Our Town Papers & Assignment Topics

Essay Topics/Writing Assignments

These 20 essay questions can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment. Students should have a full understanding of the text in order to answer these questions. They ask for a thorough analysis of the text.

1. What are the titles given to the three acts in this play, and what significance do they have to the plot?

2. This play takes place in a few different settings. Describe some of these settings and how they affect the course of the plot. Why might Thornton Wilder have chosen these particular places for this plot to take place?

3. Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs are very similar in nature although very different in many other areas. What are some of these intrinsic differences and similarities, and what message(s) was Wilder was trying to...
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