Fences Play Themes

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 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

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

Returning to his childhood home as an adult, Cory tries to explain to his mom why he can’t go to Troy’s funeral, that he has to “find a way to get rid of that shadow.” Rose responds that he’s “Troy Maxson all over again.” (96) Many of the characters in Fences have had a troubled relationship with their parents and their resentment causes them to act in a similar manner. However, as the epigraph says, the only way to banish the sins of our fathers is with forgiveness. Rose, Troy and Cory all struggle with the faults of their fathers and eventually must either forgive them or play host to their sins. Ultimately none of them are able to completely forgive their fathers and end the cycle.

The first time I read August Wilson's Fences for english class, I was angry. I was angry at Troy Maxson, angry at him for having an affair, angry at him for denying his son, Cory, the opportunity for a football scholarship.I kept waiting for Troy to redeem himself in the end of the play, to change his mind about Cory, or to make up with Ruth somehow. I wanted to know why, and I didn't, couldn't understand. I had no intention of writing my research paper on this play, but as the semester continued, and I immersed myself in more literature, Fences was always in the back of my mind, and, more specifically, the character of Troy Maxson. What was Wilson trying to say with this piece? The more that

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

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.

Subsequently, This research studies 'resistance' in Fences by August Wilson and, in which through action, time and place in use as well as characterization, introduces particular themes, which are: segregation, morality and faith, love, separation, oppression and its consequences, the sense of

August Wilson’s play Fences brings an introspective view of the world and of Troy Maxson’s family and friends. The title Fences displays many revelations on what the meaning and significance of the impending building of the fence in the Maxson yard represents. Wilson shows how the family and friends of Troy survive in a day to day scenario through good times and bad. Wilson utilizes his main characters as the interpreters of Fences, both literally and figuratively. Racism, confinement, and protection show what Wilson was conveying when he chose the title Fences.

The award winning play Fences is not just a work of fiction from the mind of August Wilson, but rather it is the reflections of a middle-aged man on his adolescent years. The majority of characters, places, and events are mirrored after real-life people, places, and history from Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up. Rather than creating a whole new world and characters for his third play, August Wilson infused his own personal childhood to form a story that could be related to by viewers and readers alike. Whether a Wilson consciously replicated elements of his history or not, the success of Fences, is due to the audience 's ability to relate to the characters and the circumstances of their lives.

Fences is a short history written by the African-American author August Wilson in 1985, that follows a tragic flow and explores significant social issues like racism, family conflicts, mental illness and gender inequality that took place in the post- World War II era, and still affecting us today. To support his ideas, the author takes us into the life of its characters in order to examine their societal and self-imposed limitations; also, the effective use of symbols, setting and themes create a broad perspective of this societal issues analyzing its origin, developing and culmination, in order to let the readers make their own conclusions.

In this essay I will compare and contrast Fences and "The Piano Lesson", written by August Wilson. Wilson uses his hometown life experiences to portray both plays, these stories take place in Pittsburgh, and they also fall under Wilson Pittsburgh cycle. The cycle is also known as his ‘Century Cycle’. They explore African-American struggle with Racism, Poverty, Discrimination, Love and Family.

In so many ways Fences is such an ordinary story that its power comes from the ways in which ordinary people hear and view it. There is no doubt but that the metaphor of the fence prevails, working its way across work, family, friendship and the emotional pain of living a life literally dependent on garbage for survival. This is what Wilson wrote about in his Fences of the 1950s. In retrospect, however, it doesn't take a lot to put some of these pieces together yet again to create a difference story of its own kinds of fences, wooden, social, economic. But then or now, this story is still about the ordinary failing of a person who cannot figure out how to get out of the box that surrounds him and who thus finds himself pulling others inside his own fenced in troubles and pains. Being a black man wasn't easy then and it isn't easy today.

The introduction to the play helps the audience to understand the dreadful ways in which the African American were treated in this time and prepare them. The audience has to look at the 1950s and how the social and economic conditions were for African Americans in that time period. African Americans in that decade were looked at as even below the grade of a citizen, and by the far the lowest grade of immigrants that were migrating the United States in search of a better life. Many African Americans migrated the North because they believed the North were more excepting that the south. Instead of welcoming them they moved them aside and tried to push them back only giving them the basic parts of life. This is one of the major things that Wilson wants the audience to take account of, as well he introduces the fences so that the audience will see the importance of then fence and how it is uses as a symbol throughout the play.

Fences is a family drama written by August Wilson, which portrays the scenario of 50’s American society. The play explores the turmoil in the socio-economic situation faced by the African-American people in the period along with their experience of life, civil rights, personal relationships and racial situation. The play concentrates on describing different ‘fences’ of life, which were faced by the African-American society during 50’s. The play was set in 1950, almost a decade prior than the civil rights movement in America, which represented the major reasons or factors of the movement and radical changes evident in the nation. The play successfully depicts the history of America in terms of the problems raised in the society, which are derived from the experiences of the author and are shown through the different shades of the characters (Shilling, “Fences, duchess theatre, review”). The essay intends to conduct an argumentative discussion on the character ‘Rose’ to draw a relation between the character development and the theme determination of the play.