August Wilson's Fences Symbolism

In August Wilson’s Fences, four significant symbols have a major contribution to the play which include: baseball, the fence, Raynell’s garden, and Gabriel’s trumpet. These symbols throughout the play are important because they represent more than just a sport or an object when it comes down to the characters. It is far more complicated than that. Each symbol has a distinct impact on the characters in the play from beginning to end. In fact, two of the most important symbols make an appearance on the front cover of the book with Troy holding a baseball bat and the title itself.
The first symbol is baseball being a topic of conversation numerous times. Towards the beginning of the play, Troy relates baseball by comparing it to playing a game

with Death. He says “That’s all Death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner” (Wilson, 10). Not only does he use baseball terms to mention Death, but also uses it in his explanation about his affair with Alberta. He says to Rose, “When I found you and Cory and a halfway decent job… I was safe. Couldn’t nothing touch me. I wasn’t gonna strike out no more” (Wilson, 69). Troy tries to explain to Rose that being with her and having a family made him feel safe, but he wanted more. He continues by saying “And I got to thinking that if I tried… I just might be able to steal second. Do you understand after eighteen years I wanted to steal second” (Wilson, 70). Because of his monotonous use of baseball terms, Rose gets fed up and stops him. She says, “We’re not talking about baseball! We’re talking about you going off to lay in bed with another woman… and bring it home to me” (Wilson, 70). By now the audience is able to understand that baseball means much more to Troy than just a simple sport. He uses a metaphor about baseball many times during the play when relating to situations that are happening in his life. The reason for his constant use of these terms is most likely because he was robbed of a possible baseball career for his skin color. Therefore, baseball has left a big impact on him, but was something he could never truly enjoy and making him a bitter person.
The past makes Troy very protective of his son, especially when it comes to the topic of sports.

He makes his point at the beginning of the play when Rose brings up Cory’s football recruitment and replies “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (Wilson, 8). Troy feels that there is no point in Cory playing football because he does not want his son to be treated unfairly for his skin color. I also feel that Troy thinks about his past quite often with baseball since he is always bitter when the subject is brought up. For example, Cory tries to start a simple conversation about the Pirates game and Troy says “I ain’t thinking about the Pirates. Got an all-white team. Got that boy…that Puerto Rican boy…Clemente. Don’t even half-play him. That boy could be something if they give him a chance” (Wilson,

33).
Troy’s positive and protective intentions soon become negative and controlling. When Cory would arrive home, his father immediately had many expectations which consisted of chores, school, and a job, not football. Eventually it would become useless for Cory to try and talk to Troy about playing football. Troy would consistently turn him down by saying things like “I don’t care what nobody else say. I’m the boss…you understand? I’m the boss around here. I do the only saying what counts” (Wilson 36). He never even considered Cory’s feelings, only his own. If Troy actually had positive intentions with the expectations he had for Cory, it did not seem that way.
Once Cory finally gets fed up with Troy’s attitude, this causes their quarrel at the end of the play.

As tensions between them build up Cory says “You ain’t never done nothing but hold me back. Afraid I was gonna be better than you. All you ever did was try and make me scared of you” (Wilson, 86). Troy reacts to this statement which makes Cory pick up the bat and swing it. As they go back and forth with the bat, Troy finally grabs it and ends their quarrel. This leads Cory to walk out of the yard and away from the house. The bat, which is an important object in baseball, represents the symbolism between Troy and Cory’s confrontation. The symbolism is because baseball is what made Troy the way he is and basically ruin his son’s sports

career.
Just like baseball being a symbol, the fence is important as well. Not only does the fence represent symbolism throughout the play, but it is a big reason why the title is Fences. Each character seems to have many metaphorical fences in the play and give each a different meaning. The first meaning that is clearly apparent has to do with Troy’s wife, Rose, because she is the reason why this fence is being built. While working on the fence, Cory and Troy even question the point of Rose wanting them to build it. Bono replies “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” (Wilson, 61). Because of Bono’s reply, the fence can represent Rose’s way of trying to keep her family together. She notices that Troy constantly disagrees with Cory getting recruited to play football so it may be possible that Rose requested them to build a fence as a way to bond.
Even though Rose uses the fence as a way to keep her family inside, Troy gives this symbol more of a negative meaning. It represents a division slowly occurring between Troy and his family. As the fence is being completed throughout the play, this becomes symbolic because Troy becomes more distant from his family. The fence does not end up getting completed until the end of the play which represents Troy’s negligence to his family. The affair with Alberta and the constant bickering at Cory are two major examples of Troy beginning to neglect his family. Another example would include his son Lyons. Troy maintains the same bitter and difficult attitude with Lyons every time he decides to stop by. One day when Lyons stops by to pay his father back, he asks for him to listen to his music sometime. Troy rudely replies “I don’t like that Chinese music. All that noise” (Wilson, 48) which is another way to distance himself from his son.
Another meaning that Troy gives the fence is to keep out the things he wants to separate himself from. Towards the end of the play, after the confrontation with his son, Cory says “Tell Mama I’ll be back for my things” in which Troy replies “They’ll be on the other side of that fence” (Wilson, 89). In this case, the fence is an actual object that will separate both Troy and his son, destroying their relationship. Because Cory ends up leaving, Troy has established once again that he is the alpha male and that he maintains power.
The power that Troy obtains ends soon when he eventually passes away, which leads into the last important symbol of the play: Raynell’s garden. During the day of Troy’s funeral, his daughter Raynell runs out to check on her garden. This garden is hinted to represent new life and growth for the entire family when Rose says “You just have to give it a chance. It’ll grow” (Wilson, 91). Rose is simply saying that you must have patience and be willing to wait long enough for the chance to grow and it will eventually happen.
Cory is a great example of someone who is determined to have growth in his life, especially after his fathers passing. Although the passing of Troy is not a positive occurrence in the family’s life, it gives Cory a chance to finally be the person he could not while his father was alive. While talking to his mother, Cory says “I don’t want to be Troy Maxson. I want to be me” (Wilson, 97). Rose continues the conversation by explaining the intentions of Troy and saying “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t… and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don’t know if he was right or wrong… but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm” (Wilson, 97). Since Troy and Cory’s rocky relationship is a big issue in this play, this dialogue is one of the most important. If the audience previously disliked Troy because of his attitude towards Cory, Rose’s dialogue can go as far and possibly change someone’s mindset. Her words can help the audience view Troy in a positive way.
The last symbol is Gabriel’s trumpet. Although Gabriel is not a character that appears often, he definitely has some importance towards the end of the play. Because of his belief that he is the real archangel, he acts upon it at Troy’s funeral and says “It’s time to tell St. Peter to open the gates. Troy, you ready? You ready, Troy. I’m gonna tell St. Peter to open the gates. You get ready now” (Wilson, 100). Then, in the stage directions it says “The trumpet is without a mouthpiece. He puts the end of it into his mouth and blows with great force, like a man who has been waiting some twenty-odd years for this single moment. No sound comes out of the trumpet” (Wilson, 101). After blowing the trumpet multiple times with no sound coming out, Gabriel reacts as if he is scared because his beliefs of being an angel are false. Suddenly as this realization hits him, “He begins to dance. A slow, strange dance, eerie and lifegiving. A dance of atavistic signature and ritual” (Wilson, 101). These actions are Gabriel’s way of opening the gates of heaven for his brother, Troy. The trumpet is symbolic because it gives Gabriel the realization to open up the gates of heaven in his own way, which is the dance and song. The dance and song can be related to the African roots of the Maxson family.
Each symbol in the play is equally important and contributes to the audiences overall thought process about what is happening on stage. The use of the symbols in Fences are necessary because they give greater meaning to certain objects for the audience to interpret, which is exactly what August Wilson has accomplished.