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Lilies of the field character analysis
August Wilson struggle
Character analysis catch 22
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“Fences” composed by “August Wilson”, begins on a Friday, also known as payday for the two men who are main characters in the story, Bono and Troy. The two are returning home from work as garbage collectors and begin their weekly tradition of getting together, having a few drinks and relax while catching up on each others week. As the play begins to go on, it tells that the setting is a dirt front-yard, which indicates to me that maybe they don’t have much money, low income or live in a poor neighborhood. As Bono and Troy start a conversation about a coworker, Brownie, who lied to their boss about a watermelon being taken they go on to explain that their not the fondest of their boss, Mr. Rand. I feel as if the name of this character “Brownie” …show more content…
This seems very suspicious that if Bono asked about it, that maybe he had reasonable concerns to bring it up in the first place. But Bono wasn’t done pestering, he begins to give more detail saying that he has seen Troy walking to and from her house and it was obvious that Troy become aggravated that he was following him around and snooping in his personal life but I think this is a friend looking out for another friend, Bono had no intentions to hurt Troy’s feelings. This indicates to me that there may be complications with this in the future such as Bono informing Troy’s wife, Rose, about his sneaky love life. Rose comes out and begins conversing about how Troy has changed for the better as a married man and tells them that their son, Cory, has been recruited for a football team for the college and the coach is stopping by to meet them and explain more about the deal. With Troy having rocky experience in the Negro Leagues and not being accepted in to the Major Leagues for old age, he becomes distant from the idea of sending his son to play football and would much rather him learn to
August Wilson's award winning play, Fences, airs at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey from January 10th until February 9th. The play revolves mainly around a former African American baseball player, Troy, attempting to keep his family together but leaving his family members incarcerated to his desires rather than their own. Emmy nominee and Tony award winning director, Phylicia Rashad, leaves the audience believing Troy is the protagonist by the end of the first act and they are left questioning who the antagonist is. The protagonist of a play is the central character usually equipped with the antagonist, the person or thing that prevents the protagonist from his or her wants. By the end of the play the audience is left with the realization that Troy's son, Corey, is the real protagonist with his father serving as the antagonist.
Everything in August Wilson’s play Fences, can be related to or is a fence of some sort. The main character, Troy Maxson, is a retired negro league baseball star whose whole life revolves around fences. Fences is completely driven by this idea of metaphorical and physical fences. Pride and alcohol are the fences that really cloud Troy’s views. His son, Cory, has fences in this play as well. All these fences intertwine to create a story that addresses many of society's problems.
August Wilson wrote the play Fences in 1983, the setting of the play was in 1950s. During the 1950’s women were supposed to find and husband, get married then stay home and take care of the house. The male role in the 1950’s was to provide for his family make sure he had a paying job. In Fences Troy and Rose Maxson are the perfect characters for these stereo types. After analyzing this play many themes became observable. Troy, Rose, Bono and Cory all go through situation where they have to deal with Duty, responsibility, limitations, and opportunity. Troy is the protagonist in the play; he lifts garbage into trucks for a career. Troy use to play baseball for the Negro Leagues. Rose is his wife and he has three children Lyons, Cory and Raynell.
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.
Masculinity can be described as having qualities or characteristics considered of or appropriate to a man. Furthermore, these “manly” qualities and/or characteristics can be revealed through human nature, which all humans distinctly and naturally have. In the play, Fences, written by August Wilson, Troy, Bono, and Lyons all present different versions of masculinity through said human nature-including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
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.
Troy still has frustration inside him that he has never forgotten. Due to the racism he grew up with, that stopped him from one his big dreams. Which was to compete in the major league baseball. Those years where the 1950s where African Americans had many disadvantages from public services, restaurants and etc. That pain that troy feels from racism has also held his family from accomplishing things. For example Troy states “I told that boy about football and stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere that football. I told him to come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done…. Fix cars or something where he can make a living “(1722). For that Troy denies his son the opportunity to achieve what troy couldn’t. Troy father rather Cory to work on A&P after school and learn a skill that no one can take away from him. Troy just wants to spare Cory from the racism from his father. But sometimes as a son is hard to understand this things because is an accomplishment you want but your father is holding you back from
A fence by definition is a barrier that encloses an area of ground to mark a boundary, control access, or prevent escape. What would you use a fence for? Is it used to hide something of yours and to keep it in or to avoid society and human interaction? In the play Fences, those aspects were in consideration, whether if the fence was controlling access, preventing escape, hiding a secret, or avoiding society. Furthermore, determining how a fence is used could say quite a bit about the person and from this statement; this is how the traits of the characters in the play are established. In Fences the fence is symbolic in different ways by each character such as controlling access, preventing escape, hiding a secret, and neglecting loved ones.
Troy and Bono both acquire similar attributes throughout the play, the similarities they share introduce a small sense of equality in their characterization, however Bono is characterized as a lenient person and Troy as a furious person. Troy’s previous experiences made it hard for him to become a better person, Joseph H. Wessling states in his article “Wilson’s Fences” “What should a realist expect of Troy Maxson, who was abandoned by his mother at age eight, fled a brutal, lustful father at age fourteen, began to steal for a living, and served fifteen years on a murder charge? One can only hope for some measure of good, and Troy exceeds a realist's expectations. He holds a steady but disagreeable job as a garbage collector, supports a wife and son, stays sober six days a week, wins his own private civil-rights battle to become a driver, and remains faithful to Rose for eighteen years before he falls” (Wessling 1), Bono probably had a similar negative experience, however he accumulated to the change in a much more uniform way than Troy. One of the main aspects that Troy and Bono share is having a similar past experience that was the main reason to result in the meeting of each other. In the past, Troy was a robber that committed a crime and was punished fifteen years in prison for it. As mentioned in the play “Troy: …Went out one day looking for somebody to rob…that’s what I was, a robber… Went to rob this fellow…pulled out my knife…and he pulled out a gun.
Fences is a play that was written by August Wilson, it follows the life of Tony Maxson, a garbage man, who throughout the play is building a fence around his home. The title, Fences, has more significance than one may have thought at first glance. The title is very symbolic in the perspective of almost every character in the play. Within Act 2, Scene 1 of the play, when discussing the reason as to why Rose wanted the fence up, with Cory and Troy, Bono says “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.”. In the perspective of Rose, she wants to keep people in and with Troy it is the complete opposite.
Imagine losing the people who are closest to you and then being sent to live with a family you barely know. To top it all off, a petulant old man whose sole purpose in life seems to be complaining also joins the family. June Rae Wood’s enticing novel, “Turtle on a Fence Post”, captures the sorrow and the pain of a girl situation. Throughout all the losses in her life, Delrita (the protagonist) still manages to stay strong. This story makes people think and view situations through different viewpoints. June Rae Wood develops the story through literary devices such as imagery, foreshadowing, and figurative language.
August Wilson plays read like fiction, the narrative drive, symbolic settings, and evocative stage directions. The sense of storytelling is nowhere more evident than in fences 1985. Fences concern the lives of the Masons, and African American family whose struggles are re-counted from 1957 to 1965. The play extends Wilson’s exploration of the African American experience within the twentieth century. Troy Maxson, the protagonist, is a former baseball player and a talented athlete whose prowess on the field never received the attention or recognition it deserved because he was imprisoned during his prime playing years. Now he is 53 years of age. He a garbage collector and had collected his share and dreams deferred and hopes deflected. August Wilson pointed out different features about troy and the audience watch as rose, troy lovely wife of eighteen years, and Cory their son, debate each other’s dreams and wish against the rundown inner-city neighborhood. The story safe at home is a story Matthew Roudane wrote in the makings of august Wilson fences. (Matthew Roudane). Troy adds another layer of tension and loss to the plot when we learn that Alberta has died in childbirth. Fences a play about family, love, friendship, betrayal and human desires and what happen to individuals whose private needs jar out to the world and limit their possibilities. The term for baseball is that every player trying to score yearns to hear from the home-plate umpire. Troy maxson emerges as a man savagely divided against himself. He is figure who is clearly at odds with those whose come within his orbit. He is also a man who is equally at odds with his own very being in the world. August Wilson has become America's preeminent contemporary playwright. ...
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.
A fence is actually there to keep people in and to keep people out. There are people who build a metaphoric fence for themselves to protect themselves and to protected their loved ones. August Wilson’s play “Fences” illustrates how the symbol of a fence describes the relationships of an African American family living in Chicago during the mid 1950s.
Jason, who was supposed to be an archeologist, had his world turned around when he reads a book about the United States and Mexico Border. He became exposed to the horrors of the border that he never saw, even though he lived in Texas and was a son of immigrant parents. He visited the border to see the area where the book took place. When he arrived, he saw thousands of ripped clothes, socks, bandages, dresses, backpacks, toys, and wrapper, and these were the items of smuggled immigrants. Eventually, when looking and collecting the items, he found a complete arm hidden in the remains. From here, they found other body parts and then the realization comes over that no one will know that that individual was gone or what had happened to them. He ended up finding many and many cases of missing individuals and the deaths of them.