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What Does August Wilson Represent

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When a plot progresses, typically indicators and imagery are used to foreshadow a character’s fate or standing. In August Wilsons play “The Fences,” baseball is commonly referenced throughout the play. The play consists of a man named Troy who feels he is stuck in life due to his skin color and would rather keep the life and job he knew he could safe rather than put it all on the line by searching for better opportunities, however, with this mindset Troy decided to cheat on his wife, Rose with another woman and conceived a daughter with her by mistake. When bringing this information forward, Troy describes how he felt like he was able to bunt life to first base and with Alberta he thought he could steal second, this completely blows up in his face and ruins his family’s dynamic …show more content…

Throughout the story we see baseball imagery everywhere, when Troy confronts his son, when describing his thought process to Rose, and even when describing his upbringing, this theme of baseball displays how Troy views his choices and how life plays out. August Wilson uses baseball to describe Troy’s feelings and thought process throughout as Troy uses metaphors to the baseball, he played in his younger years, to explain his decisions and emotions to his family. He explains why he refuses to let his talented son who dreams of playing football play as he feels “I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasn’t getting involved in any sports. Not after what they did to me in the sports.” He believes that due to the racial injustices of the time Cory will not be successful at football therefore, Troy wants to protect him from suffering the same fate as him protecting him from the same trauma. However, this is at the cost of Cory’s dream (Wilson

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