Fences By August Wilson: Play Analysis

Troy thought that he was a good husband to Rose because he provided her with food and a house. He wasn’t a good husband because he didn’t give her love and compassion. These two things are needed in a good marriage. She centered her whole life around him and he gave her almost nothing. When she had a problem, she couldn’t go to him. Troy also wasn’t faithful to Rose. He went off and had an affair with another woman. Rose was heart-broken by this. She couldn’t believe Troy could do this to her. She devoted her life to him and he goes and stabs her in the back. On top of that, Troy had a child with his mistress. The woman died giving birth. Troy asked Rose to take care of the baby. Rose did, what else could she have done? Troy was not a good husband.

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

According to Sandra G. Shannon, Rose Maxon’s focuses are on “being a wife, mother and homemaker.” (154) Shannon states that Wilson places Rose as a conformed woman by being the nurturer but also demands herself some self-respect. She is loving, supportive, outspoken but inferior to her husband in some ways. Rose is not treated like a second-class citizen but is expected to be understanding and forgiving no matter how small or huge the wrong-doing is. Rose is a mixture of strong because she stayed with Troy even though he had an illegitimate child with another woman. She showed such strength when she took Troy’s daughter as her own to raise and told Troy he was a “womanless man.” She took Troy’s daughter as her own because she told Troy that her daughter is not to blame for her father’s actions. Women’s roles are defined by men still in the 1950s, (155) and she loves Troy enough to accept his flaws up until he confesses having a baby out of wedlock. Women may be forgiving because they know separation/divorce is looked highly down upon and women rely on their husbands financially. Also, women who are alone are less likely to succeed, and will run the risk of constantly meeting worse men. (155) When Troy gives Rose the unexpected news about him becoming a father through another woman, Rose first is in shock; asks why did he wait eighteen years to do that and Rose gets angry. She is in

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

Fences, by August Wilson takes place in the 1950's; a time where gender roles where strict. Wilson sets the issues that transpire within the play in a time period that wasn’t ideal for women to speak out. The irony of the play's setting correlates to the issues that the women characters within the story face. Fences can be viewed as a one-sided male perspective that gives little acknowledgement to the woman characters. Wilson's plays have been controversial because some say that he depicts woman as subservient and subordinate. However, taking a closer look into the character of Rose, I can argue that Wilson does not paint a stereotypical depiction of woman. Instead Wilson uses the woman's sexuality, maternal instinct, and intuition, to insinuate their strength and empowerment through the woman’s actions contrary to the belief of the woman in his plays being seen as weak and voiceless.

In her article “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was”, author Hope Edelman claims that perhaps the ideal, balanced, and harmonious marriage that many couples yearn for is merely an unachievable myth. Edelman’s anger and frustration drives her essay as she recounts her childhood, analyzes societal gender roles, and narrates her own relationship in order to explore the concept of shared responsibility in a marriage.

In Fences, August Wilson tells a story that includes baseball as a major part of the play. Even though baseball is a huge part of the play, the game itself is not actually played. Troy, who is the main character of the play, is the main source of all the conflicts that occur in the story. Whenever a conflict occurs in the story, Troy uses baseball analogies to explain his reasoning. Baseball also plays a historical part of the play to create the setting and the characters. In the play, baseball echoes the history of America and the racial discrimination that occurred to African Americans.

Troy took care of his family as a man should. He took care of his sons with all that he had, but the love for his family was not evident in his character, especially with what he did to Rose. Cheating on Rose was a very selfish, and disrespectful act that showed no love towards his family. Troy’s behavior does not derive from racism, but stems from the relationship he had with his father when he was a teenager. Without him knowing, Troy was very similar to his father. His father “stayed right here with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be” (Wilson 905). Troy’s description of his father was the same person he was. In his conversation with Cory he says to him: “like you? I go out of here every morning…bust my butt…putting gup with them crackers

For my final project, I have chosen the plays Fences by August Wilson and Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez to compare and contrast, when it comes to their themes of multiculturalism, interculturalism, and transculturalism.

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.

Regardless of head-ships and difficulties, the Maxon family clearly shows that, with the contribution of both Rose and Troy, has a foundation of love. This foundation is what holds the symbolic fence between the family and the rest of the world. This foundation is strong, and is especially tested by Troy, Who, despite his later betrayal, genuinely loves his wife, Rose

Every family functions in their own unique way, even if they attempt to model themselves after the social norms of what a family “should be”. Little Miss Sunshine gives insight into how individuals with their own variety of dysfunction manage to function within the family. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Little Miss Sunshine in the context of four different ways of communicating as explained in the textbook, Family Communication: Cohesion and Change. The following paragraphs, organized into sections by theme will explore the Hoover family’s system, the degree of adaptability and cohesion within the family, the productive or destructive ways they manage conflict, and their use of power or decision making processes. Each section will contain a brief review of each of the aforementioned topics that apply, concepts that exist within those topics that appeared in the movie, and examples taken from the movie.

Fences took place in the 1950’s, during that time the role of women in the 1950 was repressive and constrictive in a lot of ways. Society placed a very high significance on different expectations on behavior in public as well as at home. Women were to be homemakers, caring mothers, and to be an obedient wife to their husbands. A wife was only considered a “good wife” if she did anything and everything her husband asked for and agreed with everything the man would say. This was the type of way Troy treated Rose in fences and how he thought of women and their roles. This essay will reveal the womanistic and feministic aspects that were introduced in the play. The purpose of this essay is to examine how August Wilson portrayed women in the play, to examine the themes and issues blacks dealt with in the 1950’s, to see how a female playwright might write the play differently, and to compare the roles of woman in August Wilson’s “Fences”to Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”.

"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.)