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Analysis of fences by august Wilson
Discuss the theme of racial discrimination in "Fences" written by August Wilson
Analysis of fences by august Wilson
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In August Wilson’s “Fences,” Rose Maxson is the wife of Troy; a housewife, and mother to their son Cory. Kurnia says this regarding Rose: “her decision to focus her life more on her motherhood’s side resembles the life of Wilson’s own mother and even many other African-American mothers.” (14) She epitomizes an African American housewife in the 1950’s, subservient to her husband, and holding utmost importance on the stability of her household. Wilson introduces to Rose as a typical housewife of her time, devoted to her husband and family. Rose initially gives up her dreams, opinions, independence for the purpose of maintaining her family. She eventually develops into a stronger, more independent woman, revealing herself to be the cornerstone …show more content…
Initially these are minor, and not significant enough to change the family dynamic. “Rose is a responsible, nurturing woman who sacrifices her own desires in order to keep peace in the family.” (Beaulieu, 916). The first signs of discord appear during a discussion of where to shop: Bella’s, locally owned but overpriced, or A&P, a chain with lower prices but no personal attachment. Rose asserts her opinion that Bella’s ought not overcharge and that times are changing with A&P offering lower prices. Troy disagrees, and believes that because Bella’s has always been there. A&P symbolizes the changing times, while Bella’s represents the old world. Rose’s acceptance and endorsement of A&P shows that although she has embraced her housewife status, she has retained a small measure of her own opinion, and has the propensity to move forward with the changing times. Out of the shopping discussion, Rose shares with Troy that their son, Cory, has been recruited to play college football. Rose is proud and supportive of her son’s accomplishment, but Troy wants Cory to focus on a trade so that he can earn a living. Rose says here “Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then” (Wilson, …show more content…
She gave up everything nearly everything of herself in order to achieve that perfect household. Her sacrifice would cost her the family she was trying to protect, as Troy became unfaithful, she is left to raise his illegitimate daughter as her own. Rose is transformed from the subservient housewife trying to maintain peace and order in her home, to the cornerstone of her family after Troy’s infidelity, keeping the family together even though the marriage had fallen apart. Her journey to being a strong, independent woman is filled with heartache and disappointment, but she enjoys the new opportunity for redemption provided with raising Raynell. Rose begins “Fences” as a typical African American housewife in the 1950s. Throughout the story, she develops into the typical African American family cornerstone: a strong willed, independent, loving mother figure, trying to instill the best into future
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 things inside or outside Troy used the fence he was building to keep out death, his family, and his disappointments in life while Rose used the fence to keep those she cared about inside and help them bond.
The complication begins in Troy’s youth, when his father beat him unconscious. At that moment, Troy leaves home and begins a troubled life on his own, and gaining a self-destructive outlook on life. “Fences” has many instances that can be considered the climax, but the one point in the story where the highest point of tension occurs, insight is gained and a situation is resolved is when Rose tells Troy that Alberta died having his baby, Raynell.
“Fences” is a play written by August Wilson about a family living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1957. Troy and Rose have been married for 18 years and have two grown children; Lyons and Corey. Troy is an uptight, prideful man who always claims that he does not fear death, the rest of his family is more laxed and more content with their lives than Troy is. As the play progresses the audience learns more about Troy’s checkered past with sharecropping, his lack of education and the time he spent in prison. The audience also learns more about Troy’s love for baseball and the dreams he lost due to racism and segregation. In the middle of the play the author outwardly confirms what the audience has been suspecting; Troy isn’t exactly satisfied with his life. He feels that he does not get to enjoy his life and that his family is nothing more than a responsibility. Getting caught up in this feelings, Troy cheats on Rose with a woman named Alberta and fathers a child with the mistress. By the end of the play Troy loses both of the women and in 1965, finally gets the meeting with death that he had been calling for throughout the play. Over the
“: You hungry, Gabe? I was just fixing to cook Troy his breakfast,” (Wilson, 14). Rose understands her role in society as a woman. Rose also have another special talent as a woman, that many don’t have which is being powerful. Rose understands that some things she can’t change so she just maneuver herself to where she is comfortable so she won’t have to change her lifestyle. Many women today do not know how to be strong sp they just move on or stay in a place where they are stuck and unable to live their own life. “: I done tried to be everything a wife should be. Everything a wife could be. Been married eighteen years and I got to live to see the day you tell me you been seeing another woman and done fathered a child by her,”(Wilson, 33). The author wants us to understand the many things women at the time had to deal with whether it was racial or it was personal issues. Rose portrays the powerful women who won’t just stand for the
This is the reason why Troy fights against his family and himself, because he feels like he is the only one who can protect them. To Cory and Rose, Troy is destroying the family because of his stubborn thoughts but to Troy he is saving the family from falling apart and this distrust causes the family to eventually fall apart. Troy really does try his hardest to be a good father and is bothered by the fact that Rose and Cory do not see it as him trying to protect them but more of him destroying the family. This hurts Troy because his family is his everything they are what he “fights” for he works day end and day out to put food on the table and try to give them a life he thinks the deserve. August Wilson in “fences” Troy says, “ I love this woman, so much it hurts. I love her so much… I done run out of ways to love her.”(1.1) Wilson uses to show how much Troy actually cares for his wife, to Troy Rose is his everything, she is the light in his darkness, she try’s to guide him back to a sane man. Another Way Wilson shows how much Troy loves his family is when Troy is talking to his family and says that “ You all line up at the door, with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood…”(1.3) Troy is saying that he will give them everything until he has absolutely nothing but the lint from his pockets. He will go out of his way to make
Rose’s loyalty to her family showed a load amount of strength in character. Even though she was not the mother of the child, who would eventually be named Raynell, she still stepped up to the task, even if it was against what she wanted in life. In the play Fences it states, “Okay Troy.. you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for
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, but he is also hitting up against himself and ultimately making his life more complicated. The discrimination that Troy faced while playing baseball and the torment he endures as a child shape him into one of the most dynamic characters in literary history. The central conflict is the relationship between Troy and Cory. The two of them have conflicting views about Cory’s future and, as the play goes on, this rocky relationship crumbles because Troy will not let Cory play collegiate football. The relationship becomes even more destructive when Troy admits to his relationship with Alberta and he admits Gabriel to a mental institution by accident. The complication begins in Troy’s youth, when his father beat him unconscious. At that moment, Troy leaves home and begins a troubled life on his own, and gaining a self-destructive outlook on life. “Fences” has many instances that can be considered the climax, but the one point in the story where the highest point of tension occurs, insight is gained and...
In the beginning of the play, readers are charmed by Troy and his vivacious storytelling and genuine personality but, as the story progresses, become aware of the striking deficiencies in his character which ultimately lead to his being unfaithful to his dedicated wife, Rose. In August Wilson’s play, Fences, although she is pitted against immensely emotionally taxing circumstances, Rose’s character shows an insurmountable courage and compassion; this is evident in her dedication to her family, even in the face of Troy’s actions, her selfless care for the illegitimate daughter, and her ability to continue on regardless of these
Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.
If she does choose to marry him and that life one of the advantages for Roselily, is that she will move up from poverty to not having to worry about money on a day to day basis. She worked in a sewing plant in Mississippi, but in Chicago she is not expected to work, but r...
Another occasion where fences are symbolized in the play is by Rose and Troy?s relationship. One of the most major ways Troy and Rose?s relationship is symbolized is by the cakes Rose makes for the church.
Finally, Rose symbolizes her dreams as a plant to show Troy that she really did give him everything. “I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams...and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it... the soil was hard and rocky” Symbolism is important in understanding what Troy’s family thinks of him because Rose says he wasn’t the best for her but she didn’t care. This relates to how Troy’s family views him as someone who isn’t that perfect but they don’t care. Additionally, Rose appears to sense some sort of arrogance inside Troy because he does not see her
In the play Fences, by August Wilson, the main character, Troy Maxson is involved in numerous relationships with family members throughout the entire eight years that the story takes place. Troy is a father, husband, and brother to other characters in the play. Unfortunately for Troy, a strong-minded and aggressive man, he constantly complicates the relationships with his family members. Troy's hurtful actions and words make it nearly impossible for him to sustain healthy relationships with not only his two sons, but also his wife and brother.
August Wilson created many themes throughout his famous play, Fences, but the most prominent one is the relationship between fathers and sons. The three father-son relationships introduced in this play seem to be complicated or difficult to understand. However, it is clear that the relationships built between Troy Maxson and his son Cory, Troy and his other son Lyons, and Troy and his own father are not love-driven. The parallelism of actions, events, and tension amongst each of the father-son relationships in the play illustrate how the sons try to break free from the constraints the father has set, yet in the end, these attempts seem to be pointless as the father leaves an everlasting effect on the sons, ultimately creating a cycle of actions
Fences is a play that was written by August Wilson, it follows the life of Tony Maxson, a garbage man, who throughout the play is building a fence around his home. The title, Fences, has more significance than one may have thought at first glance. The title is very symbolic in the perspective of almost every character in the play. Within Act 2, Scene 1 of the play, when discussing the reason as to why Rose wanted the fence up, with Cory and Troy, Bono says “Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.”. In the perspective of Rose, she wants to keep people in and with Troy it is the complete opposite.