Similarities Between Fences And The Hungry Woman

This paper deals with the using of fences and borders, compare and contrast August Wilson’ s Fences with Cherrie Moraga’ s The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea in terms of depictions of boundaries relate to the issues of race and gender in America. By focusing on the themes of racism and sexism in both play, they will be compared and contrasted in terms of how they depict the limits of men or women in the American society and how the inequality blackouts the lives of the characters.

In Fences, the borders which keep the characters away from acting how they wish to, are more visionary than The Hungry Woman that they think they are restrained by the whites even if there is no such a statement in the constitution, where as in The Hungry Woman it depicts that there are both mental and physical borders which make the characters

deactivated. In Fences, it is depicted Wasp values, but in The Hungry Woman, the characters suffer an inequality which dismembers the different origins in the specific territories, and this affects not only one group, it sends the Indians to somewhere, or Hispanics to the other place. In Fences, both women and the men are the sufferers, whereas in The Hungry Woman, only the women suffer because of their sex. In Fences, the play’s theme of the hopelessness of the black man’s struggle for success is inroduced, especially in Troy’s character suggests that hopelessness is the result of black men’s sabogating themselves.

This suggestion is reinforced by Rose’s comment that ‘‘ There’s a lot of people don’t know they can do no better than they doing now.’’ (Wilson. p. 110) . On the other hand, in Moraga’s play the play’s theme of hopelessness of the women’ s struggle for freedom is introduced, especially in the conversations of Jason and Medea, ‘‘ Free! You’re the slave, Medea. Not me. You will always be my woman…’’ . ( Moraga. p. 339) . However, both play have also similarities. For instance, Troy can cheat his wife, be with other women. And Medea cheats her husband. Only which gender does the cheating matters here. One another, the fence which represents Troy’s determination to live his life according to what he believes is right. One one level, Troy strives to keep the influences of the world out, including Cory’s football ambitions and Rose’s playing the lottery, the way a fence keeps things out. On another level, though, the way Troy keeps Cory, Rose, and later his daughter close to him, making them live their

lives on his terms, keeps them in the same way a fence keeps things. Likewise, the borders of Aztlan forces Medea to live under the terms of Jason. Besides, Troy is making Cory exactly like him. Troy is also behaving toward his son in exactly the same way as he says white people behave towards him, keeping him from pursuing his dreams and realizing his potential. Likewise, Jason wants to take his son to make him one in his likeness, ‘‘ ( To Medea) You hate men. And boys become men. What good are you for Chac now? He needs a father. ’’. ( Moraga. p. 339). Moreover, Troy takes Cory and Rose’s spirits, their independence, and their self-will away from them. Likewise, it is Jason so the patriarchy who takes away the independence, the self-will, and the spirit from Medea so the matriarchy within the borders of Aztlan. Medea says ‘‘ Each night I could hear Jason circling outside our bedroom window, over and over again, pissing out the boundaries of what he knew he could never enter. Only protect. Defend. Marks as his domain.’’ . ( Moraga. p. 311). So, the same sitaution can be said for Troy since he builds the fences to mark his domain, withing the fences, he is in control and everybody must live under his terms. Furthermore, Troy is clearly irrenposible himself sexually, as illustrated throughout the play by his ongoing relationship with Alberta. On the other hand, he feels an overwhelming sense of total responsibility toward his children, a sense so strong that it almost destroys his two sons at the same time as it serves to give his daughter a home that she otherwise would not have had. In other words Troy is both a giver and a taker. But as the play reveals and as Rose tells him later, he’s much more the latter than the former. Similarly, Medea does the same, she is irresponsible herself sexually since she has an ongoing relationship with Luna. She also feels an overwhelming sense of total responsibility toward her child, but her sense is stronger that Troy’s that she prefers to kill her son instead of letting him go to his father. As for Luna’s perspective, she is also a taker than a giver. She acts in the same way toward Luna which Jason does the same towards Medea. Additionally, the symbol of baseball appears in Act 2, Scene 1, with Troy using the metaphor of stealing second to justify his spending time with Alberta. The irony of this metaphor is that it implies a huge risk, meaning that through his affair with Alberta, Troy is risking everything he’s already gained in the same that a baseball player stealing the second risks being tagged out and sent out to the bench. Likewise, Medea risks everything she has by making love with Luna although she knows that this move can send her to the prison and worst of all to the other territory which is only for the queers.
Finally, when all of the compares and contrasts mentioned above are taken into the consideration, it can be safely said that both plays depict sexist and racist themes. Troy is the one who does these in Fences, whereas Jason and Medea change that role one to another in The Hungry Woman. Furthermore, this paper has illustrated that there are numerous similarities and contradistinctions between both plays. In the case of Troy, the main factor is the wasp values, and his righteousness about his life and for the orhers’, whereas in the case of Medea, it is the patriarchy, and her desire to control.