Austin+F.

=**__Thornton Wilder__**=

BIOGRAPHY:
1897- He was born in April 17, 1897 in Madison Wisconsin. 1906 - In May of 1906 his family moved to Hong Kong, where his father became America Consul General. Then in October he moved back to America and lived in Berkley, California. There he was enrolled in public school until 1910. 1911- He moved back to China for a year and enrolled in China Inland Mission School. 1912- He moved back to Berkley, California 1915- He graduated from Berkley High School and enrolled in Oberlin College until 1917. 1920- He earned his B.A. at Yale College and his first play, “The Trumpet Shall Sound”, is written and put in the Yale Literary Magazine. He also started to teach French at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. 1926- His play “The Trumpet Shall Sound” was produced by the American Laboratory Theater. Also, his first book “The Cabala” is published and he earned a M.A. degree in French Literature from Princeton University. 1927- His Pulitzer Prize winning novel “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” is published. 1928- A collections of small plays called “Angel that Troubled the Waters” is published. 1930- His novel “The Woman of Andros” is published. 1931- “The Long Christmas Dinner”, “Queens of France”, “Pullman Car Hiawatha”, “Love and How to Cure It”, “Such Thing Happen Only in Books”, and “The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden” are all one act plays which where published in 1931. 1935- The novel “Heaven’s My Destination” is published. 1938- His Pulitzer Prize winning play “Our Town” is published. 1939- The play “Merchant of Yonkers” is published 1942- The play “The Skin of Our Teeth” is published. 1948- The novel “The Ides of March” is published. 1955- The play “The Matchmaker”, which is revised from “Merchant of Yonkers”, is published. 1957- He earns the German Peace Prize. 1960- Two plays “Childhood” and “Infancy” are both published. 1963- He earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 1965- He earned the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature. 1967- The novel “The Eighth Day” is published. 1973- The novel “Theophilus North” is published. 1975- On December 7, 1975 Thornton Wilder dies in Hamden, Connecticut.

FACTS OF THE 1930'S:
("Past is a Blast" )
 * 1) United States population was 123,188,000.
 * 2) Unemployment rose to 25%.
 * 3) Milk was an average of 14 cents a qt., bread was 9 cents a loaf, and steak was 42 cents a pound.
 * 4) Average life expectancy for males was 58.1 years and for females was 61.6 years.
 * 5) Mystery books were popular due to the fact that they could of the mystery instead of the Depression.
 * 6) During the period of 1929-32 the average income was reduced 40% from 2,300 to 1,500.
 * 7) Germany’s and Italy’s democracies fell into dictatorship.
 * 8) The Social Security act of 1935 was made to ensure an income for elderly citizens.
 * 9) The Wagner act of 1935 gave the right for workers unionize.
 * 10) The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin with an African American athlete, Jesse Owens, won four gold medals in track and field.
 * 11) In 1935, Andrew Mellon contributed $10 million to the construction of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
 * 12) Several American authors, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and of course Thornton Wilder, wrote great works of fiction.
 * 13) In 1931 Congress chose “The Star Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.
 * 14) Mary McLeod Bethune an African American women was a board member of the National Youth Administration and she was able to give a greater amount of rights for the black community.
 * 15) The Dick and Jane books were first published in 1931 to teach young children how to read.

Beginning:
==== “Polish Town’s across the tracks, and some Canuck families... Over there is the Congregational Church; across the street’s the Presbyterian. Methodist and Utarian are over there. Baptist is down in the holla’ by the river. Catholic Church is over beyond the tracks.” p.4 ====

Interpretation:
==== This shows how people always will generalize people into different groups. I say this because the man in this story new exactly were ever heritage lives. Also by this generalization it might cause prejudice and that could definitely be the reason why those certain heritages live in those groupings. ====

 Climax:
“Emily:  I never felt so alone in my life. And George over there looking so...! I hate him. I wish I were dead. Papa! Papa!” p.79

 Falling Action:
 “Gradual changes in Grover’s Corners. Horses are getting rarer. Farmers coming into town in Fords. Everybody locks their house doors now at night.” p. 86

Interpretation:
==== The central theme has change over the text because before the town was a small town then it started to grow. It was a small town because everybody still used horses and what we would consider modern technology was scares. Then as time progressed the farmers had Fords and they locked their doors, starting to get paranoid. ====

 Conclusion:
 “Mr. Stimons: ...That’s what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance.” p. 109

THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY QUOTE:
“There was no room in his imagination for a new loyalty, not because his heart was less large than Manuel’s, but because it was of a simpler texture.” p.45

LETTER:
777 W. Euclid Ave.Littleton, CO. 801201-7-12

Dear Thornton Wilder, I read your book, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and your play, Our Town for a Great American Writers unit Language Arts Seminar. I have been studying you for about 4 weeks now and I have grown to appreciate your writings. This letter to you is to describe my interpretations and my opinions on your writing.

Between both of the pieces I feel that there are some similarities and differences. Philosophy is a similarity in both of the pieces, I felt. In “Our Town” you showed a philosophy at the end, how the dead must view life as a human. In The “Bridge of San Luis Rey” how Brother Juniper tries to explain if there is a set plan by God for all humans to follow or if we are responsible for our own outcome. Another similarity is how every characters storyline intertwined, so that each storyline could reason from another. A difference I found is that in The Bridge of San Luis Rey the people did lived in what seemed like a small town they travelled to other countries, in Europe, but in Our Town people stayed in Grover’s Corners the whole time.

What I really enjoyed about your books was that the level of detail gave me a new way to think of what we use everyday. “There was no room in his imagination for a new loyalty, not because his heart was less large than Manuel’s, but because it was of a simpler texture.” I believe that this quote uses this level of detail because we use the size of someones heart as how much affection they have, but this quote gives an idea of texture to describe the heart. By giving more ways to describing the heart you have lead to more ways of understanding the affection. “Polish Town’s across the tracks, and some Canuck families... Over there is the Congregational Church; across the street’s the Presbyterian. Methodist and Utarian are over there. Baptist is down in the holla’ by the river. Catholic Church is over beyond the tracks.” What I like in this quote is you showed how people thought of the towns around them. They would split up and generalize the people by their church or by there heritage, be they Polish or Canuck. I feel that your writing is one of the best that I have come to know in my life so far. My affection toward your writing isn’t anything but large and smooth hearted.

Sincerely, Austin F.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
. "Biography." // Thornton Wilder Society //. Thornton Wilder Society, 2003. Web. .

. "Books and Writers." // iSEEK //. N.p., 2008. Web. .//

// "Fun Facts-1930." // Past is a Blast //. (2008): n. page. Web. 7 // // Jan. 2012. // // . //

// Wilder, Thornton. // The Bridge of San Luis Rey //. New York: // // HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2003. Print. //

// Wilder, Thornton. // Our Town //. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2003. Print.