The Life of August Wilson

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Recommended: Symbolic and literal meaning of Fences by August Wilson

Drama is about bringing reality to life through acting and interpretation. August Wilson

wrote the play Fences about his life: the heartbreaking reality of racism in his own life and the

struggles he faced to overcome it. He had a hard childhood and career due to prejudice and

fatherly abandonment, and he reflected that through his works of African American drama.

Wilson uses the character of Troy, his family, and his friends in Fences to pour out his life, his

hardship, and the horrifying difficulty African Americans faced throughout the generations.

August Wilson was born in a ghetto area of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to his white father,

August Kittel and African American mother, Daisy Wilson Kittel. His father left him, his

mother, and Wilson‘s five siblings when Wilson was a young child. His mother worked as a

cleaning woman until she remarried. His stepfather moved them to a primarily white

neighborhood where the family was subjected to fierce racial prejudice. Wilson has also married

several times, having two children, one each from separate marriages (Galens 181).

One of Wilson‘s most prominent dramas is Fences, in which he strongly deals with the

issues of civil rights he struggled with in his life. The ―fences‖ in the play are a representation of

blockages in the relationships of the characters‘ family ties and their racial issues. The actual

fence in the play was built with the intention to keep the family together while the title word

―fences‖ has a different meaning, that is, to impede movement or departure of individuals,

families, or ethnicities. Robert Frost wrote of fences in his poem ―Mending Wall‖ showing how

fences are designed to keep people in or out and how that separation m...

... middle of paper ...

...ghout his

career was heavily affected by racism; however, it is that racism and hardship which helped him

to form a foundation for some of the most significant modern drama ever.

Works Cited

Delbanco, Nicholas and Alan Cheuse, eds. Literature: Craft and Voice. Vol. 1-3. New York:

McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

―Fences.‖ Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 180-197. Gale

Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

Frost, Robert. ―The Mending Wall.‖ Literature: Craft & Voice. Vol. 1: 413-14.

Kenney, W. P. "Fences." Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition (2009):

Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Wessling, Joseph H. "Wilson's Fences." Explicator 57.2 (1999): 123. Literary Reference Center.

EBSCO. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

Wilson, August. Fences. Literature: Craft & Voice. Vol. 3: 422-56.

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