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Literary analysis of august wilson's fences
Literary analysis of august wilson's fences
Interpretation of fences by august wilson
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Fences
In the play “Fences” the significance of the title serves to show how Troy was metaphorically closed in from facing his own truth. The job of the African American Man, to protect, survive, teach and enforce was a lot of pressure for Troy to handle while metaphorically inside the same fence he was literally building; closing himself in.
The metaphoric talk of death repeats in Troy's final struggle with Cory. Troy is drunk now, whereas Cory is brave and strong. They struggle for a bat; which Troy ultimately gets. This struggle for the bat is not merely struggle for that trivial bat, but for something which are very important in one's life. For Troy it can be rules and orders, expectations and respects. For Cory, it can stand for independence
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Baseball is his comfort zone so when he feels the need to express his anger or the infidelity he expressed it in terms of baseball talk. To Rose he apologized for his actions but as far as his son Cory he never apologized or regretted his actions, because he was never apologized to for never playing in the Major Leagues. He felt as if he owed the truth to his wife and that satisfaction because she was good enough but not to his son because he wasn’t good enough. We see this when he calls strike on Cory multiple times, for instance when Cory lied about the job that was strike …show more content…
He could have easily stayed away from messing around with Alberta, especially after Bono warned him that he knew, and the way he treated Cory was wrong so their relationship was a failure before he was even a factor in the family, all because he felt robbed of his dream. Troy felt a since of entitlement to bring others down with him because of his past, and Cory just happened to get it the worst, he was being stripped of his dream all because his father was stripped of his. The fence here symbolizes the discontent in his own
For him, fences were used to keep people out. Such an example can be found near the end of Act I, Scene IV when Cory and Troy are fighting and Cory says “Tell Mama I’ll be back for my and things” and Troy responded “They’ll be on the other side of that fence.”(905). In short, Troy built a physical fence around his house to create a border or separation from the outside world. However, in Troy’s situation, fences can be interpreted as a double entendre. For many weeks he kept putting off the building of the fence around the yard. Instead, he would wander off to “Taylor’s” to watch the game. By not building the fence it also showing his lack of commitment to Rose who was urging him to, “Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I thought you was gonna work on this fence?”(888). Which is ironic because him not building the fence involuntarily not only broke Rose’s fences in addition to his as it let Alberta and Raynell into their lives. The lack of commitment he showed to Rose proves that as a family man, Troy was missing some key values that are entrenched in a prosperous
There are many metaphorical fences used throughout the play. One of the biggest metaphorical fences is between Troy and his two sons Lyons and Cory. Troy gets irritated because Lyons always
Troy is a very self-centered individual. He is only concerned with issues regarding him. For instance, he wants to be able to drive the trash trucks at his job like the white men do. In Act One, scene one, Troy tells Bono that he talked to his boss, Mr. Rand, about driving the trucks. “How come you got all the whites driving and the colored lifting?” (1332). If things in Troy’s life aren’t going the way he wants them to, he makes himself into the victim and searches for sympathy from others. In addition, if he ever does something erroneous, he never accepts responsibility, never admits his wrongdoing and no matter how much anguish he causes someone, he never apologizes for it.
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.
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...
The portion of Fences that I will be discussing is act one scene three, a plethora of emotions along with life lessons are displayed in this act. Act one scene three opens with Cory coming home from football practice and his mother Rose letting him know that his father is upset with him. Cory then lets her know that his father, Troy, has told him that they were going to work on the fence for the past five Saturdays, and Troy always ends up doing something else. Then Cory goes off to eat lunch and do his chores, this is when Troy enters the house and yells at Cory to come help him build the fence. In the midst of the build Cory ask Troy why haven’t they bought a TV yet, Troy goes on to explain that he would rather put the money towards tarring the roof to stop the leaks. Cory tells his father about putting down payments on the television, and his father yells at him about not wanting to owe anybody. Troy then says that if Cory can come up with half the money for the TV he will match it and they will finally get a TV. The two change the topic to baseball and begin to talk about diversity in Major League Baseball. Of course, Troy begins t...
There are many things in life that are hard to explain within themselves, which is why people often use metaphors to expand on their speech. Whether it is a poet comparing their love to a rose or a woman comparing a man to a dog, almost everyone uses metaphors in their everyday language. Many good examples of metaphors in everyday writing are found in August Wilson's play, Fences. In this play there are also many ways that the characters use "fences" as both figurative and literal terms. All these forms of writing really expand on the story and help people to understand the characters much better.
In August Wilson’s Fences, relationships were a big part of the story because every character had a different kind of relationship with each other. Troy had a relationship with every character in the play and it was not the same kind of relationship. Troy Have a complicated relationship with every character in the play because troy character is difficult and it cause conflicts with everyone character in Fences (Blumenthal). Troy has a personal relationship with his self and it was kind of a fictitious relationship but to Troy it was realer than anything in his life. Troy was a denial type a person so he really disagreed with others wisdom and advice and stuck to his on philosophy. He had a rough life growing up his family history in the south of slavery carried over in his entire life and affected his everyday life (Pereira). Troy is a man that takes on all his responsibilities and a very hard and passionate worker but also has difficulties with his inner self which made him build a relationship with his inner self and always believed that he had to trust and go with his abnormal thoughts.
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...
In the book The Other Side, the author creates a curious tone and uses the fence as a symbol of segregation to illustrate an example that no matter the color of your skin we are all made equal. The book presents a great lesson for all children, especially with the book coming from a child’s point of view.
Americans community. Troy Maxson a garbage man tries to teach his son Corry the importance
The fence in this situation tells us symbolically that Troy doesn’t want to get hurt anymore so it’s protecting him but at the same time he is losing his family. Troy doesn’t approve of Cory playing football even though there’s a good chance that a scout will recruit him after watching him play. Even though this sounds harsh, Troy is jealous of his son and protective of him. The thought of Cory achieving something that he couldn't makes their relationship bitter and tense. He’s protective of him in a way because he doesn’t want Cory to deal with the experience of racism in sports that he went through and would rather have Cory look for a job just like him. "You go on and get your book-learning so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can't nobody take away from you” (Fences 35). The fence is the physical and emotional barrier between him and his sons. Both of Troy's sons draw themselves away from him. Troy neglects his oldest son Lyon's and pushes him away by refusing to hear him play his jazz music and calls it "Chinese
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.
Finally, the fence symbolizes his lack of responsibility and commitment. In the play, Troy seems uncommitted in building the fence―a perfect example of himself. After Troy and Rose end the discussion about Gabriel moving with Miss Pearl, a lady near the neighborhood, Troy begins to head out, but Rose stops him, asking him, “Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I though you was gonna work on this fence?” (2078). Every Friday, Troy tells Rose he spends his afternoon at Taylors’, but in reality, he’s with Alberta. He almost never commits himself to his marriage with Rose. Troy acts quite hypocritical when he tells Rose she was “the only decent thing that ever happened” to him, yet he went off with another
The father son relationship is a centering conflict within the play Fences. Throughout the play we are amerced into this complex connection of Troy and his two sons, Cory and Lyon. Additionally, we see a slight picture of the relationship between Troy and his father through the lens of Troy. Troy is overtaken with bitterness and he is convinced that his color makes him powerless. This mentality of powerlessness streams into the lives of Troy’s youngest son, Cory. Moreover, it is evident that this mentality was passed down from Troy’s father. Socio-cultural issues during the 1950’s acts as a further reinforcement to the problems depicted within the play. Troy and Lyon’s relationship slightly differs from that of Troy and Cory’s; however, it is evident that as Troy and Cory, Lyon ends up “fenced” in by ...