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Literary analysis of august wilson's fences
Literary analysis of august wilson's fences
Interpretation of fences by august wilson
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Fences In the play “Fences” the significance of the title serves to show how Troy was metaphorically closed in from facing his own truth. The job of the African American Man, to protect, survive, teach and enforce was a lot of pressure for Troy to handle while metaphorically inside the same fence he was literally building; closing himself in. The metaphoric talk of death repeats in Troy's final struggle with Cory. Troy is drunk now, whereas Cory is brave and strong. They struggle for a bat; which Troy ultimately gets. This struggle for the bat is not merely struggle for that trivial bat, but for something which are very important in one's life. For Troy it can be rules and orders, expectations and respects. For Cory, it can stand for independence …show more content…
Baseball is his comfort zone so when he feels the need to express his anger or the infidelity he expressed it in terms of baseball talk. To Rose he apologized for his actions but as far as his son Cory he never apologized or regretted his actions, because he was never apologized to for never playing in the Major Leagues. He felt as if he owed the truth to his wife and that satisfaction because she was good enough but not to his son because he wasn’t good enough. We see this when he calls strike on Cory multiple times, for instance when Cory lied about the job that was strike …show more content…
He could have easily stayed away from messing around with Alberta, especially after Bono warned him that he knew, and the way he treated Cory was wrong so their relationship was a failure before he was even a factor in the family, all because he felt robbed of his dream. Troy felt a since of entitlement to bring others down with him because of his past, and Cory just happened to get it the worst, he was being stripped of his dream all because his father was stripped of his. The fence here symbolizes the discontent in his own
For him, fences were used to keep people out. Such an example can be found near the end of Act I, Scene IV when Cory and Troy are fighting and Cory says “Tell Mama I’ll be back for my and things” and Troy responded “They’ll be on the other side of that fence.”(905). In short, Troy built a physical fence around his house to create a border or separation from the outside world. However, in Troy’s situation, fences can be interpreted as a double entendre. For many weeks he kept putting off the building of the fence around the yard. Instead, he would wander off to “Taylor’s” to watch the game. By not building the fence it also showing his lack of commitment to Rose who was urging him to, “Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I thought you was gonna work on this fence?”(888). Which is ironic because him not building the fence involuntarily not only broke Rose’s fences in addition to his as it let Alberta and Raynell into their lives. The lack of commitment he showed to Rose proves that as a family man, Troy was missing some key values that are entrenched in a prosperous
Some people use fences to keep worlds divided, and live two different lives. Troy Maxson is a prime example of a person who wanted a life that was adaptable to his situation. Troy's character is the centerpiece that all of the other relationships in “Fences” gather around (SparkNotes). His home was his foundation, and something sturdy that he could come back no matter what, but when he was in the outside world he felt that he could have an immoral lifestyle without any repercussions. Troy's fence was only illusory; there was nothing
Rose and Troy had a good relationship before he met someone at the bar. Rose wants to keep everyone she loves close to her, so she doesn’t lose them. When Troy tells her about the women, he met at the bar she put up a barrier to block Troy and what he had done. Rose says, “ Why, Troy? Why? After all these years to come dragging this into me now. It don’t make no sense at your age. I could have expected this ten or fifteen years ago, but not now” (1173, line 213). Rose gave him three strikes until he stuck out with her for good and he broke two of them because of the women and the child he would be having with
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 anyone a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish.
The portion of Fences that I will be discussing is act one scene three, a plethora of emotions along with life lessons are displayed in this act. Act one scene three opens with Cory coming home from football practice and his mother Rose letting him know that his father is upset with him. Cory then lets her know that his father, Troy, has told him that they were going to work on the fence for the past five Saturdays, and Troy always ends up doing something else. Then Cory goes off to eat lunch and do his chores, this is when Troy enters the house and yells at Cory to come help him build the fence. In the midst of the build Cory ask Troy why haven’t they bought a TV yet, Troy goes on to explain that he would rather put the money towards tarring the roof to stop the leaks. Cory tells his father about putting down payments on the television, and his father yells at him about not wanting to owe anybody. Troy then says that if Cory can come up with half the money for the TV he will match it and they will finally get a TV. The two change the topic to baseball and begin to talk about diversity in Major League Baseball. Of course, Troy begins t...
The fence is the biggest symbol in Fences. In Act I, the fence represents Troy’s relationship with white people; the house’s small dirt yard is “partially fenced, ... with a wooden sawhorse, a pile of lumber, and other fence-building equipment set off to the side.” (Setting Page) (Wilson, 1986) On one side of the road, the fence represents Troy’s hateful thinking towards white people, he has all the tools ready to rebuild the fence, hoping for a result where he keeps every white person away. This psychological response from Troy is logical because of all the suffering he went through because of white-skinned people such as not being able to go professional in baseball and not being able to drive a garbage truck. However, on the other side of the road, the fence represents Troy’s hopeful thinking of the black people forming an alliance with white people in hopes of no more wars and bullying. The precedent can be seen by looking at the slowly deteriorating fence, not being rebuilt, trying to let the two races live on the same territory, not being separated by a big scary fence. Wilson uses symbolism because it is a great way to show how racism took a big toll in Troy’s family’s
In the book The Other Side, the author creates a curious tone and uses the fence as a symbol of segregation to illustrate an example that no matter the color of your skin we are all made equal. The book presents a great lesson for all children, especially with the book coming from a child’s point of view.
Americans community. Troy Maxson a garbage man tries to teach his son Corry the importance
The fence in this situation tells us symbolically that Troy doesn’t want to get hurt anymore so it’s protecting him but at the same time he is losing his family. Troy doesn’t approve of Cory playing football even though there’s a good chance that a scout will recruit him after watching him play. Even though this sounds harsh, Troy is jealous of his son and protective of him. The thought of Cory achieving something that he couldn't makes their relationship bitter and tense. He’s protective of him in a way because he doesn’t want Cory to deal with the experience of racism in sports that he went through and would rather have Cory look for a job just like him. "You go on and get your book-learning so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can't nobody take away from you” (Fences 35). The fence is the physical and emotional barrier between him and his sons. Both of Troy's sons draw themselves away from him. Troy neglects his oldest son Lyon's and pushes him away by refusing to hear him play his jazz music and calls it "Chinese
Finally, the fence symbolizes his lack of responsibility and commitment. In the play, Troy seems uncommitted in building the fence―a perfect example of himself. After Troy and Rose end the discussion about Gabriel moving with Miss Pearl, a lady near the neighborhood, Troy begins to head out, but Rose stops him, asking him, “Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I though you was gonna work on this fence?” (2078). Every Friday, Troy tells Rose he spends his afternoon at Taylors’, but in reality, he’s with Alberta. He almost never commits himself to his marriage with Rose. Troy acts quite hypocritical when he tells Rose she was “the only decent thing that ever happened” to him, yet he went off with another
August Wilson uses the symbol of a 'fence' in his play, Fences, in numerous occasions. Three of the most important occasions fences are symbolized are by protection, Rose Maxson and Troy Maxson's relationship, and Troy against Mr. Death. Throughout the play, characters create 'fences' symbolically and physically to be protected or to protect. Examples such as Rose protecting herself from Troy and Troy protecting himself form Death. This play focuses on the symbol of a fence which helps readers receive a better understanding of these events. The characters' lives mentioned change around the fence building project which serves as both a literal and a figurative symbol, representing the relationships that bond and break in the backyard.
...fence it was already too late. His actions and decisions had already destroyed his family to the point where the meaning of the fence was rendered inert. The effects of racism clearly affected Troy’s entire role. The play also goes on to suggest that social and political forces are pivotal roles that impacted the lives of African Americans during the 1950’s and that years of oppression were factors that affected the way in which black people lived.
There are many things in life that are hard to explain within themselves, which is why people often use metaphors to expand on their speech. Whether it is a poet comparing their love to a rose or a woman comparing a man to a dog, almost everyone uses metaphors in their everyday language. Many good examples of metaphors in everyday writing are found in August Wilson's play, Fences. In this play there are also many ways that the characters use "fences" as both figurative and literal terms. All these forms of writing really expand on the story and help people to understand the characters much better.
In August Wilson’s Fences, relationships were a big part of the story because every character had a different kind of relationship with each other. Troy had a relationship with every character in the play and it was not the same kind of relationship. Troy Have a complicated relationship with every character in the play because troy character is difficult and it cause conflicts with everyone character in Fences (Blumenthal). Troy has a personal relationship with his self and it was kind of a fictitious relationship but to Troy it was realer than anything in his life. Troy was a denial type a person so he really disagreed with others wisdom and advice and stuck to his on philosophy. He had a rough life growing up his family history in the south of slavery carried over in his entire life and affected his everyday life (Pereira). Troy is a man that takes on all his responsibilities and a very hard and passionate worker but also has difficulties with his inner self which made him build a relationship with his inner self and always believed that he had to trust and go with his abnormal thoughts.
The father son relationship is a centering conflict within the play Fences. Throughout the play we are amerced into this complex connection of Troy and his two sons, Cory and Lyon. Additionally, we see a slight picture of the relationship between Troy and his father through the lens of Troy. Troy is overtaken with bitterness and he is convinced that his color makes him powerless. This mentality of powerlessness streams into the lives of Troy’s youngest son, Cory. Moreover, it is evident that this mentality was passed down from Troy’s father. Socio-cultural issues during the 1950’s acts as a further reinforcement to the problems depicted within the play. Troy and Lyon’s relationship slightly differs from that of Troy and Cory’s; however, it is evident that as Troy and Cory, Lyon ends up “fenced” in by ...