Our Town

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

Our Town takes place between 1901 and 1913. What was daily life like in early 1900s America? In what ways was it similar or different in comparison to American life today?

Teaching Suggestion: This question can begin to gauge students’ general familiarity with the period in which the play is set and how they understand it. Students can be encouraged to offer insight into any aspect of early 1900s life they are aware of, including lifestyle, popular culture, work, family life, love, religion, death, and more.

• “American History 1900 - 1909 - How We Lived” is a 16-mm film strip featuring photographs and other artifacts from early 1900s America and a description of daily life during this period.
• “Mortality in the United States: Past, Present, and Future” is a scholarly article with tables and graphs comparing mortality rates and causes and life expectancy from 1900 to the present in the United States. Statistics such as these might allow students to draw additional conclusions about the differences in lifestyles between the time periods and might provide an introduction to the theme of The Cycle of Life, Love, and Death.

Short Activity

In this activity, you will write a short poem or descriptive paragraph on what you consider to be the most interesting or important aspect of 1900s American life.

Teaching Suggestion: After completing the short answer question and examining reputable resources such as those below on life in 1900s America, students can complete this brief creative assignment. They might showcase an emotional connection to a featured topic in their piece of writing. Students can be encouraged to share their creations if they choose.

• “Daughters 1900” by Marilyn Nelson is a poem describing the staunch and strict roles of women in early 1900s America.
• The entry for the years 1900-1910 in the Fashion History Timeline shows evolving fashion trends for women, men, and children during the time.
• This presentation from the Library of Congress gives a quick overview of the political and cultural environment in the first decades of the 20th century.

Differentiation Suggestion: Visual learners can choose to create an illustration or storyboard of their chosen aspect of American life and either verbally explain its meaning or include a brief written description. Aspiring writers may want to research the poetic form of the villanelle and attempt to write a poem in this challenging style, as Marilyn Nelson did.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the play.

People move quickly through life and often forget to stop and appreciate the simple, smaller things around them. What do you most appreciate about Life and the Ordinary? How do you remind yourself to be appreciative, and how do you express your appreciation to the world?

Teaching Suggestion: One of the central questions represented in this work regards the extent to which we notice the beauty and importance of daily life and relationships while we are experiencing them. This question prompts students to remember what they appreciate and, in a sense, acts as an opposing force to one of the play’s fundamental themes and problems, People’s Lack of Appreciation for Life and the Ordinary.

• “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost is a poem that explores the temporary state of life and the beauty within it.