Emily, the protagonist of Our Town, is a symbol of youth and innocence, especially to Lara. When she was cast as Emily in her first role, Lara started down a path that ended at Tom Lake. In high school, Lara identified with the character of Emily, who “asked questions, told the truth, and knew her mind” (13). Over the course of the next several years, she continued to identify with Emily, coming to know the play so well that she never needed a script.

However, when Lara arrived at Tom Lake for her first table read, she realized that at some point, she would not be able to play Emily anymore. When they read Emily’s funeral scene, Lara realized that she was the same age as Emily when Emily died, and that she “would age out of the part in time because time was unavoidable. […] No one gets to go on playing Emily forever” (89). Another actress, who played Mrs. Gibbs, confirmed this when she confessed that “she’d been Emily once. ‘Probably before [Lara was] born’” (90).

Lara thus links Emily with the unceasing passage of time; thinking back over that summer, Lara sees how “Uncle Wallace didn’t go onstage thinking it would be his last night.