Examples Of Prejudice In Fences

Prejudice and the Natural Xenophobic Reactions of Man In a country born from rebellion and proven on the racial genocide that is the American Civil War, it is no mystery as to why cross-cultural conflict remains a festering wound for the people of America. As a major topic of discussion, many books, plays, and even movies are produced, focusing on the hate and prejudice experienced by minorities. This conflict occurs and perpetuates itself between two groups with different cultural ideals. The play Fences written by August Wilson focuses on a brief period in the life of the Maxson family that stresses the racial inequality they experience in the town of Pittsburgh. Likewise, Walter Mosley writes his crime novel Devil in a Blue Dress from

This African-American struggle for equality is the focus of the play Fences. Troy Maxon, father in the Maxon households, meets many of the stereotypes held of black men during the time period. An unfaithful man with multiple children from multiple women, Troy often spends his afternoons drinking himself into a drunken stupor. Wilson shows that Troy’s humanity remains intact and thus the treatment he receives is unjust. Every issue he faces, Troy believes is due to the color of his skin. While Troy talks to Rose about why he never played professional baseball, she suggests that he was too old. Troy rebuttals that he is simply the wrong color, believing the issue to be his race and not his age (Wilson 39). While his longtime friend from prison Jim Bono agrees with and validates Troy’s answer, at the same time Troy tries playing baseball professionally, other African-American players such as Jackie Robinson succeed where he fails. The inclusion of this detail shows the effect prejudice has on Troys mindset, forcing him to believe all white men look down on all African-American men. To further enforce the idea of his oppressed mindset, Troy complains that only white men drive garbage trucks (2). While Troy is eventually promoted to a driver, the fact that up to that point only white men drive shows that Troy does experience real racial prejudice in his daily life. In a similar manner to the prejudice Troy receives from his boss, the main character of Devil in a Blue Dress, Easy Rawlins, faces an issue of pride when confronting his boss after losing his job. While speaking to his old boss Mr. Giacomo, Easy only thinks of refusing to bow down and kiss the ass of the white man before him to get his job back (Mosley 111-112). Instead of giving in and submitting to the same disrespect he received while working