“Our Town” is a very out of world and place play (literally), with a very extraordinary narrator, who narrates the play in a interesting manner of where he tells us what the future beholds at random spots in the story. Most would say, that for an interesting character would be one we have followed, like Ms. Webb, or Emily, or the aforementioned Narrator, but i would like to point out how Simon Stimson quite changed a lot, even for appearing very few times and late in the book, Simon Stimson changes quite well.
The first time we see Simon Stimson is during a choir practice, where they sing “Blessed be the tie that binds” in which he is partly drunk and directs the choir to be “softer” which then leads to a fit of him yelling at them in rage. we later learn that Simon Stimson is a raging alcoholic in the words of Mrs. Soames “To have the organist of the church drunk and drunk year after year.” and Mrs. Webb “Its getting better. i have been in that choir twice as long as you have.” suggesting that Simon Stimson, despite having a despisable alcoholic attitude now, was even worse back then. The next time we see Simon Stimson is when he walks out from the bar, but he doesn’t say or do anything too strange that tells us more than we know already, and so, skipping that scene we arrive at the graveyard in Act III. In act III we learn that Simon Stimson hung himself in an attic, suggesting that his alcoholism was probably a sort of grief or internal depression that soon sent him spiraling into a quick mess. Despite knowing this, in the graveyard Stimson seems to change, from when before he was a anger-induced alcoholic and now he seems to have a almost softer way of heart and more normal interaction with other characters. The first thing Simon Stimson said is “I am always uncomfortable when they’re around” but he does not say it in a disgusting matter, almost in a nonchalant way. when Mrs. Soames says that life was wonderful, Simon Stimson glances at her and gives a quick comment with “Wonderful, was it?” which could reference his life with alcoholism, but it almost felt a little quiet, like he did not mean it in a condescending or judgmental way, it felt like a simple question, to me at least. When Emily arrives as a dead soul, Simon Stimson is not bitter or sour or weird, he asks “How do you do, Emily.” in a firm manner, but never in a bite or bark. it really is a step up from the suffering and yelling, because now, although a little firm in words, he more or less seems content and reasonable. When Emily comes back from reliving a quick part of a day from the past, Simon Stimson talks about how she now knows about what it was like to be alive and human, to live in ignorance and waste time like you had immortality, and that was the happy existence one wants to go back to, ignorance and blindness. he seems almost a slight cruel with it, but he also seems more dreamful then ever, to have died and then realized, he should have taken that opportunity of life and got better, instead of being so ignorant, so blind to the world around him.
