The Lost American Dream Creates Personal Fences in Wilson’s Fences August Wilson’s play, Fences, centers around the life of Troy Maxson, an African American who was never able to realize the American dream. He lived in the 1950s just prior to the Civil Rights movement and the emergence of the acceptance of black society. Troy’s point of view dominates the play, focusing on life’s consequences and decisions that create personal fences in all his relationships. He accepts no regard for the opinion of others in his life and passes judgement on their choices. Troy has many good things in life, but he harbors a life of misery and extends his defeat onto everyone around him. “Troy struggles for fairness in a society which seems to offer none. In his struggle, he builds fences between …show more content…
He has a baseball attached to a rope for practice hits. He uses the bat as a weapon in his fight with Cory. The backyard represents Troy’s area of control. It is his enclosed field of rule and domination. “Wilson indicates that the legendary field of dreams has been reduced to the small dirty yard, incompletely fenced” (Koprince 353). Troy avoids completion of the fence, which is another failure in his life. Although he wants his son to work on it every Saturday, Cory says “He been saying that the last four or five Saturdays, and then he do not never do nothing” (Wilson 29). The fence symbolizes Troy’s crushed dreams and his inability to move forward thereafter. He fails in every relationship and hurts those he loves. The unfortunate part is that because of what life dealt him, he actually thinks he is protecting everyone, taking responsibility for them. He believes by putting up fences, he is able to guard them from the perils of society. In reality, his own victimization from society is carried on, and he is the one who ruins the American dream for the upcoming
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...
The play, Fences was written by an American author August Wilson in the 1983. This play takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1950’s which happened before any major work regarding the civil rights movement was noticeable. The play is about a man named Troy Maxson, who is a fifty-three year old who works in the sanitation department. His son Cory wants to play football and does not let him pursue his dream because he doesn't want him to get hurt. August Wilson’s play, Fences, follows the formal conventions of its genre, which helps convey the story to the audience because he uses stage directions, theme, symbolism, and figurative language.
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 shaped 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.
“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
Fences was published in 1983 but the setting was the 1950s in August Wilsons home town. Wilson’s main purpose of this play is to show how the separation of humans into racial groups can create social and finance instability and can have a huge effect on African Americans and whites. The 1950s was the middle of the civil rights era. The Maxsons Family is African American, In the 1950s there was not many jobs for African Americans; most people believed that this is what pushed Troy to steal things in order to provide for his family. Troy went to prison for murder and when he got out he was determined to do good deeds and to turn his life around; shortly after he got out of prison he got a job as a Garbage man. Troy is a tragic figure and a villain; he is a tragic figure because he made great effort to do good deeds for his family, but he allowed his imperfections to get in his way which led to a horrible death. Troy is a villain because of what he did to his wife Rose. (Shmoop; Editorial Team)
We all lead lives filled with anxiety over certain issues, and with dread of the inevitable day of our death. In this play, Fences which was written by the well known playwright, August Wilson, we have the story of Troy Maxson and his family. Fences is about Troy Maxson, an aggressive man who has on going, imaginary battle with death. His life is based on supporting his family well and making sure they have the comforts that he did not have in his own childhood. Also, influenced by his own abusive childhood, he becomes an abusive father who rules his younger son, Cory?s life based on his own past experiences. When the issue comes up of Cory having a bright future ahead of him if he joins the football team, Troy refuses to allow him. The root of this decision lies in his own experience of not being allowed to join the baseball team due to the racial prejudices of his time. He does not realize that times have changed and because of his own past, he ruins his son?s life too. His wife, Rose, also plays a big part in the way the story develops. Troy has an affair with another woman called Alberta. When Rose finds out about the affair, she is devastated. In this situation we find out what her own hopes and dreams were. All she wanted was a happy home and family life because of her unstable past. The theme of this story is how a black family, in the late fifties to early sixties, faces the problems that many families are faced with, but in their own...
Wilson uses many symbols in the play to depict oppression. The primary symbol used is racism. Troy files a complaint to the Commissioner’s office against the Sanitation Department in reference to white men are the only men driving trucks. This complaint gets Troy promoted and he also becomes the first African American to drive a sanitation truck. Racism and segregation also play a major factor in Troy’s dream to be a professional baseball player in the Major Leagues. Since he is African American, he could only play in Negro League baseball. This defeat in his life now affects Troy’s son, Cory. Cory has an opportunity for a college education by be...
struggle for survival. Troy has come to believe, from his experiences, that blacks cannot get something for nothing and that life does not owe blacks anything. Due to this, Toy ?fences in? everything that he loves to protect his possessions from the monster of society. Thus there is a symbolization of Troy building a physical fence in the yard but building an emotional fence of protection around his family and friends. He believes that blacks owe it to themselves to make an honest, hard-earned living and that is the only way to survive. Troy states sarcastically that Lyans is blowing his...
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.
As time passes, one generation ends and another one begins. Yet there are people stuck in the past that refuse to adapt to the changes. Not adapting to the new way has shown to sometimes cause problems to others especially those who the person is close to. The idea of conflict between generations is more prevalent in the play Fences by August Wilson. The play tell the tale of Troy Maxson an energetic garbage man attempting to build a fences and how he deals with conflict between his family and himself. One conflict being the stained relationship between Troy and his son Cory Maxson. Troy and his family live during an unstable time when tension between colored and white people was starting to peak. Troy suffered from a traumatic past and had
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.
...in character of “Fences,” fights to be a father with nothing to go on but the harsh example set by his own father, which resembles a symbolic fence separating the relationship between father and son. There is also Troy's son, Cory, a boy becoming a man, coming of age under Troy's sovereignty. The play shows that no matter how old you are, you're constantly measuring yourself against the example set by your parents. Even if the reader’s family is nothing like the Maxsons, one may possibly connect with this basic human struggle.
Racism is everywhere; it is all around us and at most times it resides within us. Racism basically refers to the characterization of people (ethnicity based) with certain distinct traits. It is a tool with which people use to distinguish themselves between each other, where some use it to purposely inflict verbal, physical or mental attacks on others while some use it to simply distinguish or differentiate from one another. It all depends on the context in which it is used. The play Fences by August Wilson, takes place during the late 1950’s through to 1965, a period of time when the fights against segregation are barely blossoming results. The main protagonist, Troy Maxson is an African American who works in the sanitation department; he is also a responsible man whose thwarted dreams make him prone to believing in self-created illusions. Wilson's most apparent intention in the play ‘Fences’, is to show how racial segregation creates social and economic gaps between African Americans and whites. Racism play a very influential role in Troy’s but more importantly it has been the force behind his actions that has seen him make biased and judgmental decisions for himself and his family. Lessons from the play intend to shed light on how racism can affect the mental and physical lives of Troy Maxson and his family.
...tween Troy and his youngest son, Cory. August Wilson’s play, Fences, is ultimately about the conflict between a father and his son because they come for two totally different generations. Troy refuses to see life from the perspective of his son in a world that has changed since he was younger. . Cory cannot easily embrace his father’s views on the society they live in either. Another conflict arises between the two of them when Troy tells Cory’s coach that he can no longer play football. He did not get a chance to continue his career in sports, so he feels that his son cannot do that as well. Troy is afraid that his son will be better than he was, and Cory knows this. In fact, he states it in the play saying “You just afraid I’m gonna be better than you, that’s all” (1. 4. 372). These two characters have a deep rooted conflict that has no sign of ever being solved.
In Fences, Troy is a man who has faced many hardships. He takes on many different roles that impacts the decisions he makes throughout the play. Troy’s conflict is because of the roles he plays and decisions he makes which interconnect to tell the story of Troy’s life. In the play there is an overall theme of fences, “Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in.”(2.1.61). Troy lives in his own reality behind this fence that keeps him in with his family. In his roles he tries to stay on the inside though he strays outside the fence everyone else must keep firmly inside it being who he expects them to be, this makes him hypocritical.