our town

How did the children in "Our Town" change throughout the play? Why did they change?

At the beginning of the play, all of the children acted the same. They had the same routine day by day, they would all wake up, eat breakfast, say goodbye to their parents at the same time, and then go to school. Further into the play, they seemed to get their own personality and characteristics. They also started to mature and make their own decisions. George is a prime example of this. He changes a lot, he makes the decision to stay home and not go to agriculture. He makes another mature and important decision in proposing to Emily. In doing this he had to change a lot over the past year, because just a year prior to this event, Emily had said that she did not like how he acted anymore. However he changed and turned into the perfect man whom she loved and was going to marry. Emily seems like the most mature child in the first two Acts of the play. But, she still manages to mature more. She may not have done it on earth life, but she changed for the better while she was dead. Although the other children changed also, their change was not as crucial to the story as were Emily's and George's, the changes still happened and could be noticed. These changes the characters went through helped guide them through the story line and created a relatable story, "Our Town" however small or ordinary it may be, is still an extraordinary story.