Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, in three short acts, encompasses the human experience of life. Each act represents a different stage of life as it follows the evolving lives of Emily Webb and George Gibbs and ultimately depicts an idyllic version of America in which it illustrates a desired simpler and more peaceful time. With this in mind, the setting itself, a friendly and peaceful Grover's Corners, the characters, such as Emily and George, devoid of any flaws, and the overall fanciful ideas about life and death that predominate in the third act, work together in Our Town to romanticize. average life in America. This notion of romanticizing life and making it seem bigger or better than it actually is contrasts with the realism necessary in a tragedy. Realism allows the audience to form a deeper connection with the characters, where the characters' struggles become their own, allowing the catharsis to ensue that is necessary to make it a tragedy. Therefore, the people, the city itself and the ideas of Our Town lack the realism of real life by focusing on the nostalgic and romantic version of everything; in doing so, it avoids being seen as a tragedy. Wilder's play Our Town ultimately conveys a sentimental romanticism through its depiction of life rather than focusing on its tragic nature through realism. Grover's Corners, as an entity itself, expresses nostalgia for a simpler time because it is an idyllic memory of America that omits realistically negative attributes. of a real city. Through Grover's Corners and its inhabitants, Wilder proposes to demonstrate nature and the lives of ordinary people by presenting Grover's Corners as an archetypal town that can become anyone's town and look like anyone... middle of paper ...... radiates life through sentimental romanticism and therefore lacks the realism necessary for it to be considered a tragedy. The setting itself, Grover's Corners, is just an idyllic version of an American town playing on the idea of ​​a simpler time in America. It lacks the sufficient realistic qualities of any negative attributes to be able to properly illustrate a typical city. The characters also lack realistic human qualities and flaws and become mere romantic symbols of youthful innocence. Finally, romance portrays something better than it actually is, and the fact that Emily can be happy and reunited with her family even after her death plays into this very idea. Therefore, Our Town depicts life better than it really is, making it a romance rather than a tragedy. Works Cited Our Town by Thornton Wilder Our Town - Great American Tragedy? by Stephens