Lucas Ippolito Mrs. Macgregor English May 7th 2024. Broken Fences: Exploring Government Exploitation? The government is exploiting its workers, and August Wilson's play “Fences” is a clear depiction of this. The Maxson family lived in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. Troy, the protagonist, is a man in his mid fifties who was born as a sharecropper until he migrates up north and starts a family. Instead of being free, Troy just gets by, and his whole family struggles with him as they all go through their own problems. August Wilson’s play tracks the theme of government jobs and how they are a predatory system that underpays and overworks their employees, uses work as a punishment and, has a disregard for workers' well being. The theme of predatory …show more content…
The country he fought for doesn't acknowledge his health issues, and tries to arrest him multiple times, to make it a worse situation the judge, an extension of the government, is actively profiting off of Gabe's misfortune, taking money to let him go. The disgraceful system that the U.S. has adopted of treading veterans is on full display, Wilson explains. Troy Maxson, the protagonist, is a prime example of how the team of predatory government jobs applies to “Fences”. Troy is overworked and underpaid, yet is expected to be able to live a full, happy life. Troy works in sanitation as a garbage man who drives the truck and picks up trash. Troys favorite song, “Old Dog Blue” applies to his own life when it says, “Blue laid down and dies like a man, now he's treen’ possums in the promise land”. Troy works so much, he works himself to death, as it says in the song. Troy also recognizes that the system he works in is corrupt and unjust. He tells his wife, “I do the best I can do”. I come in here every Friday night.you all line up at the door with your hands out, I glove you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and
“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 is a play that deals with boundaries that hold people back and the trials and tribulations of those who try or wish to cross them. The characters are African-Americans in a time before the civil rights movement, living in an industrial city. The main character, Troy Manxson, is a talented baseball player who never had the chance to let his talent shine, with restrictions on race and his time in jail as the main obstacles that held him back. He is now hard working and loves his family. However, he tends to exaggerate and has his faults, most prevalent a wandering eye when it comes to women. His wife, Rose, is younger than him and loyal, but she may not have known about all of his faults when she married him. At the beginning of the play, Troy has a son from a previous marriage, Lyons, and a son with Rose, Cory. Also appearing are Bono, Troy’s drinking buddy, and Gabriel, his brother.
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.
There are many causes that molded Troy Maxson into the dishonest, cantankerous, hypocritical person that he is in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” (1985). Troy had an exceptionally unpleasant childhood. He grew up with a very abusive father that beat him on a daily basis. His mother even abandoned him when he was eight years old. In this play, Troy lies habitually and tries to cover himself up by accusing others of lying. He is a very astringent person in general. His dream of becoming a major league baseball player was crushed as a result of his time spent in jail. By the time he was released from jail, he was too old to play baseball efficiently.
In Fences, August Wilson introduces an African American family whose life is based around a fence. In the dirt yard of the Maxson’s house, many relationships come to blossom and wither here. The main character, Troy Maxson, prevents anyone from intruding into his life by surrounding himself around a literal and metaphorical fence that affects his relationships with his wife, son, and mortality.
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 anyone a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish.
The play “Fences”, written by August Wilson, shows a detailed interpretation about the life of a typical African-American family living in the twentieth century. Troy Maxson, the main character and the man of the house, a strict man with the family, hardworking, and at the same time a pleasure seeker. Jim Bono is Troy’s best friend from thirty odd years, a very friendly fellow who works with Troy and is really close to him. They both enjoy the company of each other every Friday on a bottle of an alcoholic beverage. Both characters are characterized based on being typical African American men living in the twentieth century. Even though Troy and Bono are very close friends, their actions and personalities sometimes conflict each other; this essay will focus on similarities and differences between the two characters to prove that even though they are close friends and acquire similarities, they still have different believes and behaviors.
August Wilson’s Fences, written in 1985, follows Troy Maxson, in segregated Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the 1950s. Fences is the third play in Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” which aims to tell authentic stories of Black Americans that are both relatable and educational. This cycle began in the 1900s and ended in the 1990s. Fences fell in the 1950s and tells a story related to the barriers or fences most Black Americans came up against at this time due solely to their Blackness. August Wilson, being a Black man himself, had grown up in the segregated Pittsburgh area during the fifties and experienced or at least witnessed much of what he discusses in this play.
In the 1983, Pulitzer prize winning, playwright, August Wilson wrote “Fences”. Wilson himself, grew up in a poor household with many brothers and sisters with the conflict of his abusive stepfather and little to no relationship with his biological father. Wilson eventually dropped out of school in ninth grade due to racial abuse by other students. In the biographical article about August Wilson, written by Christine Ayorinde, she writes that these key events in Wilsons early age “would later provide inspiration for the characters and dialogue in his plays” (Ayorinde). After writing and putting on the play, “Fences,” there became an intense stir among society.
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.
August Wilson's "Fences" profoundly explores the African American experience in 1950s Pittsburgh. Through its characters and themes, the play delves into topics of family bonds, racial injustice, and the pursuit of individual aspirations. In "Fences," we undertake an analytical journey through Wilson's narrative, studying the heroic qualities exhibited by the characters, examining the various types of villains that obstruct their paths, and solving the complicated layers of racial tensions that saturate the play. Through the lens of literary devices such as metaphors, flashforwards, and character analysis, we aim to clarify the ongoing significance of "Fences" and its relevance to current lessons on race and identity. " Fences" opens a window into the lives of the Maxson family, led by the complex Troy
“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.
This shows that the love Rose have Troy is real because what woman would stay with someone who cheated on her? To make things worst for Rose is that because of the affair, Troy resulted in having a daughter. The bond that Rose and Troy have had broken into pieces as soon as she found out that he had an affair. The last member of his family that shown up in the play is Gabriel. Gabriel Maxson have several problems because of World War I that he ended up with some personal difficulties. Because of them problems, Troy used the money to benefit himself and his family. Troy been the one to always take care of Gabriel growing up and he still is today. If Gabriel get into any kind of trouble, Troy always be the one to bail he out. What are some of the things that Troy used Gabriel for? August Wilson mentions that the house the Maxson family lives in is paid for because of the money Gabriel gets for his injury.
The concept of the "white picket fence" is often associated with the idealized image of the American dream. However, this image can also exclude people within society by reinforcing certain norms and excluding those who don't fit into the mold. It can create a sense of exclusion for individuals or communities who don't conform to traditional standards of success or who face systemic barriers to achieving such prosperity. The white picket fence stands as a symbol of the American Dream, representing ideals of success, stability, community, and aspiration. While it continues to hold significance as a symbol deeply rooted in the cultural imagination, its meaning is not without complexity and critique.
While in school Wilson delt with a lot of “bigotry from his classmates at Central Catholic High School, he [then] transferred to Connelly Vocational High School, and later [transfered] to Gladstone High School” (Wilson Biography). Wilson growing up with these struggles helped him pursue his love for becoming a playwright to help express his voice. Wilson’s play Fences uses the theme