Racism Exposed in Fences, by August Wilson Essay

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.

Troy’s personality is very conservative. He is an angry man who has been a victim of racial violence and allowed his bitterness to become a barrier to new opportunities that opened at this time. As a child Troy wanted out of his abusive father’s relationship. His father barely looked after his 11 children and had always puts himself first before anyone else. Instead, young Troy escapes north to Pittsburg ending himself in jail due to theft, which is where he meets his ace

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 today 's society people have to deal with several issues that we can 't explain. For some of us we built fences to isolate ourselves from others or in some cases to protect ourselves. No matter what the issue is we, all have to struggle to be able to provide for our families. As a child I built fences when it came to my feelings. For example, growing up I was in the chunky side. Since I wasnt so skinny like the pretty girls in my class. I kinda isolated my self from the other students. That way my feelings wouldn 't get hurt. My fence was to protect me from what I thought was going to hurt me. Well the same thing happened to Troy Maxson. In the play, "Fences" written by the well-known playwright, August Wilson, is the story of Troy Maxson and his beloved family. Throughout the whole entire play, a fence is being built around the Maxson household. As the story unfolds to the viewers, the word fences may look like a simple title, but the truth is it has different symbolic meaning. The real definition of the word fence is revealed along with the personalities of the characters in the play. In "Fences", August Wilson uses different types of fences as a metaphor to explain how these people live.

Troy?s relationship with his father was one, which produced much tension, and had a strong influence on Troy?s relationships with his loved ones as an

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

August Wilson’s Fences was centered on the life of Troy Maxson, an African American man full of bitterness towards the world because of the cards he was dealt in life amidst the 1950’s. In the play Troy was raised by an unloving and abusive father, when he wanted to become a Major League Baseball player he was rejected because of his race. Troy even served time in prison because he was impoverished and needed money so he robbed a bank and ended up killing a man. Troy’s life was anything but easy. In the play Troy and his son Cory were told to build a fence around their home by Rose. It is common knowledge that fences are used in one of two ways: to keep things outside or to keep things inside. In the same way that fences are used to keep

home because of his cruel father. W. P. Kenny details how Troy had to ―harden himself‖ from

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 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.

Alan Nadel argues that the object of the fence in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” symbolizes a great struggle between the literal and figurative definitions of humanity and blackness. The author summarizes the play and uses the character Troy to explain the characterization of black abilities, such as Troy’s baseball talents, as “metaphoric,” which does not enable Troy to play in the white leagues as the period is set during segregation (Nadel 92). The author is trying to use the characters from the play as examples of black people during the segregation years to show how people of that time considered black people not as literal entities and more like figurative caricatures. Stating that these individuals were considered to be in a

In addition to this Troy has the ability to live in a fictitious world, denying his affair with Alberta. Troy instigates conflict as a result of his ability to believe in self-made illusions and his inability to acknowledge other’s decisions in life when they vary from Troy’s own philosophy. Troy’s name symbolically exhibits Troy’s character as one who lives on a line between two contradicting thoughts. Troy Maxson begins the play loved, admired and getting away with his secret affair. Yet, inevitably, Troy’s death leaves many negative characteristics as a legacy for his family to deal with and acknowledge.

Several scholars agreed that Fences is about the hardships that Troy Maxson face because of racial discrimination. Fred Mazelis mentions that before the mass civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s, racism and discrimination were a part of the world. Troy came to Pittsburgh during his teenage years along the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South (). Being in prison gave him opportunities to try new things in his spare time. Which resulted in him becoming a professional baseball player among the black community. He had promised being one of the top players in the Negro League, but because of racism, he was not allowed to join the Major Leagues.

Fences, a play written by August Wilson, is about how life was for African Americans in the late 1950’s. The play talks about how their race determined how people would treat them, where they could live, what kind of job they could have, and what kind of activities they could participate in. There is a character in the play, named Troy Maxson, who was a pervious baseball player in the Negro League Baseball, because of his race; he was not allowed to play in the Major League Baseball. Since Troy didn’t play baseball, he became a garbage handler in Pittsburg. He met his wife, Rose, and they had a child together. Troy ends up having an affair with a woman named, Roberta, and they conceived a child together. One of his sons, Cory, wants to play football when he attends college, but his father ruins that chance and turns down the offer before he could even make the decision. Troy worked hard to provide his family and did what he needed to make sure they survived, he thought by not allowing his son to play college football and making the decision for him would be best, and he also thought cheating on his wife would make him feel better. Troy did all of this because he felt like it was the correct thing to do in his circumstances.