Honors English III: Today’s Class

1. Reflection on The Glass Menagerie Essay2. Introduction: Our Town by Thornton Wilder

and essay assignment3. Review Notes: “How to Analyze Literature”4. View Our Town, pt. 1 & take notes for in-

class essay.5. Notes will be collected at the end of class

How did you do?• Take a look at the AP Essay scoring rubric.• Read back over your essay from last week.• For a class work grade, analyze your essay

based on these rubric guidelines, and explain what score your essay should have received, and why.

• This week’s essay will be scored based on this rubric for a quiz grade.– If you did not turn one in, write a response

explaining why you did not turn one in.– If you turned in a homework pass, share

someone’s essay sitting near you.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Our Town by Thornton Wilder (1938)• At any given time on

any given day, this play is being performed somewhere around the world.

• No scenery or props except for tables, chairs, ladders

• Purpose: concentrate on characters, themes, and universality

Our Town by Thornton Wilder• Stage Manager- narrator

and character• Setting: Grover’s

Corners, NH in 1901• Titles of Acts:– “Daily Life”– “Love and Marriage”– “Death”

Our Town by Thornton Wilder• Themes:

1. People should appreciate life while they are living it.

2. Carpe Diem (seize the day).

3. Little things in life are really big things.

4. No town can isolate itself from the rest of the world.

5. No community is perfect, not even idyllic Grover’s Corners.

The Playwright: Thornton Wilder

• 1897-1975• Lost a twin brother at

birth• Army brat-lived in China

for a while• Wrote his entire life• Globally acclaimed for

his plays• Works are still famous

to this day

Your Assignment: Choose One• 1997. Novels and plays often include scenes of

weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit

• 2004, Form B. The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary