Analysis Of ' Fences ' By August Wilson

It is obvious to the audience that Troy and Cory simply do not get along. The two are constantly bickering, mostly about Cory's dream to play football at the college level. Since playing baseball did not get Troy anywhere, he feels that football will not benefit Cory and that Cory should "get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living" (8). Troy constantly denounces Cory's dream and pressures his son to quit the highschool football team so that he can work at the local grocery store. The verbal abuse of Cory by Troy is enough to make Cory question whether or not his own father even likes him, but it is not until after Troy's affair with Alberta is out in the open that Troy and Cory's unhealthy relationship reaches a whole new level.

Fences written by August Wilson is an award winning drama that depicts an African-America family who lives in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania during the 1950’s. During this time, the Mason’s reveal the struggles working as a garbage man, providing for his family and excepting life as is. The end of segregation began, more opportunities for African American people were accessible. Troy, who’s the father the Cory and husband of Rose has shoes fill as a working African America man. He is the family breadwinner and plays the dominant role in the play. Troy’s childhood was pretty rough growing up on a farm of 11 children. Overtime, he realizes the change of society. He builds a friendship fellow sanitation worker, Jim Bono while in the penitentiary. Troy planned to build a fence around his house to control the number of people on his property. The fence also plays a symbolic role throughout the drama. These motives and characteristics control is what makes Troy the friend, father, worker, and husband he is today.

The theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is the coming of age in the life of a broken black man. Wilson wrote about the black experience in different decades and the struggle that many blacks faced, and that is seen in “Fences” because there are two different generations portrayed in Troy and Cory. Troy plays the part of the protagonist who has been disillusioned throughout his life by everyone he has been close to. He was forced to leave home at an early age because his father beat him so dramatically. Troy never learned how to treat people close to him and he never gave any one a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish. This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play,

In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy is shown as a man who has hurt the people who are closest to him without even realizing it. He has acted in an insensitive and uncaring manner towards his wife, Rose, his brother, Gabriel and his son, Cory. At the beginning of the story, Troy feels he has done right by them. He feels this throughout the story. He doesn’t realize how much he has hurt them.

Behind every literary piece is hidden meanings and figures the author strategically hides between the lines of their works. In the play Fences by August Wilson, many symbols and themes hide between the lines in order to make this an amazing drama. One main symbol in this play is the fence being built throughout the storyline. The fence within the story represents the walls that arise between characters, the security Rose wants for her family, and the mending of relationships after Troy’s death.

August Wilson’s Fences depicts life in the 1950s for a typical African American family. The play touches upon racism, shifting family dynamics, and the politics of war. While racism plays an important and vital role in the play, instead of lamenting the issue, Wilson uses the characters as a weapon against the rampant racism of the time. In the same fashion, the relationship between Troy, Rose, and Cory demonstrates the shifting cultural and family dynamics of the decade. Likewise, Wilson’s depiction of Gabriel as a wounded veteran who is not fully supported by the government that sent him off to war offers an enlightening commentary on the politics of the era. Wilson uses the

We sometimes believe that by creating barriers around ourselves and the people we love, it will keep us safe and together. August Wilson is an African-American playwright from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania who was raised with his five brothers and sisters by his mother who worked hard to support them after his father, a white man left them. His mother found another man who also helped her raise them. In this time, it was very hard for African-Americans because it was the time when White Americans and African Americans where segregated. African-Americans were greatly discriminated and it was difficult for them to support their families because finding a job was difficult due to the racism, to be able to support their families they had to work

In 1990, after Paramount Pictures and playwright August Wilson came to a disagreement about the adaptation of his play Fences, Wilson published an Op-Ed in Spin magazine titled “I Want a Black Director.” The Spike Lee edited piece discussed what Wilson saw as the penultimate disagreement between himself and the studio, stating specifically:

Fences can be viewed as a family play, it can also be viewed as a work specifically of the black man's place, or plight, in a predominantly white world. Either way, it has a very valuable message. It is a true art to be able to touch on so many aspects of life in a work, aspects that may be viewed differently by different people.. Wilson's work, and the character of Troy Maxson, makes me question many things, among them myself, as well as his intended message. This is why I am so in awe of Fences, and of Wilson's talent. This is why I am writing my paper on Fences.

In the play “Fences” by August Wilson the play’s attitude toward women is biased, and if the play was written by a female I think it would have a stronger feminine influence. Issues such as racism and discrimination against blacks may be raised in the play that the author did not bring up, and the women in the story somewhat do generally typify women in the 1950s. To support my interpretation, the women in the play were homebodies, just worrying about the household because they felt like that 's what they were supposed to do and that 's all that was expected of them and etc.

In this unit we read a play written as a book, called “Fences”. Fences is about racism written in the 1986. The play is based around the main characters Troy and Rose, and their son Cory. Troy has stated that he has felt the need to provide a life for Cory but doesn't need love him. Troy is wanting Cory to stop playing football and get a real job at the A&P so he can provide for himself. Rose has been trapped in between all of this. All in all, the play Fences written by August Wilson uses the narrative element of characterization of Troy and Rose, the metaphor of sports, and conflict that Troy creates to show tension.

The play Fences by August Wilson centers around the character of Troy, a middle-aged African-American man. Troy struggles to keep his family together, mostly as the result of mistakes he has made as a husband and parent. These mistakes reflect certain personality traits that make up Troy’s complex character, including his obsession with providing financially, his inability to love his family, and his stubborn insistence on others following the paths he decides for them. These character traits can be explained by the social, racial, and economic climate of the time. Fences takes place in late 1950’s Pennsylvania during the beginning of the Civil Rights Era, and Troy’s character is shaped by the disappointments that have come along with racism and economic difficulty, along with not being up to date on the changes happening in the Civil Rights movement. Although Troy and his character traits are responsible for the tragic decisions he has made, it is possible that the social context of the time has shaped him into the person he is.

Alan Nadel argues that the object of the fence in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” symbolizes a great struggle between the literal and figurative definitions of humanity and blackness. The author summarizes the play and uses the character Troy to explain the characterization of black abilities, such as Troy’s baseball talents, as “metaphoric,” which does not enable Troy to play in the white leagues as the period is set during segregation (Nadel 92). The author is trying to use the characters from the play as examples of black people during the segregation years to show how people of that time considered black people not as literal entities and more like figurative caricatures. Stating that these individuals were considered to be in a

Fences, by August Wilson, takes place in the 1950's— a time that was extremely difficult for many African Americans. In my inspirational dramatic moment, Troy tells the story of his encounter with the devil: Troy is unable to receive credit on a good deal of furniture, that he needs, due to his skin color. According to Troy, a white man knocks on his door to offer higher priced furniture in exchange for monthly payments. As his last resort, Troy accepts the deal, having to pay $10 to the man in the beginning of every month until he pays off the furniture. The man was not seen again, persuading Troy that the man was the devil. (15). The symbolism of the devil in Troy's story heavily deepens the audience's understanding of the major theme of

"I once wrote a short story called 'The Best Blues Singer in the World' and it went like this: 'The streets that Balboa walked were his own private ocean, and Balboa was drowning.' End of story. That says it all. Nothing else to say. I've been rewriting that same story over and over again. All my plays are rewriting that same story. I'm not sure what it means, other than life is hard" (Calvert, n.d.)