Question

Good-by, Grover's Corners . . . Mama and Papa. Good-by to clocks ticking . . . and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot bath . . . and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Emily’s climactic speech is an example of _____. thematic development figurative language both A and B none of the above

Answer 1

The correct answer is both A and B. Thematic development is simply the development of the main theme or themes of an artistic work. For Our Town, the main theme is that people should enjoy and appreciate every happy and small moment and detail in life as they live through them for life is too short and those moments are then gone from time and into memory, never to come back. When Emily dramatically and tearfully says goodbye not only to people she loves but to inanimate things as “clocks ticking, sunflowers, food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot bath . . . and sleeping and waking up” She realizes how all of these small details and moments made her happy and filled her life with love and light. The ticking clock is a recurrent motif of the play as it reinforces the fact that time flies and then it is gone. Because all of these inanimate objects and actions symbolize and personify the beauty and the happiness of ordinary life, the language is thus figurative as she is not saying goodbye to a ticking clock or a sunflower or a dress but to the joy these objects gave her which enhanced the love she received and gave.