Our Town Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.

Quote #10

And there’s Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb come down to make breakfast, just as though it were an ordinary day. I don’t have to point out to the women in my audience that those ladies they see before them, both of those ladies cooked three meals a day – one of ‘em for twenty years, the other for forty – and no summer vacation. They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house, - and never a nervous breakdown. (II.25)

The Stage Manager points out that Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs work much, much harder than women today.

Quote #11

Don’t you remember that you used to say, - all the time you used to say – all the time: that I was your girl! There must be lots of places we can go to. I’ll work for you. I could keep house. (II.347)

Scared to belong to another man, Emily begs for her father to keep possession of her, suggesting that husbands and father are possessors whereas wives and daughters are possessions.