How Thornton Wilder used dinosaurs and drum majorettes to depict all of human history

Art · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1942 play, Thornton Wilder shattered theatrical conventions to explore the resilience of humanity. By placing the Antrobus family in prehistoric ice ages, biblical floods, and modern wars, Wilder argued that human experience remains fundamentally the same, regardless of the era or the catastrophe at hand.

Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth is a three-act comedy that functions as an allegory for the survival of the human race. The play follows the Antrobus family—George, Maggie, and their children Henry and Gladys—as they navigate cyclical apocalypses, including an encroaching ice age, a catastrophic deluge, and a devastating global war. Through these shifting settings, Wilder employs deliberate anachronisms, placing figures like Moses and Homer alongside modern characters to suggest that humanity is perpetually on the brink of extinction, yet consistently manages to rebuild.

The play is noted for its heterodox structure, which intentionally breaks theatrical norms. Characters frequently step out of their roles to address the audience directly, and the narrative is interrupted by rehearsals or meta-theatrical commentary. This technique forces the audience to engage with the play as a constructed performance rather than a passive story. By using the same actors to represent archetypes across different geological and historical periods, Wilder emphasizes that the struggles of the Antrobus family—representing Adam, Eve, and their children—are universal and recurring.

Central to the work is the tension between destruction and creation. The father, George Antrobus, is depicted as an inventor of essential human tools like the wheel and the alphabet, yet his son Henry embodies the destructive impulses of humanity, mirroring the biblical story of Cain and Abel. As the family emerges from the ruins of a seven-year war in the final act, the play poses a profound question: is civilization worth rebuilding? Wilder’s work suggests that despite our capacity for self-destruction, the human spirit persists, surviving by the skin of our teeth.

The title itself is drawn from the King James Bible, specifically Job 19:20, capturing the precarious nature of human existence. Premiering in 1942, the play resonated with a world embroiled in global conflict, offering a complex, often farcical look at the endurance of mankind. Wilder’s innovative approach, which earned him one of his three Pulitzer Prizes, remains a landmark of American drama for its refusal to adhere to traditional linear storytelling.

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