In Act II from Our Town by Thornton Wilder, explain the purpose of the small talk between Emily and George at the drug store?

byhas become an
American classic.  The creativeness of the play has never been equaled: little scenery; no
properties; and the Stage Manager who speaks directly to the audience and seems to control the
actors and the play. The plays characters represent America at the turn of the twentieth
century; however, love, marriage, death, and life never change for mankind.

In Act II, Emily Gibb and George Webb have just finished their junior year in high
school.  George asks if he can carry Emilys books home, but she refuses and acts somewhat aloof
with him.  Finally, George asks her if she is mad at him. Emily tells him that he has been
acting somewhat conceited and she does not like that trait in him.  Surprisingly, he thanks her
for her honesty.

The Stage Manager has warned the audience that this is the
time that the couple will realize that they are meant for each other. 

The Details of Love

The scene includes
an old-fashioned sharing of one soda with two straws.  This usually meant that the pair liked
each other and in those days that was the equivalent of holding hands. 

George shares his plans with Emily about going away to agriculture college. 
He asks her to write him. Emily mentions that maybe after three
years he would be tired of receiving letters from a little town in New Hampshire.  George says
that he would never get tired of knowing what was going on in Grovers Corners.   

The dialogue in the scene is based on small talk between
two young people who are falling in love.  When two people are around each other for the first
time in an intimate setting, the talk is going to be about insignificant
things that help the two people to get to know and trust each other. The talk of
the letters was Georges way of finding out if Emily liked him or not.

Realizing that he would have to be away from home and Emily for three years,
George makes a spur of the moment decision not to go away to
college.  George admits that he has been watching Emily for over a year. She has admits that she
has been watching him as well. George explains to Emily why he is not going to
college: 

I think that once youve found a person that
youre very fond of €¦I mean a person whos fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be
interested in your character€¦Well, I think thats just as important as college is, and even more
so.  Thats what I think.

Emily agrees with George.
Finally, George gets up the nerve to ask her if she would€¦Emily knows what he means and tells
him that she always has been€¦his sweetheart. George says that this is an important talk that
they have been having. 

George and Emily have their whole future ahead of
them. Not only are they presumably dreaming about their future, but the audience is ready for
the wedding to begin.

Friendship in the play is necessary to expose the
loving relationships that are found in the Gibbs and Webbs families.  Dr. Gibbs tells his wife
that he was nervous when they first got married about whether they would run out of things to
talk about€¦and yet they are still friends and happily married for many years.

Life is not about big events. It is about the small talk
and little doses of life that mound up to be a persons life.  Before the eyes of the audience,
Emily and George have promised to spend their lives together even though they do not realize it
yet.  Friendship is the basis for romance and eventually love.