The Importance of Our Town's Narrator Anonymous College

In many books, movies, or plays, a writer sometimes includes an outside perspective aside from the perspectives of the main characters, that of someone who recalls specific details or events of that storyline. Generally in these stories, this is known as a narrator but in the play Our Town this is known as the Stage Manager. In Thornton Wilder's masterpiece, the Stage Manager acts as a narrator and one of the most important characters of the play; revealing history of the town, foreshadowing of the story and providing insight on the setting. The Stage Manager is the most important character in the play due to all the information he provides for the audience, which helps viewers to understand the play and helps to put it in perspective for them.

In the beginning of this play, the Stage Manager introduces the small town of Grover's Corners which according to him is in New Hampshire. One of the main reasons this character is the most important person in the play is because he introduces the setting. He does this by explaining to the audience directly, “The First Act shows a day in our town. The day is May 7, 1901. The time is just before dawn. The sky is beginning to show some streaks of light over in the East there, behind our...