The Bridge of San Luis Rey

1
The Bridge of San Luis Rey

• Thornton Wilder

2
Setting

• Peru Colony of Spain
• The bridge was between Lima and Cuzco
• 18th Century, July 20th 1714
• (before and after)

3
Those Killed

• Dona Maria
• Pepita
• Esteban
• Uncle Pio
• Jaime

4
Brother Juniper

• Explores the live of those who died
• Chronicles their lives
• Either we live by accident and die by accident,
  or we live by plan and die by plan.

5
Marquesa de Montemayor

• Mother of Dona Clara
• Pepita is her helper/servant
• Her letters become famous
• She is about 50 in the story

6
Themes

• Love
• Love Bridges life and death
• Fate
• Interconnectedness of humanity (we are linked by
  death and love)
• Is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond
  the individuals own will? TW

7
Wilder and The Bridge

• Won the Pulitzer Prize
• Also wrote Our Town and Hello Dolly
• Born in US, but lived most of his childhood in
  China.
• Only went to Peru after he published Bridge
• Presbyterian

8
Style

• Inverted
• Lead (climax) most important events or facts
• Other important information
• Less important

• Traditional Style
• Introduction
• Rising Events
• Climax
• Descending Events
• Resolution

9
The End

• But soon we shall die and all memory of those
  five will have left the earth, and we ourselves
  shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But
  the love will have been enough all those
  impulses of love return to the love that made
  them. Even memory is not necessary for love.
  There is a land of the living and a land of the
  dead and the bridge is love, the only survival
  the only meaning. TW