The Theme Of The Theme In Fences, By August Wilson

Upon finishing the week, on Friday Troy and his friend Bono talk about what they witnessed during the week. While arriving home, Bono brings up the subject of how he knew that Troy was not going to get fired from work. Upon entering Troy comes face to face with his son, Lyon, who is there to give Troy back the money he borrowed from him. After, seeing this Bono and Lyons greet each other and Bono talks about the promotion Troy got at his job.  He states, “ your daddy got a promotion on the rubbish. He gonna be the first colored driver. Ain't got to do nothing but sit up there and read the paper like them white fellows "( Wilson, 1168). In this quote it is clear that a black man getting a promotion is not an everyday thing. This can be observed in the way Bono talks about the incident. The idea of race is seen impacting Troy’s opportunity and type of work. This is seen through the fact that there are societal roles which have been placed upon each race and the type of job he or she is supposed to pursuit. In this case, the author characterizes that the job for whites is to be the drivers, who drive a truck and “read papers”. In comparison, the job for blacks like Troy are labor intensive work, which do not pay a significant amount needed for survival. The author through this quote shows how the topic of race effects Troy day to day life which includes his job. Troy’s race has a major impact on his job, due to the fact that based on his color Troy was not allowed the job of being a driver for a long time. This leads to a lack of funding from Troy to support his family, which in turn leads to conflicts between Troy and other members of the family. This impact race has on Troy’s job also, affected the way Troy feels about himself.  This is due to the fact that when not being able to provide his family's needs, he begins to question his masculinity. In

However, that is not the last time that Troy’s race has been a hurdle in his life. He works for the sanitation department lifting the trash into the back of the truck, and he wants to drive the truck. The only problem is that they were not allowing any African American men in that position. He approached his boss and said, "I went to Mr. Rand and asked him, 'Why? Why you got white mens driving and the colored lifting?'" (Wilson 1.1.13). From this we can already tell that Troy is not afraid to stand up for what he believes is right or what he feels is his duty to do as a black man in America.

Troy is constantly exposed to racism and attempts to overcome it in everyday life. There are many instances throughout the book of black people, often working very hard to try and get an opportunity to make something of their lives. This opportunity that is searched for is constantly dismissed because of the underlining theme of racism. Troy isn’t one to stand up for himself, but does when he speaks to his boss about inequality in the work area “I went to Mr. Rad and asked him ‘why? Why you got white men’s driving and the colored man lifting?’” (Wilson 19) Troy’s frustration in dealing with racism and inequality everyday reflects his frustrations from being denied a career in baseball. Despite Troy’s efforts to work hard, he along with many others is not given a chance to change the lives of their families. Troy says that he works as hard as possible and receives nothing for it

Pat Mora’s “Fences” is a delicate poem that deals with the timely issues of class divide and privilege. She begins her poem on a positive note, saying “Mouths full of laughter,” which creates this safe and harmless tone. The next line, she uses the word “turistas,” which is interesting; Mora uses a Spanish word (tourist in English) to indicate possibly the ethnicity of the speaker. It is not until the last few lines of the poem, however, when the reader can also detect the class and likely status of the speaker, when the speaker’s mother says, “It’s their beach,” after seeing the speaker’s younger sister running across the sand where the affluent tourists are. At only 19 lines, “Fences” is a relatively short poem, but Mora’s use of

Troy’s relationship with his youngest son, Cory, was a prime example or his controlling nature. One major conflict between them was Troy Forbidding Cory from playing football. As said in the quote, “ If 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 you’ve got to take the crookeds with the straights ”(Act 1, Scene 3, Line 192) Troy is not happy with the fact that Croy quit his quit because of football practice. Troy is so against it because he was denied acceptance into a baseball team because of his race in his past. In a way troy thinks he his looking out for cory but deep down, as rose brings out in the next scene, he is haunted by his own

Matthew Jones declares that black masculinity is defined in three overarching categories: perception, expectation, and representation (Jones). The stories, Fences, by August Wilson and A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gains, the main characters are forced to live with many hardships. Yet only a few of them can declare value of their lives, and redeem themselves, despite these hardships. The stories both of the main characters are unhappy angry men the only difference is that one of the characters progressed while the other stays the same. This paper will compare and contrast them both.

Troy took care of his family as a man should. He took care of his sons with all that he had, but the love for his family was not evident in his character, especially with what he did to Rose. Cheating on Rose was a very selfish, and disrespectful act that showed no love towards his family. Troy’s behavior does not derive from racism, but stems from the relationship he had with his father when he was a teenager. Without him knowing, Troy was very similar to his father. His father “stayed right here with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be” (Wilson 905). Troy’s description of his father was the same person he was. In his conversation with Cory he says to him: “like you? I go out of here every morning…bust my butt…putting gup with them crackers

He is the center of both small and large conflicts. His ability to believe in self-created illusions and his inability to accept the choices of others in life that differ from his own philosophy is what causes him to instigate conflicts. His philosophy is mainly based on experience, this experiences stem from his rough childhood, prison life, his baseball career and the discriminative hiring practices employed by his employers at the sanitation department. During this time frame, the segregation between blacks and whites was at its peak and this influence was the major governing factor to which Troy’s life was built upon. Throughout the play Troy is mostly seen as an average African American bowing down to racism and segregation. In the beginning of the play though (Act 1 Scene 1) Troy stands up to his white employers and questions them on why only white people are driving trucks and not the black people too. This is the first time Troy is seen standing up against racism and eventually becomes the first black truck driver.

Troy's then made his life revolve around work and his family; he put his dreams of becoming a major league baseball player aside. He went into working and became a garbage man; he realized that he needed a steady income to provide for his family and to purchase the house that they live in. Even in the work place Troy wants to excel and make a stand for himself, talking to the commissioner about being a driver of one of the garbage trucks. Troy argued for blacks to drive the garbage trucks, but he doesn't know how to drive or even have a license. Troy acts out to try and better his black community and to try and break the barrier between whites and blacks. When Troy confronts Rose about his affair with Alberta, Rose becomes very angry with Troy. Rose is a stronger person than Troy, despite what she lets him think. She makes this extremely apparent when Troy tells her about the affair. "All of a sudden it's "we," where was "we" at when you was down there rolling around with some god forsaken woman? "We" should have come to an understanding before you started making a damn fool of yourself. You're a day late and a dollar short when it comes to an understanding with me." Troy realizes that the affair causes much disrespect to his wife and family. One day while visiting his wife Rose, they receive a call at the

In the opening of the play, the main characters are developed to be very stereotypical archetypes. Troy is the money earning, hard-assed, head of the house and Rose is the gentle and caring mother. Through metaphors, Wilson can contradict these initial character developments and reveal the character 's true intentions. In the opening of the play, Troy 's character is “... fifty-three years old, a large man with thick, heavy hands; it is this largeness that he strives to fill out and make an accommodation with” (1.1.1). His appearance implies that Troy has an ego larger than himself and strives to fill up the missing space in every way possible, but is not showing his struggles. In a heated argument with Rose Troy says, “It’s not easy for me to admit that I been standing in the same place for eighteen years” (2.1.70). In other words, Troy is perceived to be a self-sufficient and progressive man, until now. He reveals his vulnerabilities and says that although he puts on a front of accomplishment, he has felt

    In Act I and some of Act II the audience sees many disagreements  between Cory and Troy about Cory playing sports. In Troy's past after he was released from jail he went to play baseball, but as Troy claims, he was not allowed to play due to skin color. Troy is then placing this stipulation onto Cory when he wants to play football. Troy made the statement, “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football. I told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living.” (Act I  scene I ). Troy makes this statement to his wife, Rose, after she tells him of Cory getting recruited college football. In this Troy is thinking of his past when he went to play baseball and he was not accepted to play. In

August Wilson’s Fences emphasizes on two main selections of otherness, one on racial otherness and one on generational otherness. Wilson’s play is a universal concept that many struggle with today. Parents try to look out for the best way to help their children be successful in life though at times failing to take into account of the child’s hopes, wishes and dreams. Troy used to be a skillful baseball player at his prime that was unfortunately discriminated against due to the color of his skin. Though the urging of his best friend and wife that “[he] just came along too early” (7, Wilson) Troy does not feel as if his son Cory’s athletic scholarship would be beneficial to him. Troy argues that “the white man ain’t gonna let [Cory] nowhere with

Troy attempts to disguise this feeling as concern for his son, but cannot accept the fact that “[he] was too old to play baseball” (Wilson 39). However, he continues to deny this privilege to Cory because of the selfishness he feels as a result of double consciousness. The same double consciousness that serves the black community so well in their attempts to fight the “whites’ resistance to blacks’ true inclusion in the American fabric” (McWhorter 13) can also have negative effects as well. For instance, when Troy begins to blame the white establishment for the majority of his problems, it further weakens his legitimate claims. The “two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings” (Dubois 1) that are present in Troy appear to be his justification for the mistreatment of his family. Surprisingly, Wilson Pickett had a similar dilemma that he faced while living in the 1960’s. Pickett was a rare breed of person who rejected double consciousness, instead preferring to “not [back] down” (Kot 1). However, Pickett’s main demons were caused by the fact that he was never able to reconcile his public persona of largeness with his constant feeling of weakness in a world dominated by white men. Double consciousness is also the cause of the entitlement that Troy feels as a result of his constant subjugation by the white race. When Troy senses that he and his follow African-Americans are being discriminated against on the job, he embraces the “discourse in

Troy is seen as an unforgivable character because of his actions, but it is his actions that reveal that he is in a perpetual cycle of longing. Troy’s ongoing dissatisfaction with life, as a result of being a black everyman in the 1950s only adds to the anger and bitterness at life disappointments. The black everyman mirrors the pain and unrequited respect that Troy feels. Which is why it is important to note that in the

Responsibilities can cause people to be a responsible person, but sometimes it could be scary and people might experience more pressure on it. In the play, fences, by August Wilson, the main character Troy has also felt in the same way about the responsibilities. Which cause him to be unable to find or separate between love and responsibility. In this play, it gives the reader the vibe that he is a greedy, responsible, funny, sad, lonely, impotent, and caring person but also an affectless person. All he does is hurt people and their feelings. Is that who he is? Or what’s the reason behind this? What make him to do or be like who he is today?