The Symbolical Meaning Behind the Title of Fences by August Wilson

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Fences is a play that was written by August Wilson, it follows the life of Tony Maxson, a garbage man, who throughout the play is building a fence around his home. The title, Fences, has more significance than one may have thought at first glance. The title is very symbolic in the perspective of almost every character in the play. Within Act 2, Scene 1 of the play, when discussing the reason as to why Rose wanted the fence up, with Cory and Troy, Bono 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.”. In the perspective of Rose, she wants to keep people in and with Troy it is the complete opposite.
In addition, Rose uses the fence, symbolically, to keep Troy in because she wants to keep him close and unknowingly to keep him away from his mistress, Alberta, whom she, (Rose), doesn’t find about until Act 2, Scene 1 of the play. On the contrary, Troy, symbolically, wants to keep people out with the fence. In the play, Troy uses the fence as a way to keep Cory out, this is directly after...

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