A fence is for safety it blocks out strangers from invading privacy, metaphorically it protects the past from sneaking in through the cracks. In August Wilson Playwrite “Fences” he portrays this by using a fence to keep the secrets inside and hidden away. August Wilson was the writer for “Fences” Wilson was never really successful as a poet, Wilson was encouraged to write from his friend Claude Purdy from the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis (ebscohost.com). In 1983 was the year Wilson wrote “Fences” and Fences earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 1987. (biography.com) . Since Wilson’s death in 2005 his work for “fences” has become more popular. Based on “Fences” which is based in the 1950’s Troy Maxson is building a fence at his wife’s request, physically the fence is just wooden fence keeping the outsiders out, when in reality it goes deeper than the eye can see. Everyone close the Troy has a fence around them. Troy’s wife Rose has a fence surrounding her, her fence is her feelings of leaving and dropping everything for her husband and he does not even notice, Rose wants to keep her family close and together, “She is ten years younger than Troy, her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibility of her life without him”(1.4). Rose put her life into Troy and stays beside him, her fence is to protect her …show more content…
The fence Troy put around Lyons is his dream to be a musician. Lyons borrows money on Troy’s payday to achieve his dreams of making music, “fancies himself a musician, he is caught up in the rituals and ideas he has come to borrow money from Troy, he is uncertain as to what extent his life style will be held up…” (1.7). Though he borrows money and promises to pay Troy back he still holds on to that dream Even though Troy won't even take the time to come see Lyons play music, the real pride of Lyons's life, Lyons still seems to respect his father
Throughout the years, Bono has always been there for Troy. They have been friends for about eighteen years. Bono never hesitated to tell Troy anything, especially his opinion on Alberta. “I know what Rose means to you, Troy I’m just trying to say I don’t want to see you mess up.” (p.63) Bono’s words show the reader how much he cares about Troy. Bono was always straightforward with Troy. He even said, “That’s right. I know you. I know you got some Uncle Ramus in your blood. You got more stories than the devil got sinners.” (p.13) Much of Troy is shown in Bono because he has been with him through the good times and the bad.
Troy was met with many hardships in his life that left him feeling like he needed to protect himself from the things that have hurt him and could hurt him. The fence that Rose told Troy to build symbolized the barrier that he puts up to protect himself from the things that have hurt him and could hurt him in the future. Troy uses the fence to symbolize the emotional separation and neglect he has towards his family; Rose and Cory in particular. The main reason why the fence took the whole play to complete is because Troy neglected it and spent his time with his mistress which symbolized his neglect towards his family. Cory brings this to attention when he tells Troy that he "don't never do nothing, but go down to Taylors'", which is obviously his mistress’s home (Henderson). This was Troy’s f...
Wilson uses the character of Troy, his family, and his friends in Fences to pour out his life, his
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.
One scene that really exemplifies the reader’s empathy towards Rose is when her and Troy get into a fight while in the backyard. This argument occurs when Troy first tells Rose that he got another woman pregnant. Wilson uses a strong metaphor here to aid him in getting Rose’s point
At the age of sixteen Wilson wrote a sophisticated paper, and was accused of plagiarism. The principal decided to suspend him, and refused to let Wilson come back to the school. In the book Fences Troy's last name is "Maxson” and it might be related to the Mason-Dixon line. This line was considered as the imaginary line, meaning not real, to show the separation between the free and slave states. Fences refers to the 1960s, when discrimination got
...e he ruined his marriage by cheating on her. Rose takes care of Troy’s newborn baby Raynell because she believes that Raynell needs a mother figure in her life and not a worthless man; she then kicks Troy out of the house. After Troy dies, Rose forgives him. Rose married Troy after he was released from prison. Troy knows that he is unsuccessful in accomplishing what he wanted for him and his family. Troy is a garbage man who feels that the white man kept him from doing a lot of things that he wanted to do in life. Troy does not have many goals in life. Troy is in own little world and does not like to be judged.
Troy is a very self-centered individual. He is only concerned with issues regarding him. For instance, he wants to be able to drive the trash trucks at his job like the white men do. In Act One, scene one, Troy tells Bono that he talked to his boss, Mr. Rand, about driving the trucks. “How come you got all the whites driving and the colored lifting?” (1332). If things in Troy’s life aren’t going the way he wants them to, he makes himself into the victim and searches for sympathy from others. In addition, if he ever does something erroneous, he never accepts responsibility, never admits his wrongdoing and no matter how much anguish he causes someone, he never apologizes for it.
“Fences”, written by American playwright August Wilson, is a play set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1950’s that explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, amidst other themes. The focal point of Wilson’s attention in “Fences” is Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old trash collector who often struggles with providing for his family, not only financially, but he tends to neglect them from the love and support that a family needs. Troy is married to Rose, his wife of almost 18 years and together they care for their teenage son, Cory. His eldest son Lyons, is in his thirties, and was fathered with a woman Troy met before meeting his current wife. He also has a younger brother, named Gabriel, a former soldier whose war injury to the head has caused him noticeable psychological damage.
time I see him.? The source of this conflict lies in Troy?s experiences and attitude
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.
Losing the respect and company of people was one of the few things that caused him to feel some form of remorse for what he did to Rose. However, Troy did nothing to fix the problems he created, except to drink and pretend he was still respected. It becomes especially clear that nobody respects Troy when Cory blatantly says “I ain’t got to say excuse me to you. You don’t count around here no more” (II iv, 85). Although nobody else says it as obviously as Cory, most characters realize Troy’s failure. Even though he may have provided for his family in the physical sense, Troy neglected them a great deal emotionally. This once again proves that Troy is unsuitable to be a proper father for Cory and a respectable husband for
Looking at Troy's relationship with his eldest son, Lyons, you can immediately see that their relationship is strained from the minute that Lyons makes his first appearance. During the time when the audience first meets Lyons, Troy rudely greets him by asking "What you come 'Hey, Popping' me for?" (13). You soon learn that Lyons is a struggling musician who often asks to borrow money from his father. You also learn that Troy is not at all supportive of Lyons' dreams of being a musician, even though that is what makes Lyons' happy. Troy constantly insults Lyons' by telling him that he is lazy because he would rather pursue his dreams than get a job similar to the one that Troy holds as a garbage man. Although Troy's relationship with Lyons is the least complicated of all of his relationships, the strain...
The entirety of the Nadel’s article sheds light on a topic that is not easy for many authors to use without creating caricatures or exaggerated images of a stereotype. At first reading, the content is a little confusing, and somewhat daunting. However, after another reading, the text is easier to grasp. Nadel’s article would have been much stronger if he took time to mention other characters than Troy. Adding more about the character of Rose in this article created a fuller and better grasp on the topic of the fence, which Nadel...
In addition, Rose uses the fence, symbolically, to keep Troy in because she wants to keep him close and unknowingly to keep him away from his mistress, Alberta, whom she, (Rose), doesn’t find about until Act 2, Scene 1 of the play. On the contrary, Troy, symbolically, wants to keep people out with the fence. In the play, Troy uses the fence as a way to keep Cory out, this is directly after...