August Wilson's Play "Fences" Essay

In August Wilson's play fences, a lot of critical approaches are employed to give an accurate image of how life was in the 50s for the black people, different characters have been used to show the impact an individual especially a father can have on the life of his family members. Also, this essay will show how sons want to live up to their father but eventually find their own paths hence becoming better than their fathers could ever be.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

August Wilson was an African-American playwright who won the Tony Award and a Pulitzer Award for his play Fences and the piano lesson. These were part of his cycle of plays which each set a different decade of the 20th century about the life of black Americans. His original name was Frederick August Kittel, and he was born on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. Wilson's first play jitney for which he earned a fellowship at the Minneapolis playwright center was written in 1979, after this he wrote several other plays which won him many awards as a playwright. August Wilson died of liver cancer on the 2nd day of October 2005, in Seattle with his new play radio golf opening just a few months in Los Angeles before his death. (Martin, et al. 2014)

August Wilson's work fences explore the life and the relationship of Maxson family. The protagonist, Troy Maxson a former baseball athlete and a restless trash collector represents the struggle for justice and fair treatment during the1950s. Troy is a responsible man who is prone to believing in self-created illusions because of his thwarted passion of being a professional baseball player. He was deemed too old. This makes him bitter, and he creates tension in his family when he makes it impossible for his son to meet a college football recruiter. Throughout the play, Troy is trying to build a fence around his home.

Fences in the play by August Wilson has a lot of significance than one would expect. It symbolizes the fight between the figurative and the literal definition of blackness and humanity. Also when Bono says in act 2, scene 1 that some individuals build fences to keep people out and other build fences to keep people in, fences in this perspective imply that Rose wants to hold on to her family, but for Troy, it is the opposite. Moreover, Rose wants to keep Troy away from his mistress Alberta. Rose, in other words, is the driving force that enables Troy to create a protective barrier around their home. For Rose, fences stand for love and protection. This is the main reason why she pushes Troy to build a fence around their home because she believes that the people who are important to her should be kept on the inside rather than on the outside. The title fences figuratively symbolize the fences that the characters put around them to control the people that enter and stay in their lives and the ones that leave. (Shannon, et al. 2016)

The love between Troy and Rose is what acts as a fence holding and separating the family from the rest of the world. The symbolic fence is what holds the family together when Troy betrays rose by having an affair with Alberta; the role Rose plays here is quite significant in that she has her ways of coping with the anxieties and the challenges of living in a patriarchal and racial discriminating society. She is a great woman and a mother; this is seen when she agrees to care for Troy's bastard when Alberta dies at childbirth. On the other hand, Troy represents the life of black men who lived at a time when blacks could not participate in political, social and cultural activities with the whites.

This racial oppression causes frustration in his life and even leads to him having unhealthy relationships with his family members especially his son Cory. His life is full of bitterness, and this shows how black men did not have it easy in the 50s, this is not to imply that the black women had it any better, for they had their share of challenges.

Also, Cory has fences erected between himself and his dream and himself and his father. The father sees no point in him playing football because according to Troy football will disappoint Cory just as baseball disappointed him. Even with such pessimism weighing him down, Cory still embodies the hope of the future like all children in families. Cory, therefore, has been cast as an opposing force to the beliefs of Troy. In the end, we see that Cory will be able to find some middle ground by taking his father's best qualities and leave the other bad ones behind.

Moreover, the setting in August Wilson's play fences shows that the Maxson family are not rich in fact money is a constant worry to them. They survive on the little money Troy gets as a garbage collector. This setting is important in what it represents for the black people who migrated to places such as Pittsburgh in search of employment, but they get disappointed. It represents promise and hope as well as promises broken.

Trains are another symbol broadly used in the play fences as it symbolizes change. In the case of Troy, it represents his acknowledgment of the fact that he has caused numerous changes in the lives of his family members. He confesses his adultery and humbly asks his wife Rose to forgive him, this signifies an end to something and a change in the character of Troy.

In August Wilson's play, the effects of racial oppression are seen in how Troy relates with his family members; he is pessimistic when his son cry want to have a career as a football player. At one point Troy stands up and questions his white employers on why only white individuals are driving trucks but not the black people too, this enables him to become the first black truck driver. Altogether, the negative impact of racism on family life is visible in this play showing how racism can cause bitterness among individuals. (Menson-Furr, et.al 2013)

Another critical approach is the social aspect of the play whereby, we see the troubles and tribulations of the Maxson family, there is a lot of drama in their lives. We see Troy struggling to fulfill his duties as a father and a husband. Before he dies, his family disintegrates as he fails several times in keeping them together but after all this, the family grows as they learn from his example. Troy repeats the patterns of the family he grew up in. It is evident though that his son Cory became a man of his ways after the death of his father.

Conclusion

People often feel the need to put a protective layer between the people they love most and the rest of the world just as Rose did in the play Fences. This can enable one to create a safe space where they can escape and tuck away one thing that they want to always hold onto. Tory's life is full of bitterness and failures; this bitterness poisons the relationship he has with his family members bringing pessimism in his life. He finds it difficult to change himself with the flow of time. In recent times racism still exists, but its impact on people's lives has reduced.

Works Cited

Abdelsamie, Adel M., and Atef Mohamed Abdallah. "THE IMAGE OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN IN FENCES (1985)." Global Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences 3.3 (2015): 73-86.

Amir, Faizal. A STUDY OF AMERICAN DREAM PORTRAYED IN AUGUST WILSON'S FENCES. Diss. UIN Sunan Ampel, 2015.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for August Wilson's Fences. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2015.

Martin, Basil, and Michael Downing. "A Short Biographic Sketch and Annotated Bibliography on August Wilson." Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity 15.2 (2014): 65-79.

Menson-Furr, Ladrica. August Wilson's Fences. A&C Black, 2013.

Shannon, Sandra G., ed. August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle: Critical Perspectives on the Plays. McFarland, 2016.