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Fences by august wilson fence symbolism
Concept of fences by August Wilson
Concept of fences by August Wilson
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The title of August Wilson’s award-winning play Fences is plural because it has different meanings for different characters. For example, to Troy, the protagonist of this drama, the fence symbolizes the barrier he attempts to construct between the Grim Reaper and himself. This is demonstrated in the second scene of Act 2 on page 77 in which he, subsequent to being informed his mistress Alberta died in childbirth, states, “Alright...Mr. Death. See now…I’m gonna tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? I’m gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side.” Despite knowing he’ll ultimately lose his battle with Death since dying is inevitable, Troy …show more content…
refuses to surrender himself and more of his loved ones to him without putting up a fight. He finishes erecting the fence shortly thereafter declaring such, for it has come to represent to him an obstacle the Grim Reaper will have to overcome if he wants to take Troy’s life or that of another individual dear to him. The fence also symbolizes the barrier Troy builds between his son Cory and himself.
In the fourth scene of Act 2, Cory, after his father tells him to leave for fighting with him, says on page 89, “Tell Mama I’ll be back for my things.” To which Troy replies, “They’ll be on the other side of that fence.” Cory had the upper hand in the physical altercation he was engaged in with Troy until his father overpowered him, thus reaffirming his role as the dominant one in their household, a position his son sought after as he wanted to be the alpha male instead. When Troy tells Cory his things will be on the other side of the fence when he returns, he establishes it as the border between the outside world and his property on which his son isn’t welcome anymore. Although the fence has become a physical barrier between Troy and Cory, it can also be perceived as a representation of an emotional one that the former sets up against the …show more content…
latter. To Rose, Troy’s wife, the fence is what keeps her family close to her.
This is shown in the first scene of Act 2 on page 61 in which Troy’s coworker and friend Bono, subsequent to Troy and Cory asking him why she wants the fence built, states, “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.” Rose notices Troy’s becoming increasingly distant and thus introduces the idea of building the fence which eventually gets turned into a reality so she can reconnect with her husband. Although the fence does get completed, it took a rather long time for it to be finished because Troy always deferred working on the fence since he didn’t want to be kept in by Rose. He wanted to be free to pursue another woman as demonstrated in the second scene of Act 1 on page 28 in which Troy, after Rose asks him where he’s going, states, “I’m gonna walk down to Taylors’. Listen to the ball game. I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll work on it [the fence] when I get home” even though he’s really going to visit
Alberta. Finally, the fence can be viewed as a symbol of the obstacles Troy encountered throughout his lifetime. Several of the barriers he faced would be his abusive father, abject poverty, and covert racism. Despite being unable to overcome some of these “fences,” the greatest one ultimately opens for Troy. During his funeral, his brother Gabriel dances in an attempt to open the Gates of Heaven for him so his soul can enter paradise after playing his trumpet fails to do so. His dance is successful in opening the gates, thus making him Troy’s redeemer as he never gave up on him like Rose and Cory did, for he knew that even the most flawed individuals can be saved.
Reading literature allows the reader to experience feelings of others through literary characters of largely differing backgrounds. This leads to an increased sensitivity and consideration of those around us, which is also called having empathy. August Wilson uses strong examples of metaphors, diction, personification, and various other devices to make the reader empathize with Rose in his play Fences by allowing us to dive deeper into her thoughts and feelings.
“Fences” is a play written by August Wilson about a family living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1957. Troy and Rose have been married for 18 years and have two grown children; Lyons and Corey. Troy is an uptight, prideful man who always claims that he does not fear death, the rest of his family is more laxed and more content with their lives than Troy is. As the play progresses the audience learns more about Troy’s checkered past with sharecropping, his lack of education and the time he spent in prison. The audience also learns more about Troy’s love for baseball and the dreams he lost due to racism and segregation. In the middle of the play the author outwardly confirms what the audience has been suspecting; Troy isn’t exactly satisfied with his life. He feels that he does not get to enjoy his life and that his family is nothing more than a responsibility. Getting caught up in this feelings, Troy cheats on Rose with a woman named Alberta and fathers a child with the mistress. By the end of the play Troy loses both of the women and in 1965, finally gets the meeting with death that he had been calling for throughout the play. Over the
Fences was published in 1983 but the setting was the 1950s in August Wilsons home town. Wilson’s main purpose of this play is to show how the separation of humans into racial groups can create social and finance instability and can have a huge effect on African Americans and whites. The 1950s was the middle of the civil rights era. The Maxsons Family is African American, In the 1950s there was not many jobs for African Americans; most people believed that this is what pushed Troy to steal things in order to provide for his family. Troy went to prison for murder and when he got out he was determined to do good deeds and to turn his life around; shortly after he got out of prison he got a job as a Garbage man. Troy is a tragic figure and a villain; he is a tragic figure because he made great effort to do good deeds for his family, but he allowed his imperfections to get in his way which led to a horrible death. Troy is a villain because of what he did to his wife Rose. (Shmoop; Editorial Team)
...y as a responsible person. He overlooks Cory?s efforts to please him and make a career for his son, learned from his past with his own father, is responsible for the tension that builds between him and Cory. This tension will eventually be the cause of the lost relationship that is identical to the lost relationship that is identical to the lost relationship between Troy and his father.
In the play Fences, August Wilson uses symbolism throughout the story to emphasis the physical and emotional barrier between the protagonist, Troy Maxon, and everyone around him. Troy loses his career as a professional baseball player because of his race. This causes him to be a bitter man and he eventually loses his friends and family because of it. Wilson uses both literal and figurative symbolism to express the themes in this play.
We all lead lives filled with anxiety over certain issues, and with dread of the inevitable day of our death. In this play, Fences which was written by the well known playwright, August Wilson, we have the story of Troy Maxson and his family. Fences is about Troy Maxson, an aggressive man who has on going, imaginary battle with death. His life is based on supporting his family well and making sure they have the comforts that he did not have in his own childhood. Also, influenced by his own abusive childhood, he becomes an abusive father who rules his younger son, Cory?s life based on his own past experiences. When the issue comes up of Cory having a bright future ahead of him if he joins the football team, Troy refuses to allow him. The root of this decision lies in his own experience of not being allowed to join the baseball team due to the racial prejudices of his time. He does not realize that times have changed and because of his own past, he ruins his son?s life too. His wife, Rose, also plays a big part in the way the story develops. Troy has an affair with another woman called Alberta. When Rose finds out about the affair, she is devastated. In this situation we find out what her own hopes and dreams were. All she wanted was a happy home and family life because of her unstable past. The theme of this story is how a black family, in the late fifties to early sixties, faces the problems that many families are faced with, but in their own...
...ther people build fences to keep people in" (Wilson, 61). Troy Maxson built them to isolate himself and to keep out the people he loved the most.
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
Lewis states that Wilson was an African American playwright, whose past of racism when he was growing up caused him to drop out of high school after a racist accusation that he had plagiarized a paper (Lewis). When Wilson wrote the play Fences he centered his main characters on this racism that he grew up with. Troy, a man who deals with his issues of failure in baseball and pride from doing right by his family, says “Why? Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?...what’s the matter, don’t I count?”(Wilson 1575). This display of racism and the significance of the title fences go together hand in hand because the building of the fence in the Maxson yard is a way to show that African Americans wanted to protect their families. Rose, troy’s wife, wanted to have the fence built to protect her family against the outside world of a predominately white society.
Fences, a low diction play by August Wilson, expresses the complex relationship between a father and his sons. Troy Maxson, once a baseball star on a Negro League, is now envious of his son Cory who dreams of having a successful football career. Troy also worries that Cory will be treated with the same disrespect that he (Troy) once was during his baseball career. Lyons, Troy's eldest son, is completely misunderstood by Troy, mostly because of his refusal to get a “real” job and his drive to become a musician. Wilson references stories from Troy's past to convey the reason behind Troy's frustration and actions toward his children.
Throughout the play, readers see an incomplete fence which symbolizes Rose (Troy’s wife) and Troy’s drifting relationship. Rose wants Troy and Cory to build a fence to keep her loved ones protected. This is evident when Rose is seen singing the church hymn, “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way” (I. ii). This insinuates the fact that Rose wants to keep her family close. Rose and Troy’s relationship seemed to be breaking down after eighteen years and the fence may have also been a way to keep Troy in Rose’s life. Yet, Troy has been in no rush to finish the fence. He sees it as some sort of confinement. Fences contain a lot of barriers that Troy tries to keep down; one barrier being his marriage. Troy claims that he has so much love for Rose, but readers see that exclusive relationships makes him feel caged in. He keeps the fence unfinished because he knows that if he finishes it than it will symbolize the end of his escape to his mistress, Alberta. Troy’s affair builds a fence that separates his marriage causing his actions to affect Rose by caging her in with a daughter that is not hers: “From right now . . . this child got a mother. But you a womanless man.” Rose tried to use a fence of divine power to keep her family protected. Troy neglected this by committing adultery, leavi...
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...
One way how the fence in the dramatic play, “Fences” is symbolized in Rose’s point of view as a safety net because it keeps her loved ones safe. She is caught singing to Jesus on how the fence is a safety net. For example, “(sings) Jesus, be a fence all around me every day Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way. Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. (Troy enters the house)” (pg.21) In this scene, Rose is singing to Jesus basically explaining that she wants a fence as a safety net so she asks Troy and Cory to build a fence, it can be an example to show her wanting to keep her and her
Throughout the play the reader sees how 'fences' are used to protect the characters mentioned. Early on, Rose protects herself by singing, 'Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way' (Wilson 21). By Rose signing this song, one can see Rose's desire for protection. To Rose, a fence is a symbol of her love. Her longing for a fence signifies that Rose represents love and nurturing within a safe environment. However Troy and Cory think the fence is a burden and reluctantly work on finishing Rose's project. Bono indicates to Troy that Rose wants the fence built to protect her loved ones as he 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? (61). While reminiscing about the 'project', Bono asks Troy why he 'got to go and get some hard wood' (60) as he says, "Nigger, why you got to go and get some hard wood? You ain't doing nothing but building a little old fence. Get you some soft pine wood. That's all you need" (60). Troy choosing to use hard wood instead of soft pine wood shows the reader that Troy wants hard wood to protect him harder from Death and all of his problems. Although each character in the play interprets the concept of a fence differently, they all see it as some form of protection.
As with most works of literature, the title Fences is more than just a title. It could be initially noted that there is only one physical fence being built by the characters onstage, but what are more important are the ideas that are being kept inside and outside of the fences that are being built by Troy and some of the other characters in Fences. The fence building becomes quite figurative, as Troy tries to fence in his own desires and infidelities. Through this act of trying to contain his desires and hypocrisies one might say, Troy finds himself fenced in, caught between his pragmatic and illusory ideals. On the one side of the fence, Troy creates illusions and embellishments on the truth, talking about how he wrestled with death, his encounters with the devil, later confronting the d...