Our Town: Universal Theme of Family The universal theme presented through out this whole playwright is family, and consistency. The author puts the theme of family above the other themes to clearly show it's intentions throughout the whole play. By using the Webb family and Gibb's as the main character, he clearly repeats his theme over and over again. The story thus revolves around these two families. When George says "Emily I'm glad to have a friend like you" he means this in the most passionate way that he can. He means this from the heart and not from just an outer appearance. The sub-theme,