Fences by August Wilson

Troy's lack of commitment to finishing the fence that Rose wants put up represents his lack of commitment in his marriage. He doesn't understand that Rose wants to keep the family close because he never truly had a close family. He becomes a womanless man. “From right now… this child got a mother. But you a womanless man” (79). Troy pushes Lyons away by refusing to hear him play his "Chinese music" (48). He also damages his relationship with his other son, Cory, by preventing him from playing football and rejecting his only chance to get recruited by a college football team. The “fence” also depicts that Troy is disowning Cory when they get into an argument and Troy kicks him out on to the streets. Troy states that Cory’s things will be on “the other side of that fence” (89). As a result, Troy ends up driving everybody away just like his father. The “fence” acts like a physical divider between the Maxson’s household and the outside world because Troy doesn’t bring anything others would normally have into his house and Rose does not want any outsider intruding her family.

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 Fences, August Wilson introduces an African American family whose life is based around a fence. In the dirt yard of the Maxson’s house, many relationships come to blossom and wither here. The main character, Troy Maxson, prevents anyone from intruding into his life by surrounding himself around a literal and metaphorical fence that affects his relationships with his wife, son, and mortality.

In the Fences, by August Wilson shows that life of African Americans in the U.S. in the 1950s with the story of Troy and his family. Wilson uses the symbol of the fence to show the desires of each character like Rose’s desire is to keep her family together, Troy’s desire is to keep death out and to be not bound forever, and Bono’s desire is to follow Troy, his best friend, as an example of the right way to live and to be with Rose and Troy who are basically his family. Rose and the other seen characters represent people and show gender roles of the time, like Rose is a housewife, Troy is the provider. Also Cory is the new generation of emotion over responsibility, Gabriel represents the war heros that were permanently disabled from war

In the play, Fences, Troy seems to have a complicated relationship with every other character in the play. This applies especially to his relationship with his son, Cory. Troy and Cory have many similarities and differences that complicate their relationship. There are many outside factors that also make matters worse.

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.

When men reach a certain age, they tend to look back into their lives and reflect on their struggles and accomplishments more than they look forward. It is this mid life crisis where they decide what man they have been in their life. The plays: Fences by August Wilson and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry tell the story of two men reaching a certain age, one would consider a midlife crisis and have a similar background or story but when they look back will they see the same thing. Both of these plays take place during the same time period, they are set just a decade before the civil rights movement. The two of these plays follow the lives of two African American men and their families fighting racism in their lives being segregated and discriminated against. Both Troy Maxon and Walter Younger are men who are struggling and working through tough situations and hardships but who are they working for? It is this question’s answer that leads to the major differences the men have between them behind the large similarities they share. Before getting to there differences let us break down and analyze the similarities to show how much the mindset of a character can affect one’s outcome

is resistant to change. While a part of him is truly trying to help Cory get into a

Throughout history, civilizations have built fences to keep enemies out and keep those they want to protect inside. In society today, people create metaphorical fences in order to fence in their feelings, while others create literal fences in order to keep the unwanted away. In the play Fences, the Maxon family lives in 1950’s America whose love for sports and one another are questioned at times when they need to be together the most. In the play Fences by August Wilson, two main characters Troy and Cory Maxon build a fence, literally and metaphorically, which as the book progresses, becomes a symbol that allows each character to truly understand each other.

The portrayal between, Willie and Troy as fathers, has had an impact in the development of their sons differently. Firstly, Willie has always had high hopes in his older son, Biff. Willie believed that in raising Biff, he will one day be successful, and ambitious. However, it is a pity that it never turned out that way. In fact, throughout the story, Biff reveals that he is not ambitious. “Hap, the trouble is we weren’t brought up to grub for money. I don’t know how to do it.” (Gioia, 2010) It is a shame that Willie is a hardworking man who dreams in success and Biff was not born with equal desire. It would not be a surprise if Willie felt heartbreak; to be unable to set an example for his son Biff to follow. On the other hand, Troy could be described as a character that is selfish. Throughout the story, “Fences” Troy reveals his selfishness when interfering with Cory’s potential in football, and telling him that working is more important. “You go on down there to that A&P and see if you can get your job back. If you can’t do both…then you quit the football team.” (Gioia, 2010) Undoubtedly, Troy’s interest is more concentrated in ensuring that the bills get paid, than to agree with Cory playing football. Furthermore Troy wants Cory to maintain that job because

Fences, a low diction play by August Wilson, expresses the complex relationship between a father and his sons. Troy Maxson, once a baseball star on a Negro League, is now envious of his son Cory who dreams of having a successful football career. Troy also worries that Cory will be treated with the same disrespect that he (Troy) once was during his baseball career. Lyons, Troy's eldest son, is completely misunderstood by Troy, mostly because of his refusal to get a “real” job and his drive to become a musician. Wilson references stories from Troy's past to convey the reason behind Troy's frustration and actions toward his children.

In the play called “Fences” by August Wilson, Troy is seen as a hardworking man, and also a man who cause pain to the people he was supposed to be loving without recognizing, or knowing it. This is a story about a man who does not know how to love for example Lyons one of his sons came “and said “hey, pop”, and Troy’s reply is “what you come Hey, popping” me for?” (Wilson 1060).

Overview: “Fences”, was a play written by August Wilson in 1986. The play communicates the story of the son of an unsuccessful sharecropper, Troy Maxson, who has lived most of his life independently due to his father’s abuse during his childhood. The play focuses on Troy’s interactions and conflicts with other characters, and the complicated relationships he has with members of his family through these conflicts.

Never once, throughout the play, had Troy ever told his son that he loved him. When Cory wanted to go to football practice, Troy refused to allow him and told him to go get a job instead. Troy wants his son to go out and get his own money so he will never be in the position that his father was in at such a young age. The discord in Troy’s