"Quite a Moon!": The Archetypal Feminine in Our Town

Throughout Our Town one finds examples of the moon as giver and nurturer of life, controller of milk and rain, indispensable for the growth of vegetation, animals, and human beings alike. This feminine principle is embodied in other symbols of the play as well, of which the morning star is so relevant that it must be noted. The play begins "just before dawn" as the stage manager stares at the morning star for a moment and remarks that it "always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go" (6). The morning star, also known as Venus, has always suggested the feminine principle because of its association with the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite in the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. She represents, among other things, passionate sexuality which is linked with fertility. In Our Town, stars function as more than "mighty good company" (63)· At the end of the play, the weather clears up and the stars are seen "doing their old, old crisscross journeys in the sky" (64) where it takes "millions of years for that speck of light to git to the earth" (6.3). By this Wilder is saying humankind prevails in the eternal life cycle of the universe, despite transitory darkness and death. As Hewitt points out, Thornton Wilder "says 'yes' to human life" in a "strong, affirmative voice" (76). Our Town is a hymn to life in its fertility and eternity represented by the central symbol of the archetypal moon, accompanied by stars in the night sky.

The relationship of the moon and the feminine, however, goes beyond the fertility aspect. Neumann notes that "the moon guides primitive humankind's orientation in time; for all of humanity, calculating the moons, months, and lunar year derives from the moon" (84). This moon-time is "qualitative" instead of "quantitative" in that "it undergoes changes and in changing assumes various qualities" (84). Moon-time thus described is "rhythmical and periodic, waxing and waning," and it "rules the Earth, living things, and the feminine" (84). The feminine sense of time, with its emphasis on the moment, constitutes and inspires the ultimate feminine wisdom - the "highest expression of the feminine modality of being" (Ulanov 190).

As Ann Belford Ulanov reminds us, one quality of the feminine is "a way of submitting to a process, which is seen as simply happening and is not to be forced or achieved by an effort of the will" (173). This feminine quality is predominant in the life of Our Town, as "sowing and reaping, growing and ripening, and beyond that the weal and woe of every undertaking and activity depend upon the constellations of cosmic moon-time" (Neumann, Feminine 85). In tune with the rhythm of this moon-time, people of Graver's Corners enjoy harmonious natural growth. They have "a lot of pleasures of a kind," mainly consisting of the observation of birds, sunrises and seasonal changes (17). Recall Emily's appreciation of the moon, when she says the moonlight is "so terrible" (22, 2.3) that she cannot work and "so uvn-dertul" that she "can't sleep" (28). Note that her differing valuation of the moon occurs after her conversation with George from their respective bedroom windows. It could be argued, therefore, that Emily has always felt inside her the feminine influence on her growth, which triggers her awakening sexuality. The moon-time, nevertheless, requires her to wait patiently while nature takes its course.