Thornton Wilder and Arthur Miller: A Brief History of Time, Space, and Matter

Abstract

While many literary theories focus on materialistic concerns, less frequently have these theories focused on the spiritual matters arising from such concerns. A cosmological interpretive strategy focuses on such spiritual and cosmic themes rather than ignoring them. This essay’s analysis will focus on using a cosmological interpretive strategy to analyze Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Arthur Miller’s The Man Who Had All the Luck. This strategy will reveal that, rather than merely being focused on spatial and material concerns, these texts also demonstrate a concern with our relationships with nature and the wider cosmos. Through their narratives, both Wilder and Miller address the passage of time and the questions of agency which occur when thinking about time. This analysis will demonstrate how these stories deny economic and historical determinism in favor of an interdependency between humans and the wider cosmos. These texts help reveal reality as a set of interconnected narratives and histories that include each individual, the societies around that individual, nature around those societies, and the wider cosmos within which everything exists.