in love with in the town has basically grown up like you, or that you know everyone in the community.
Most small communities never want to modernize. As in updating to the most recent form of things they already have. By being a small town inside of a larger city, it shows that Grover’s Corner doesn’t want to modernize because they think it’s going to become more like the city. “They’re all getting citified, that’s the trouble with them. They haven’t got nothing fit to burgle and everybody knows it.” (Dr. Gibbs)The Citizens of this community are so afraid of change. And in their case change would be a good thing. The life style of living in an old fashioned way is not good at all. My Concern is that if the town as a whole doesn’t want to upgrade to a better or more advance way of living will they ever grow and learn how to live and make mistakes as they come.
Another big problem in Grover’s Corner is Privacy. “In our town we like to know the facts about everybody” (Mrs.Gibbs). Grover’s Corner is already small so it’s obvious that there are most likely no secrets, but has since everyone is so close...

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...ut each other. Helping each other is something key to the town. It brings in a sense of loyalty and knowing that someone is always by your side.
Living in Grover’s Corner can be an eye opener to wanting to modernize and live in the a world where new things happen to help instead of hinder, or it can be a lesson that teaches you how being close and doing things that your family approve can be a good quality in life. The Play “Our Town” lets you see the play in your own point of view. Either you can see living in a small community and not having much privacy as a good quality or you can think that being so close to your neighbors is a bad thing. Either way the play shows us that caring for each other and helping each other out is something you have to work on and become better. The play lets us know as long as we live our life as we want no one can take that from us.

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