Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Boundaries of Obligation in American Politics
- 1 Community and Special Obligations
- 2 The Boundaries of Imagined Communities
- 3 Imagined Gates and Neighbors
- 4 Restricting National Boundaries
- 5 Blurring the Color Line
- 6 Conclusion
- Appendix
- References
- Index
- Titles in the Series
3 - Imagined Gates and Neighbors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Boundaries of Obligation in American Politics
- 1 Community and Special Obligations
- 2 The Boundaries of Imagined Communities
- 3 Imagined Gates and Neighbors
- 4 Restricting National Boundaries
- 5 Blurring the Color Line
- 6 Conclusion
- Appendix
- References
- Index
- Titles in the Series
Summary
The narrator in Thornton Wilder's Our Town begins his monologue by setting the stage so that his audience can picture the small town of Grover's Corners.
Well, I'd better show you how our town lies. Up here – is Main Street. Way back there is the railway station; tracks go that way. Polish Town's across the tracks, and some Canuck families. Over there is the Congregational Church; across the street's the Presbyterian. Methodist and Unitarian are over there. Baptist is down in the holla' by the river. Catholic Church is over beyond the tracks. Here's the Town Hall and Post Office combined; jail's in the basement.
(Wilder 1965, 4)It has ethnic and religious diversity, a railway linking the town to the wider world, and a political center. However, Grover's Corners is more than simply a backdrop; its residents feel a sense of commonality with one another because of a long history living in close proximity and the web of social relationships that have developed as a result. The sense of community or “glue” that holds people together is what ties the story of George Gibbs and Emily Webb with that of their friends and neighbors. Living in this town affects its inhabitants' attitudes toward one another, toward the local paper and their constable, and toward serving and dying for their country. Defining Grover's Corners as their community affects how they think of their own roles, identities, and obligations, and how they view their relationships with other members of the town.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Boundaries of Obligation in American PoliticsGeographic, National, and Racial Communities, pp. 63 - 111Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010