Symbolism In The Film Adaptation Of Fences

The marriage between Troy and Rose was shown differently in Denzel Washington’s production of Fences and the 1985 original play by American playwright, August Wilson. August Wilson’s play centered around the Maxson family, the life of Troy Maxson and the decisions he made that affected his marriage and family. The Maxson marriage was depicted on the 1950’s era whereby a woman’s place was in the home. While Rose was home tending to the house and children, Troy provided for the family. Throughout the movie and play, we see how Troy’s actions and decisions affected the relationships with his friends and family. The primary relationship highlighted in both the play and movie is that of Troy and Rose and how it completely disintegrates towards the end of the story. In August Wilson’s portrayal of Rose, she is described as one that has been challenged throughout her life, but still manages to be a strong centerpiece for the family. Denzel Washington’s movie conveys the

August Wilson did not name his play, Fences, simply due to the melodramatic actions that take place in the Maxson household, but rather the relationships that bond and break because of the “fence”. The “fence” serves as a structural device because the character's lives are constantly changing during the construction of the fence. The dramatic actions in the play strongly depend on the building of the fence in the Maxson’s backyard. Fences represents the metaphorical walls or fences that the main characters are creating around themselves in order to keep people in or vice versa. The title may seem straightforward, but in actuality it is a powerful symbol which can either have positive or

August Wilson’s Fences is a play about Troy Maxson, and how his values influence his family’s. The play takes place in 1950’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy Maxson is a black, middle aged man working for a garbage company. Each member of the Maxson family has a special relationship with Troy, that affects their behavior throughout the play. In life you learn the most from your parents. They teach you how to walk, speak, and respect one another. Your parents also give you a set of values for life. As you grow up as your own individual, your values will change from your parents. There will be things that are much more important to you, and not as important to them. In the play Fences Troy Maxson has a very strong set of values that he believes are true in how you should live life. Troy imposes these values on everyone in his family to the best of his ability. Each character in Fences is at a different stage in their life, so Troy can’t push his values onto characters that already have their own beliefs. The character that Troy has the most influence on in the play is Cory. Troy is in Cory’s life throughout his childhood, and as his father Cory must respect Troy. Troy is very firm with Cory, because he wants Cory to be successful. Cory has a dream of becoming a football player, and this does not follow Troy’s values. Troy influences Cory so much that Cory will always be like Troy whether he realizes it or not. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at

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,

     Troy took care of Gabriel after the war. This made him think that he was a good brother. Troy wasn’t a good brother to Gabriel. He stole the war money that Gabriel got. He used the money that he got to build himself a house. Gabriel couldn’t take care of himself, so Troy oversaw Gabriel’s life. After a while

Fences is a drama film directed and starred by Denzel Washington, along with Academy Award Winner, Viola Davis as well as adapted from the play Fences by August Wilson. The movie Fences focuses with elements of distrust and change among a working-class African-American father Troy Maxson, works as a garbage collector during the 1950s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maxson’s dream was to become a professional baseball player, but he was considered too old when the league began recruiting black athletes. Sullen by the truth, Troy creates more problems in his family when he dismisses his son’s chance to play professional football. The director’s perception of African American experience during the time period is very fluent. The characters

The character Gabriel (Uncle Gabe) is a mix of many different things and people that of the time and believes he signals the opening of heaven’s gate as his interpretation of the fence. Gabriel is Troy’s half brother who went and fought in the war. He was medically discharged after receiving a head injury that permanently reduced his mental functions. Troy helped Gabriel get a settlement and helps spend/manage the money. Troy used the money to buy himself a house that Gabriel originally lived in as well until Gabriel moved out at his own wish. Wilson wrote:

     We all lead lives filled with anxiety over certain issues, and with dread of the inevitable day of our death. In this play, Fences which was written by the well known playwright, August Wilson, we have the story of Troy Maxson and his family. Fences is about Troy Maxson, an aggressive man who has on going, imaginary battle with death. His life is based on supporting his family well and making sure they have the comforts that he did not have in his own childhood. Also, influenced by his own abusive childhood, he becomes an abusive father who rules his younger son, Cory?s life based on his own past experiences. When the issue comes up of Cory having a bright future ahead of him if he joins the football team,

Gabriel is a wise, observant, and slightly delusional. Troy uses Gabriel disability checks to pay for his house while Gabriel lives in an apartment. When Troy says, “Don’t nobody want to be locked up, Rose. What you wanna lock him up for?” (Act 1, scene 2, Line 174) in a way he his turning down the idea of getting Gabe into a mental hospital. Troy is controlling Gabe’s life by not even considering the chance at a better life for gabe. The hospital could provide for him, but Troy believes Gabe can take care of himself. By the end of the play, Gabriel is admitted into a mental hospital. He ends the play by opening the “gates of heaven” for

There are quite a few clichés throughout fences. The aspiring musician who is always poor, the washed-up sports player, the crazy old man who is really actually a wise character, the loving wife, etc. It’s interesting to see Wilson place such (to me) an emphasis on the crazy “fool” character, and end up leaving him out for such a long period of time throughout the script. Of particular interest is the way it seems Wilson completely mutes the trumpet, so much that it doesn’t even play anymore, and cannot open the heavens, leaving Gabriel himself to dance and whoop and holler in order to accomplish the desired

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, nor whether that was the right choice for her, is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?” Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West tells the story of the green girl named Elphaba who grew up to become one of the most iconic evil characters in history. While telling her story, Maguire incorporates symbolism and similar senses of style, genre, and theme to give his words deeper meaning and to capture the essence of his characters.

I believe based on relational de-escalation stages, Troy and Gabriella are on the stage of Pseudo Conflict because they are having a conflict stemming from a lack of understanding. As one of the scene shows that at a point, Troy and Gabriella avoided each other. Troy and Gabriella best friends planned a harsh jokes towards them. They recorded Troy saying horrible things about Gabriella that he did not meant to. This caused Gabriella to dislike him for a short time of period. Gabriella avoided Troy wherever she went to school, mall and etc. When Troy attempted to speak to Gabriella, she quickly ran from him. Eventually Troy and Gabriella gain back their verbal relationship once again.

The combination of Rose as well as Troy is a more appropriate symbol for the fence; it is the combination of the two characters that creates a stronger representation of a fence. Rose is the driving force that forces Troy build the fence, so in reality it is Rose’s strength that carries the power that Troy needs to create a protective barrier around their home, life, and weaknesses from the outside forces of the world. Rose feels the need for a protective barrier, a fence, which can be built around her home for the protection of her family and her household. Her idea involved keeping the things and people who are important to her inside rather than keeping things and people outside. Troy is the opposite and wants to keep everything out. Interestingly, both Rose and Troy want the fence to protect their lives it is just a matter of perception. The title "Fences" symbolizes the figurative fences that the characters are wrapping around themselves either to keep people from departure or to prevent them from entering.

A life spent making mistakes is not only human, but expected when the life itself is seen as a mistake. While the main character, Troy, in Wilson’s play “Fences” elicits exclamations of disapproval from the readers, Troy’s background gives meaning to his poor decision making as a man, husband, and father in the 1950s. Troy’s thought process, loss of sense of self, and actions prove him to be a pure example of a black everyman. The black everyman bends under the pressure of having to be highly masculine while also living under the thumb of the white race. It is clear in every interaction Troy is in that he oozes sadness, while inwardly seething at the slightest implications of anyone around him reaching new heights. Thus making Troy’s character not only believable due to his hypocrisy, but also sympathetic as a result of the disadvantages he has lived through. I see a part of Troy in every black man I know, always wanting more, but never losing the awareness that it may be out of their grasp.

In the gothic novella, Secret Window, Secret Garden, by Stephen King, the author uses mirrors as symbols to distinguish between reality and the imaginary. Whenever King references mirrors, Mort struggles with grasping actuality, thus Mort creates his own reality that deteriorates his mental state and ultimately his life. For instance, Mort believes that shooter is in his house, yet ironically Mort “was not Shooter he was afraid of”, but rather “he was afraid of” “finding nothing”, because internally, Mort knows that Shooters existence is simply an illusion (391). As Mort goes around the house looking for Shooter, he approaches the bathroom and looks into the mirror and realizes that the reflection of the mirror “ wasn’t Shooter at all” but