In the story of “Fences” and also “A Doll House” we will compare the plot of change. Sometimes change is accepted and others it is not. One thing that the reader will become aware of is that times change and people change. Change is a constant thing, whether talking about society as a whole or about the people that make up that society. One thing is for sure and that is that there will always be change. In the story “A Doll House” we will see how change within two main character’s will change the family dynamics of a picture perfect family. The thing that the reader does not expect it the tragic ending that does happen within this picture perfect family. In the story “Fences” we will find how the character’s unwillingness to accept change will ultimately lead to the demise of his family life that he has. Not only does this demise come from his unwillingness to accept change but because he wants change but in very different ways than what society has to offer.
We will first discuss the play “Fences” this is a story in which the main character is a hard working African American Man. He is a good provider for his family. His wife is able to be a great homemaker and mother to his children, one of which is from another woman. Troy, who is the main character, has to make decisions not only for his family but also for his brother who is handicapped from the war. This places a lot of responsibility and pressure on Troy. Troy feels discrimination from many areas
August Wilson’s Fences is a play about Troy Maxson, and how his values influence his family’s. The play takes place in 1950’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy Maxson is a black, middle aged man working for a garbage company. Each member of the Maxson family has a special relationship with Troy, that affects their behavior throughout the play. In life you learn the most from your parents. They teach you how to walk, speak, and respect one another. Your parents also give you a set of values for life. As you grow up as your own individual, your values will change from your parents. There will be things that are much more important to you, and not as important to them. In the play Fences Troy Maxson has a very strong set of values that he believes are true in how you should live life. Troy imposes these values on everyone in his family to the best of his ability. Each character in Fences is at a different stage in their life, so Troy can’t push his values onto characters that already have their own beliefs. The character that Troy has the most influence on in the play is Cory. Troy is in Cory’s life throughout his childhood, and as his father Cory must respect Troy. Troy is very firm with Cory, because he wants Cory to be successful. Cory has a dream of becoming a football player, and this does not follow Troy’s values. Troy influences Cory so much that Cory will always be like Troy whether he realizes it or not. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at
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.
Throughout time there have always been conflicts of morality and injustice. August Wilson wrote this play about issues that were prevalent in the 1950’s but also still are sadly present today. In Fences, there is an abundance of evidence of cultural clashes. In this play these clashes span over racial, generational, and even gender lines and its effects on the characters.
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,
The play, “Fences” by August Wilson describes the life of an African-American family that is por. Troy Maxson, the father of the family, was a baseball player in the
Lives are lead with anxiety over certain issues and with apprehension towards certain events. This play, Fences written by the playwright August Wilson deals with the progression of a family through the struggles of oppression and the inability to obtain the American Dream. The characters in the play develop throughout the story and can be viewed or interpreted in many different ways, but one man remains constant during the play and that is Troy. Due to certain events that transpired as he was growing up, Troy is shaped into a very stubborn yet proud man. To be a man who was black and proud ran the risk of getting destroyed, both physically and mentally. The world of the 1950s and 60s was rapidly changing and
Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.
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.
Plays, “Fences” and “A Raisin in the Sun” share similar plots. They take place in the mid-western United States in the 1950’s and explore the family dynamics of the African-American Family and the paradigmatic shift it experienced between two generations. The older generation, who could remember slavery by first-hand experience or by being born during a time when success for the average African-Americans was systematically stifled by racist and unconstitutional laws that were put in place when slavery was legal, and the young generation that began to show some sense of entitlement, had begun to overcome institutional barriers to succeed and empower
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.
As the roles of an African American men begin to evolve during the post-slavery time period, women’s roles remained unchanged. In this case, in August Wilson’s play Fences, Wilson’s perspective on gender roles explains the traditions of both men and women, the oppression and objectification of women, and the social roles. For instance, “Indeed, Wilson’s perspective on responsibility might appear dubious to those unfamiliar with his decidedly male ethos, which he links to the history of black male-female relations in America” (Shannon 199). Conflict arises between Troy and his family because of his representation in gender roles that were traditionally meant to play. This is the view on how Troy communicates with his wife, Rose throughout the play. Furthermore, because of the strict gender roles, Troy has a narrow view as how African Americans are being treated in the society and a tunnel view on what he believes on how the world operates.
Fences is a grave, dark, depressed production that goes through the life of Troy Maxon a Negro living in Pittsburgh with his wife and son Cory while at times his friend Bono accompanying him. There are three important themes of this play and audience should leave the theater feeling Insatiability, Tenderness, and Sacrifice. As a production Fences takes you on a roller coaster, fences will grab your gut and keep you on your toes. Troy Maxon is living a life of guilt because of his non existent dream of playing baseball. Troy has sacrificed for his “Flesh and blood”. This is deeper than not playing baseball. His pride and dignity is covered
In this play by August Wilson “fences” reflects on our lives in so many different ways. August Wilson uses characters for us to reflect into, in this play he wanted us to focus on Troy, a 53 year old black man who struggles with providing for his wife Rose, his son Cory finically. His youngest brother Gabriel, an ex soldier who got injured in a war and received $3000 from the government, Troy used that money to purchase a home for his family. Troy is really good baseball player in Negro league baseball in his younger days, because of his color, Troy was unable to get into the Major baseball league and make good money. He become a garbage collector and lives in his own little world and views the people in his life as revolving around him.
In the play Fences by August Wilson, racism is an injustice that is apparent throughout. The readers are given an inside look as to how injustices, in this case racism, affects the victims. Troy Maxson, the main character in the play is a product and eyewitness to racial injustices. These injustices prevented him from pursing a baseball career due to race barriers resulting in him living in poverty and becoming a sanitation worker. Even at his current job, racism still ties him down.
The double consciousness in Fences is representative of both double consciousnesses’ effect and the impact that it has had on the African-American community as a whole. In the play, Wilson presents to the reader a world not yet torn by the strife of racial change. However, its presence is still felt through the actions of Troy Maxson in the play as double consciousness acts both as a metaphorical fence that constrains Troy, as well as an idea that will ultimately destroy much of Troy’s personal life. In Fences, double consciousness is destructive not only because of it affects the black race as a whole, but also because it showcases how the actions of a single person can affect the people the love and cherish most.