Symbolism of August Wilson’s Play Fences. August Wilson who was a playwriter who made his stories think about the world readers are living in. Wilson well know work is about the African American culture. On the play fences August decided to use his hometown which was well populated with African Americans and that was very poor. August had written seven plays but won an award for Fences. August was born and raised in the city Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania birth name Frederick August Kittel which was his father’s name. After his father’s death, he decided to change his name Wilson to pay homage to is mother.
He ends up dropping out of school in the ninth grade but this did not affect him he ended up being well knowledgeable and very into the theater scene. In the 1960’s he got his first director job for the theater Black Horizons which is in his hometown. His plays are well known for taking place in various parts of the 20th century. August said that he received inspiration from another fellow theatre performer Romare Bearden. Wilson said that Romare was the first he seen African American people shown greatness in their culture. He said after atching Romare’s play he decided to pursue a career in theater.
On almost every theater play it’s a very predictable conflict that will be solved by the end in this Fences play the problem is between young adolescent boy named Cory and his father Troy Maxon. This story is set on two men who are living in two different situations in their respective minds. Troy is frustrated because he never got pursue a baseball career he wanted in his life. Troy used to play baseball in the Negro League. Meanwhile Cory will be able to do what his father wasn’t able to do by playing the sport football. Cory has received a scholarship to go play football at the collegian level.
But his father Troy tries to get in his head and tells him that it is not a clever idea to go and pursue football because he will be discriminated because of his skin color. Cory does not pay any attention to his father. Troy decides to sit down with college coach and tells him that son cannot play the sport anymore. Cory gets very upset at his father by going behind his back and trying to crush his dream to play college. Tension between Cory and his father Tony rises which leads to a father and son hysical fight altercation.
Troy ends up winning the fight that he had with his son which then leads to Troy feeling disrespected ends up kicking his son out the house. After this Cory ends up having resentment toward his father and towards the end of the play he does not want to go to his father’s funeral because of what his father did to him in the past. People usually think the meaning of the play Fences is about trying to stay away from something important. In Fences the viewers see that the real meaning of the story is that the fence is being wedged between the father and son.
The fence also play another hidden message for each character perspective for their life. Cory and Troy are going through this problem which the problem means that the fence is the driving wedge being split between two sides. Cory’s mother Rose wants her family to be close knit, the man of the house Troy does not why she keeps pushing for this their family was never close. From Rose’s perspective, the fence means being close together. I feel like Troy has a lot of perspectives the first one with the fence that he is boxed in by stubbornness, attitude, and pride.
Troy’s second perspective with the fence is hen he crushes his son’s football dream by going behind his back to try to destroy Cory’s football career. This is when the fencing issues narrative comes in because Troy feels like he tried to protect his son but he ends up pushing him on the other side of the fence. Troy has also pushed his wife by talking to another woman and getting her pregnant. At this point in the story Troy has the feeling that he let everyone down. Troy is the main plot that revolves around the whole play in which this case I feel like he is that white picket fence.
The fence end up putting wedge with everyone he loves. Because of him ruining relationship with his loved ones it is difficult for anyone to miss him when ends up passing away. In the play, it touches on racial and historical critical approaches. For the racial and historical approach, it’s the negro baseball league. The negro baseball league played a part on the character Troy on how he started seeing life. Troy was not able to enjoy the great things that came with basebal| because of his skin color and the time period, the African American men were not able to play the organizational baseball because being predominately with whites.
A man named Jackie Robinson collapsed the baseball color wall when the Brooklyn Dodgers decided to sign him and let them play for the team. The Dodgers decided to start the icon at first base on the day April 15, 1947. By signing this icon, he put an end of racial discrimination and segregation in Americas favorite pass time the sport baseball that had assigned black players to only play for the Negro leagues since the years of the 1880s. Troy believed that this wasn’t enough to be accepted to play sports. Troy did not want to believe that Jackie Robinson was enough to benefit rom.
Troy told rose “I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn’t even make! What you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson wasn’t nobody. I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were. Come telling me I come along too early. If you could play… then they ought to have let you play. ” (Act 1 Scene) Back in Troy’s day he was a trouble maker and I have the idea that he will not be able to deal with some of he white people in the baseball league who were races and bullies.
Troy was this black man who the upmost pride, very dangerous temper, and who was somewhat anti-white because how they treated him. Because the way white people treated troy he did not want his son to deal with this problem. The theme of the play does not only compare to the fence but also baseball. Troy has this ability to use baseball as a metaphor. Troy compares baseball to marrying Rose because he had this idea that marriage and having a steady family was safe. Troy said that he talked to other woman to make himself think that e was still an attractive man still able to still get women.
On (Act 1 Scene ) this is the first time he used the sport as a metaphor when he was talking about death, and Troy says. “Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can’t tell me nothing about death. And you know what I’ll do to that! Lookee here, Bono am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist high, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying? ” Troy saying this means that he is not scared of dying.