Fences a Novel by Agust Williams Essay

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

In past times, racism and economic injustice headline the many problems that present themselves to society. Some people accept the horrors that appear with the issues while others take actions to change the issues for the better. August Wilson reveals that in his play Fences.” Written in 1957, Wilson’s play portrays an African American family during the time of the civil rights movement who struggle to reach the self-proclaimed American Dream in the United States (Wilson 963-1018). The protagonist, Troy Maxson, is influenced by Wilson’s stepfather, David Bedford (Martin and Downing). During the civil rights movement, African Americans carried few to no rights as an American citizen, presenting controversy to the world of political science and economic power. Wilson also contributes to the theory of Marxism in Fences. Introduced by Karl Marx, Marxist Criticism paints an identical picture of the way society reveals itself in the twentieth century. “Marx’s main interest was in economic power and the ways in which it disguised and manipulated.” (Schakel and Ridl 1455). Wilson incorporates those views into his play Fences. Wilson also reveals his intake on the views of Marxism. “Today I would say that the conflict in black America is between the middle class and the so-called underclass, and that conflict goes back to those who deny themselves and those who aren’t willing to (Lyons 1024).” The author believes that African American struggle contributes to the theory of Marxism.

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

At Pittsburgh’s Halfway Art Gallery he found his audience for poetry, and got to meet some of Pittsburgh’s black literati. In 1981, Wilson submitted Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and it was accepted in the O’Neill Center. It did however, undergo many changes in the summer of 1982, it went on to play at Yale and became the first Broadway play in 1984. His next play that he wrote was Fences. Now Fences is a interesting play to read, because reading the background information I feel as if he was writing this book from his point of view. His dad was not always there, his dad cheated on his mom, his mom raised the kids, and his dad was a worker and then came home and never messed with the kids or played with them. Not so much as he treated the kids like slaves, but in a way you could say he did. Reading the play and then writing this paper has been a wonderful experience. Reading the play gives us some back ground information about what the “1980s” were about. The racism, the abandonment, the shame, the cheating, we see it all in this play. Wilson did a good job at showing us what it was like to be a boy in this time when you wanted to play baseball but could not because you were black, or wanted to go somewhere and you could not because you were black. Some people would think that only “blacks” would like to read something like this because they would “understand” it, but that is not true. Reading Wilson’s

August Wilson was a famous and influential playwright who wrote about the African American experience and conflicts with the White world. Although he may be argued as one of the greatest playwrights in America, I myself have only heard of his work once when my seventh grade English class read Fences, a play about a man and his son dealing with dealing with racism while also dealing with their own conflict when the son wants to follow in the steps of his father and become a professional athlete. I had honestly forgotten all about that one play I read eight years ago. Wilson’s name was barely among the many playwrights studied in my latter years. This could be because of the content of his plays. Much of Wilson’s work examines the negative aspects of being African American in America such as racism and poverty. When we read about African American literature in school, we read about empowerment and pride. It is ironic how students study White writers who tell stories like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Heart of Darkness with mistreated African American characters, but barely study those same stories written by Black authors, poets, and playwrights. Because African American literature was not glorified in the past, specifically speaking of a time before the Harlem Renaissance, it may take time for certain works of African descendants to be glorified at the same level as those of White writers, especially if their peak wasn’t during the Renaissance.

The game of baseball plays a major role in Troy’s life. He played baseball in the Negro Leagues but the game for him ended because of his color. African Americans were not permitted on baseball teams because of how white people discriminated against them. It was not until 1947 when baseball became integrated and the colored were allowed to play. That did not mean racial discrimination disappeared from baseball. It would still take a while for everyone to accept the African American community and to realize that they are the same people, all here to achieve the American dream. Wilson sets the story in 1957 to show Troy’s experience of how “the American dream remained out of reach for people of African descent” (Koprince par.8). Everyone had a different American dream, but baseball was Troy’s. He never got to achieve the ultimate “America Dream” because he was too old to play when African

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.

Fences by August Wilson is a play about an African-American family in the 1950s. Troy Maxson is the breadwinner of his entire family because of his job in a garbage truck company. Cory, one of the children of Troy, is a great football player in high school and he wants to continue to play for college football, which has been absolutely denied by Troy because of the discrimination as a colored people they have. Rose, Troy’s wife, who is taking care of everything at home, but lost her love for Troy when she knew that Troy has been seeing some other woman. Fences happened in the 1950s, a period that is full of the social position in the African-Americans’ struggling and changing for survival. In the article “Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson’s Fences” by Koprince Susan, a professor of English at the University of North Dakota. She expounds that “The game of baseball has long been regarded as a metaphor for the American dream — an expression of hope, democratic values, and the drive for individual success.” In the play, Troy complained to his boss about why black employees aren’t allowed to be the garbage truck driver. Later on, after the conversation with Mr. Rand, his boss, and the Commissioner of the union, Troy got a promotion to be the garbage truck driver. This is a perfect example of what Ms. Koprince stands for. The social attitude of colored people is changing and developing. The baseball is a symbolic representative of how the African American is suffering

Fences by August Wilson is a play about African American life during the 1950’s era, it reflects a transitional time where African Americans begin to stand up and fight against racism.

“Fences” is one of ten plays written by August Wilson that document historic periods in Black American life. It is a colorful and thoughtfully written piece that tells the story of one family’s struggle in Civil Rights Era America, an empowering and complicated time for lower and middle class blacks struggling to attain an ideal of the “American Dream”. Troy and Rose Maxon’s family deal with complex external challenges, such as economic shifts in industry and working classes that shape the financial status, evidenced by Troy’s successful quest for promotion and increased responsibility at his

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.

One of the most famous plays written by August Wilson, Fences, features the struggles of fifty-three year old African American blue-collar worker, Troy, throughout the period of several months. Wilson’s protagonist, Troy, tries to pursue the American Dream while tending to his family in the oppressed time of 1957 but fails to escape his harrowing past and forces his experiences and inferences upon the people he loves, which is enhanced by the use of specific diction that relates the setting, meaningful symbols, and ample, life-altering conflicts. Beginning with précis stage directions, common throughout the play, it is clear that the play’s setting is in a tensional time period. Clearly, “By 1957,” the hard-won victories of the European victories

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.

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.