How Does August Wilson Build Fences

Throughout life the differences that stand between people lead to conflict and act as daily mental and physical barriers. The self-constructed walls of emotions that are set up by these barriers arise from the absence of love which lies behind those barriers. People not only build fences for protection, but for division as well. August Wilson uses fences as a metaphor in his well-known play Fences to symbolize the characters’ need for emotional barriers that are caused by the absence of love. Throughout this play, the theme of love is clearly established Wilson uses the fence to show division and unity. Fences can either keep people close and together in one common place, or they can divide and separate people from each other. In Fences,

the characters of Troy, Rose, and Cory not only struggle personally with love, but they embark on a road of confliction due to the emotional barriers that are individually built.

In Fences, the overall theme is love. August Wilson reinforces and supports this theme through the main characters of Troy, Rose, and Cory. He does this by introducing Troy, the father, husband, and man of the house, as a person who does not demonstrate any sense of love. Although this is not merely the obvious meaning of what love is, he brings about this perspective to show that it is possible for it to be absent. His wife Rose however, expresses the obvious interpretation of the theme of love. For example, Rose cares for her family and does everything in her will power to keep everyone close and not separated by all the fences whether they be literal or metaphorical. Her caring and forgiving actions that she shows towards her Troy and Cory helps support Wilson’s theme of love. Throughout the play the relationships between each character also highlight the central theme.

Although the theme of love appears to be positive in a general sense, Wilson uses the character of Troy to show the absence of love and how conflicting this can be. Throughout the play, Troy appears to be a tragic protagonist in which he exemplifies how the lack of love can cause poor relationships with the people he should be caring about the most. Although he holds a steady job as a garbage collector, supports his family, and overcomes the daily struggle of racism, the absence of love drives him to fall out of faithfulness with his wife and “Troy, for all his strengths, is flawed humanity in need of grace and forgiveness” (Wessling, 123). The character of Troy is set to be very empowering, he tends to put himself over others, not taking into consideration of others’ feelings. He supports this theme of love as he expresses the absence of it by having the desire to be a free man. Not only does Troy’s personality underlie the theme of love, but his actions do as well. Towards the middle of the play, Troy tells his wife Rose that he is having an affair with a woman named Alberta and he says, “I’m trying to find a way to tell you…I’m gonna be a daddy, I’m gonna be somebody’s daddy” (Act II Scene 1). At this moment Troy strongly supports the theme of love with his actions, not in a positive way, but rather he shows his lack to express it when he explains that he is trying to find a way to tell Rose what has happened. He shows that he has no sympathy for Rose because he simply decides to tell her after the damage has been done. After telling her he also explains that he can finally act himself around someone not taking into consideration of how she feels about the situation. The lack of love is clearly shown through his sinful and unfaithful actions. With the central theme being love, Wilson uses the character of Troy to express how it can be negative and nonexistent.

During the play, the theme of love is inputted through a positive perspective, meaning the actions and thoughts performed by some characters strongly support the expected view of love.

For example, Rose reinforces the central theme by showing love for the ones she cares about most. In a conversation between Cory, Troy and another character named Bono, it is explained that Rose is longing to keep Troy and the memories that they have built together, “Cory: ‘I don't see why Mama want a fence around the yard noways.’ Troy: ‘Damn if I know either. What the hell she keeping out with it? She ain't got nothing nobody want.’ Bono: ‘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,’” (Act 2, Scene 1). Even when Rose could see her marriage slipping away, she still is not ready to let go of anything because of the love she has for him. Rose was a devoted wife and mother and in this play Wilson uses her character to show that love exists even during a difficult situation. At this moment, Rose supports the central theme by expressing the positive perspective of what love consists of at times; forgiveness. Even after Troy has a child with his mistress, and she dies from child birth, Rose’s decision to take in the child as her own shows that she has the capacity of showing unconditional love even during an adulterous situation. Not only does she support the theme of love through her

actions, but also “her choice to merge and submerge her possibilities into her husband’s” (Wills, 51). Although she is in a moment of tension, she thinks of all the options she has regarding her marriage, but first taking her husband into consideration. She took on the role of being a wife and a mother, and her love that she showed to her husband and son strongly supports the theme of love. She never gave up on protecting her family from any societal conflicts during this period, as well as never giving up on her marriage. Through the character of Rose, the theme of love is expressed and shown from a positive outlook.

The relationship between a father and son is expected to be strong and unconditional, but in different situations it is not always like that.

In Fences, Wilson clearly expresses the absence of love again through the relationship of Troy and his son Cory. The relationship between Troy and his son is bitter and tense, which is clearly shown when Cory asks his father why he has never liked him and Troy responds “Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you?” (Act 1, Scene 3). Cory thinks his father dislikes him because the lack of love he expresses through his words and actions. Cory supports the theme of love because he understands that there is a scarcity of love since Troy does not demonstrate any sense of love. Through the character of Cory, Wilson demonstrates that the theme of love is not necessarily the expected expression of love throughout this play. With Cory questioning his father’s love for him, it implies that there is an obvious absence of it. When “Troy refuses to let his son, Cory, play football to obtain a college scholarship”, his dreams are shot down (Beach, 52). At this moment Cory comes to an understanding that his father has no love for him because he doesn’t want him to pursue his dreams. After Cory becomes enraged with his father, he avoids him and wants nothing to do with him. At the end of the play Troy dies and because of the lack of love within their relationship, Cory does not want to attend his father’s funeral. This perceived scarcity of love

among his behavior strongly supports the theme of love. Wilson uses Cory’s character to show how a father and son relationship can exist in the absence of love and essentially show the unexpected expression of it.

Throughout the play, August Wilson uses the characters of Troy, Rose, and Cory to help support the central theme of love. The character of Troy does this by showing his lack of love through his sinful and unfaithful actions. Not only does he put an emotional barrier that separates him from his family, but he also shows no demonstration of love which causes his family to question their relationships with him. On the other hand, Rose expresses the obvious outlook of the theme of love through her actions. Even after finding out about her husband’s affair and child she still does not give up on her marriage and shows his child unconditional love by raising it as her own. She protects her son Cory from all societal problems and keeps her family protected against anything that harms them physical or mentally. Overall, Rose strongly supports the central theme of this play. Cory is another character that Wilson uses to support the theme of love. Cory shows that there is a lack of love between him and his father coming from both directions. With his father not allowing him to pursue his dreams, Cory is angered and conflicts sparks. Troy is not the only one to express the unexpected version of love, but also Cory as he decides to not attend his father’s funeral. Each character of this play has an important role in supporting the theme of love through their words, thoughts, and actions.