Fence: Adultery and Conflict in August Wilson's Revolutionary Play - Essay Sample

Introduction

August Wilson's Fence is a revolutionary play that sought to bring out the struggles and plights of the black-man in the setting years of slavery. Written in 1985, the play is set in the American 50s and examines heavy themes such as marriage and race relations (Koprince, 2006). The play comes equipped with strong set pieces that carry emotion and thought evoking subjects. Among these many subjects is the theme of adultery, brought to set by the characters Troy and Rose.

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Conflict of the Fence slowly rises through the first act and culminates in the second act with a scene where Rose and Troy are having a conversation (Dyah, 2017). This scene is very detrimental as it amalgamates everything the play is trying to convey, from marriage, slavery, companionship, and betrayal (Dyah, 2017). Aspects of world-building are also weaved into the narrative in this single scene, and the result is a beautiful yet extremely sensitive scene that steers the rest of the play's narrative.

This particular scene is foreshadowed by the prior scene where Troy and Bono are having a talk. It is imperative to mention that Troy, known as Troy Maxon, is an unhappy man who is also not seen to take the blame for his shortcomings (Koprince, 2006). He is used to blaming others for his faults. He is bitter because he believes that the color of his skin has barred his way into success both in his career and out in his later life (Letzler, 2014). Seeing Troy in this light lets us understand him as a person who never shoulders his problem as a man but finds excuses to justify his misdeeds and faults (Koprince, 2006). While talking to Bono, he reveals that he was not intentionally trying to cheat on Rose, but he could not shake Alberta. He moves forward to insist that he is in no position trying to shift blame or escape the responsibility presented by his actions and continues to add that he cannot see an end to what he and Alberta have.

He tells Rose he has something he needs to share to her, piquing her interest. He moves to enlighten his wife on his affair with Alberta and reveals to the wife that he has even fathered a child with her (Letzler, 2014). Rose is shocked by her husband's words. She asks Troy why he is telling her such after they have been married for eighteen years. She tells him that such behavior she might have foreseen five or ten years back, not now (Letzler, 2014). She says she has tried everything to be as a wife should be. She is up hauled by the fact that eighteen years later, her husband has the nerve to have an affair and even father a child and then come tell her about it (Letzler, 2014). As always, Troy tries to shift his blame elsewhere, saying there is nothing he can do and that they can talk everything out. Rose does not want to hear any of it.

Troy tries to shed light on his situation and to put meaning behind his reasons. He explains to Rose that Alberta gives him life, a different sense of himself as a person, a new perspective (Dyah, 2017). He believes that with Alberta, he can get out of his house and be a completely different person, getting away from the problems and pressures of his household. He tries to use baseball analogies to explain his deed (Letzler, 2014), that he has stood in this marriage for eighteen years, and after all this time, why not take a leap into the unknown? Rose's answer to all of this is that he should have remained faithful to her. Rose tries to share her dreams and hopes for their future. She reveals how she had channeled all her feelings and belief into him and how she had spent all her years trusting in him (Dyah, 2017). She insinuates that as much as he has been the provider for their family, he has also been the one tearing it down. This prompts Troy to grab and threaten her; he declares that this family has taken everything he had to give.

This particular scene stands out from the rest of the play because it is beset with a lot of raw emotion. After Troy reveals his affair to Rose, the woman is rocked with so many emotions (Dyah, 2017). She is confused, hurt, and disbelief. As an open-minded person who understands the nature of man as weak to temptations of the flesh, she tells him that she would have expected this sort of behavior a decade ago. She acknowledges the fact that Troy had several admirers when they were young, and is destroyed that a danger she had assumed to have passed all those years ago is nowhere to dog her marriage (Koprince, 2006). She gave her all in this marriage and felt like they were in a good place as a couple. She realizes that what to her was peace and quiet in their marriage was stasis for her husband. To her, Troy's actions are the characteristics of a person suffering from a midlife crisis (Koprince, 2006). Rose has been in his life supporting and loving him despite his obvious flaws. The power of this scene is resolved in the resolution where Rose and Cory, her son, are having a talk after Troy's death. She tells him that she had been contented with being a submissive wife for a while, especially at the beginning of their marriage (Koprince, 2006). She opens up about leaving herself open and vulnerable to his abuse and being broken by his actions after all the things she has sacrificed for him.

Conclusion

In summary, the raw emotion brought out in this scene is extraordinary. Both Troy and Rose are given equal grounds to debate their cases, and it is only the audience that is allowed to pick aside. Troy had the moral obligation to be faithful, but he did not honor his wife with loyalty. He threw away a hard-earned marriage without caring for his wife's feelings. Rose later reveals that maybe if she had strived for more equality in their partnership, maybe Troy and she would have had a happier ending.

Reference

Dyah, A. (2017). Troy Maxson's extroversion in august wilson's fences. Litera~ Kultura, 5(3).

Koprince, S. (2006). Baseball as history and myth in august Wilson's" fences." African American Review, 40(2), 349-358.

Letzler, D. (2014). Walking around the fences: Troy Maxson and the ideology of" going down swinging." African American Review, 47(2/3), 301-312.