Our Town Chapter Summary & Analysis - Act 3, Part 1 Summary

Act 3, Part 1 Summary

Stage directions indicate that the setting has been changed - rows of chairs have been set up on one side of the stage, with directions indicating that they represent graves. Before the act begins, several characters come in and take their places in the cemetery - Simon Stimson, Wally Webb, Mrs. Soames, and Mrs. Gibbs among them. There is a conspicuously empty chair in the front row.

The Stage Manager comes in, announces that nine years have passed since the previous act, and reveals some of the important changes that have taken place, expressly referring to how more and more people are driving cars and locking their houses at night. He describes the location of the cemetery and introduces some of the people now resting there, including those listed in the previous paragraph. He then talks about how "we all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses and...
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