Analysis of The bridge of san luis rey. by Thornton Wilder
People who thinks of Thornton Wilder primarily in terms of his classic novella “Our Town,” The Bridge of San Luis Rey will seem like quite a switch. For one thing, he has switched countries; instead of middle America, he deals here with Peru. He has switched eras, moving from the twentieth century back to the eighteenth. He has also dealt with a much broader society than he did in “Our Town,” representing the lower classes and the aristocracy with equal ease. But despite these differences, his theme is much the same; life is short, our expectations can be snuffed out with the snap of a finger, and in the end all that remains of us is those we have loved.The novella begins by describing the quest of a Franciscan monk, Brother Juniper, to figure out why some people’s lives are cut short while others, apparently less deserving of life, live well into their eighties and nineties. He has happened to witness a terrible accident (the sudden collapse of a national landmark, the Bridge of San Luis Rey) which five people were crossing at the time of the disaster. All five were killed instantly: a little boy, a young girl, a wealthy old woman, an old man, and a youth. Brother Juniper is shocked into a metaphysical thought: “If there were
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Luis Rey, Uncle Pio, Marquesa Wilder, Camila Perichole, Captain Alvarado, Manuel Esteban, Jaime Pepita, Wilder65 Esteban, uncle pio, san luis, san luis rey, Thornton Wilder, San Luis, luis rey, bridge san luis, bridge san, live accident die, die plan, live accident, accident die, accident live, die accident, live plan die, lives five, plan die plan,
Approximate Word count = 1529
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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