Wilder's Scene Analysis

In this excerpt Wilder defines marriage as a uneasy journey into the unknown. Though Mrs. Webb’s emotional clinging to the past, Wilder emphasizes immense changes that accompany marriage along with the abandonment of familiarity. Through her behavior, Mrs. Webb exemplifies the strong attachment parents have to their children and that relationship is vastly impacted by marriage. Marriage alters the parent-child relationship in this scene as it forces Mrs. Webb to acknowledge that her daughter has grown up and that her life is now much more independent from her family’s. This causes Mrs. Webb to fear that her daughter will become distant and thus become overly worried about about her going into this new life, marriage, alone. This scene also