Symbolism In Fences

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Three Strikes You Are Out
Babe Ruth once said “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from coming up to bat” (Koprince). In the book Fences by August Wilson, Troy Maxson and his son Cory had many disagreements. They argued after Troy told Cory’s high school football coach that Cory could not play football anymore. After that Troy tells Cory that as long as he lives with him he will follow his instructions and rules (Wilson). Every time they had an argument Troy always told Cory not to strike out with him. One day Cory arrives home from school and sees Troy holding his wife, Cory’s mother, Rose by the arm and she said he was hurting her (Wilson). Cory strikes out with Troy when they fought in the front yard after that situation. Troy puts Cory out of the house because he says Cory thought he was grown now. The author uses the actions of the characters, the symbolisms, and allusions to show how the theme of baseball connects to the plot of the play.
Born and raised Frederick August Kittle, now known as August Wilson (Keeping Legacy), his mother, Daisy, gave birth to him on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburg, PA. Growing up in poverty, his mother worked by cleaning houses to support her family while his father, Frederick Kittle, worked as a baker (Keeping Legacy). He was the fourth child of six siblings living in a two bedroom apartment (Keeping Legacy). At the age of four, he starts to read books and grows fund of reading them which made him very intelligent. As smart as Wilson was, when he gets to school the white kids picked on him with harsh words of racism. As Wilson grows older, he adopts his mother maiden name, Wilson, since his relationship with his father is distant. When Wilson becomes a teenager he has in mind to play in t...

... middle of paper ...

...red to write fences, because of how he wanted to play in the major leagues. Then it gives background about discrimination and racism that was going on around that time.
Whitehead, Barbara M., Jill B. Gidmark, and Barbara M. Whitehead. "Fences." Masterplots,
Fourth Edition (2010): 1-4. Literary Reference Center. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
This book helped me get much or my information about the book. It had good straight forward information. Did not take much searching to find what I needed. It provided me with good facts about the characters I used.
Wilson, August. “Fences.” New York: Plume, 1986
The book gave me plenty information to complete my task at hand. The book had the information I needed for the characters and the themes. It helped me verify what I needed. The book helped me find majority of my information about the characters and the themes.

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