fences argumentative essay

by August Wilson

Fences essay questions.

Why does Gabriel carry a trumpet around his neck?

Because of a head injury, Gabriel believes that he is the angel Gabriel and that he is able to open the gates of heaven with his trumpet. While the audience knows that this is not literally true, the final scene shows that Gabe becomes the play's figure of redemption. He unsuccessfully tries to blow his trumpet and when that does not work, dances his brother into heaven. Troy does not have the play's last word; instead, it is the fool, the representation of innocence, that finally offers Troy deliverance.

Why is the setting of the play important?

The setting of the play is important because the 1950's represents a time of great upheaval in race relations in the United States. Troy Maxson represents a previous generation that now watches the world move on around them. They have been maligned by white transgression in the past and yet have been able to procure a small portion of the country's booming wealth for themselves. Troy dies, however, in 1965, the year of the greatest legislative triumph of the Civil Rights era. He is not able to enjoy the victory that he helped bring about.

Why is Troy Maxson considered an "everyman" character?

Troy Maxson is a character of universal type. Though his life is dictated by the particulars of the African American experience of the early twentieth century, his failings as a man as well as his small measures of redemption are applicable to all people. Wilson deftly creates a character who is a flawed and identifiable hero, through his responsibilities to family and his inabilities to live up to his own high expectations. His battles with his sons resonate across racial and cultural lines as universal human experiences.

Explain the play's principal metaphor of the fence.

Jim Bono best sums up the play's overarching metaphor by explaining to Troy, "Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in.” Both Troy and Rose Maxson attempt to build emotional fences throughout the play. Rose attempts to keep her family within her fence by being a good and faithful wife. Troy is more concerned with an emotional fence that never permits his sons to understand his love for them.

Is Rose's character an example of feminism or an example of the repressed role of women in society?

Scholars have been divided on Rose's role in the play. Some have seen Rose as the prototypical 1950s housewife, disappearing into her husband and leaving no room for her own self to flourish. Others, however, have seen Rose as occupying a feminist position; she does remain a housewife and mother but only because she makes the choice for herself. No one forces motherhood on her. She admits that when Troy takes pieces of her, it is because she gives those pieces out of her own choice. But then, what other choice does she have?

Discuss the role of the blues in Fences .

Troy's blues song for his dog, Old Blue, is an example of Wilson's use of blues music in the play. Troy takes on the role of an archetypal blues character who has seen his world taken away from him for his transgressions. The blues also acts as a form of aural tradition. Cory and Raynell sing Troy's blues song as they bury him, representing pieces of Troy that pass down through generations.

Discuss the meaning of baseball in the play.

Troy uses baseball as a metaphor for his own life, yet the audience comes to understand that the game Troy plays is not necessarily the one in which he sees himself. Troy remembers himself as a star in the Negro Leagues, but he was never given a chance to prove himself. His relationship with Alberta, and the selfishness that it inculcates in him, is his chance to please himself in a way that he never could while playing baseball. Troy, however, fails at his own game. His failures in his relationships with his wife and son represent two strikes in his life. The inevitability of his death is his third and final strike.

What traits make Troy Maxson an unlikable protagonist?

Troy is seen as an unsympathetic character for much of the play because of the emotional fence he builds to keep his sons and wife from seeing and accepting his underlying love for them. This is best observed when Cory asks Troy why Troy does not like him. Instead of offering a reassuring remark, Troy shames his son by telling him that there is no law that says he must like him. The fence that Troy puts up to keep his sons from accepting him also acts as a fence to keep the audience from sympathizing with Troy.

What traits make Troy Maxson a redeemed protagonist?

For all of his faults, Troy Maxson is ultimately redeemed. This is accomplished through the small glimpses of care and affection that his children remember in the play's final scene. Raynell tells Cory that Troy always called her room "Cory's room" and that he never threw out Cory's football equipment. They close the play by singing Troy's old blues song about his dog. It is inevitable that fathers pass on pieces of themselves to their children. Through this process, Troy becomes a redeemed character and a flawed hero, but a hero nevertheless.

Discuss the cycle of father-son relationships in the play.

In the play, sons become outraged at the actions of their fathers. This outrage turns into hate, and yet the sons cannot help but bear a resemblance to their fathers. For Troy, this happens when he assaults Cory and kicks him out of the house. Troy believes that he is protecting Cory from a life of failure in football, yet Troy has become the same man that his father had been. The final scene sees Cory struggling with this same dynamic. He seeks to reject his father, but he cannot completely leave Troy - he carries his memory, influence, and song with him.

Fences Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Fences is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Troy seems to limit Rose to the domestic. Rose is the only character that is a woman that plays a role. Troy seems to marginalize her and seems to view women as ultimately disposable in some way.

Why does Troy refuse to accept Lyon's repayment of the loan?

Troy naturally assumes that Lyons will soon be back for another "loan", it's a bit of a habit for Lyons to come to his father for money. Thus, to prove his point, Troy tells Lyons to put the money in the bank, so he can just go and take it out...

Discuss your thoughts on Cory intial decision not to attend Troys funeral. Why did he feel this way ? Do you agree?

I was actually surprised that Cory traveled home for the funeral, and yet, he decided not to attend. On one hand, we can consider the fact that Cory's last fight with his father and the fact they never came to terms weighed heavily on Cory... it's...

Study Guide for Fences

Fences study guide contains a biography of August Wilson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Fences
• Fences Summary
• Character List

Essays for Fences

Fences essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Fences by August Wilson.

• The Importance of Dreams
• The Significance of Songs in August Wilson's Fences
• Death and Baseball: August Wilson's Fences
• Rebuilding Relationships in Fences
• The Apple and the Tree: Family Ties in The Namesake and Fences

Lesson Plan for Fences

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Fences
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Fences Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Fences

• Introduction

African Americans’ Ambitions: “Fences” by August Wilson Critical Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Works Cited

August Wilson’s Fences displays the struggle of African Americans to attain their ambitions. Wilson explained clearly how men in African-American struggled to be victorious in achieving their dreams. Literary scripts can contribute greatly as historical articles which express social actualities that are creatively displayed by the Wilson.

Hence, literature may not be disconnected from society and the analysis of literature must be associated to society. August Wilson is well-known in American literature as a writer of plays of African-American who usually narrate about African incidences in the past societies in U.S. The attempts of African Americans to attain their ambitions, as well as its challenging social matters like discriminations are portrayed in his play called Fences.

This play narrates about a black family in 1950s who attempted to live among the people in the American urban regions (Bogumi 34). The author himself stayed in African American slum society during his early age, which he went on to portray in several dramatic writings.

The play, Fences, gives an appealing case of the way both metaphysical and physical expressions of particular African retentions joint to enhance existing African American culture. The Africa which the author revives in Fences portrays itself through different levels and in both explicit and implicit ways. Normally, such ways may not be comprehended if American sense exists as the only standard. These African links come out in unspoken policies which shape everyday rituals of such characters and instill the play on several stages.

Through analyzing Fences within African American cosmology, instead of depending only upon Western models of examination, the play produces a greater important interpretation of how black Americans settle the issues of their “double consciousness” in the America (Steffens 5). That African cosmology turns into an important section of the play’s sub textual tale, a tale which opposes America’s disruptive discrimination with Africa’s ability to cure, reunite, and empower.

All through the play, the search of dreams has contributed greatly in the characters’ self-achievement. Nevertheless, Fences mainly focused on the men characters and their goals; the author did not talk much about the characters of women. As Wilson portrays the characters of men in detail, the dreams of female characters stay undeclared.

Furthermore, just one female, called Rose Maxson, who represented his women characters, while the rest of women protagonists only existed after they are cited by other women characters participating in the play. It appears that the author merely provides opportunity to Rose to express her mind as a member of the African American women. Hence, Rose is a main character which may be employed as the channel to understand about the way women observe the benefit of possessing and attaining their dreams.

From the start of the play, Rose is expressed as the character under the patriarchal control and association with her spouse is exemplified through her spouse’s sexist viewpoints. Just like the rest of Black women, when she went into marriage, she had to sacrifice her freedom and she is possessed and completely authorized by her husband.

While she attempts to safeguard her family, Troy is betraying through having relationship with different women as his manner to attain free will. This issue surprised Rose: “You should have stayed in my bed, Troy… You should have held me tight. You should have grabbed me and hold on.” (Wilson 1333). She is curious about Troy’s faithfulness as her spouse and his compliance to maintain their marriage in a positive path.

The goods moods and close relations among a mother and children as well may be observed in the family of the author. Wilson and his brothers and sisters took their mother as their role model, whereas their father was mainly not there during their early age. Their mother was the person who showed them the benefit of possessing stable sense of satisfaction and zero tolerance for impartiality.

As the author wrote about African-American, he did not prevent the control of culture in the place he grew up, including his previous incidences of discrimination, and he made his play derived on those factors which he experienced from his life. Additionally, he expressed that Fences provides a distinct viewpoint on the way persons observe the African-Americans, which can have an impact on the way they think and contact each other.

In Fences, Wilson attempted to describe the experiences of women in the past societies through introducing or using Rose, he employed her character as his device to portray how difficult the life of Black American is. Her disappointment in attaining her dream to have a successful marriage and her intention to dedicate her life greatly on her parenthood’s side, looks like the life of some African American mothers.

His mother, who was unsuccessful in trying to have the best family during her initial marriage, along with her achievement in improving her children’s status, are his devices to direct his reader to understand effectively about the past of African American females.

From the analysis of Fences, it can be deduced that the author is conscious of the status of African-American who are near him and he made his play derived from such facts (Bogumi 34), therefore Wilson employed the characters like Rose to pass a point to the African American women to consider their ambitions and even, to add more efforts to attain their goals, even though their goals are still nearly linked to the concepts satisfying their responsibilities as the core provider of the family.

He did well in displaying is perspective on the way African American women must observe the benefit of having their own goals and what they must perform to attain such goals.

Certainly, African American women in the past had fewer opportunities upon getting into adulthood. Rarely did such options go past their marriage, parenthood, and family life.

Finances used during their schooling was seen as an ill-advised investment, particularly since less job opportunities were not there for them which needed more than a capacity of providing for the needs of the white Americans. Furthermore, the status of anti-intellectualism against female proposed that schooling “stained” women and create them not to be better wives.

In conclusion, the existence of the African-Americans is mainly evaluated by men values and standards. From the above analysis, female are placed in the inequality position by men and the patriarchal structure, and this status creates them, rarely, have an opportunity to consider their own dreams so attain them. Wilson is successful in displaying is perspective on what issues experienced by women who are attempting to attain their dreams as a kind of equality and acceptance in the community.

August Wilson’s Fences not only motivates debate, but it as well motivates thoughts concerning human status. The play brings about the degree of understanding that exceeds certain experiences of the Maxson family and continues to portray a simple wisdom for both the individual and for that particular person as a connection in a family system (Steffens 5). The idea of this play is to bring to the front within complete observation of the racial and economic difficulties which African Americans faced during past America society.

Bogumi, Maryl. Understanding August Wilson. Columbia, SC: Univ of South Carolina Press, 1999. Print.

Steffens, Johannes. Recognizing ‘Fences’ – Troy Maxson’s Identity Politics. New York: GRIN Verlag, 2007. print.

Wilson, August. Fences Drama: A Pocket Anthology. 3 rd Ed. New York: Penguin Academics, 2006. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2018, November 6). African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson. https://ivypanda.com/essays/august-wilsons-fences/

"African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson." IvyPanda , 6 Nov. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/august-wilsons-fences/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson'. 6 November.

IvyPanda . 2018. "African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/august-wilsons-fences/.

1. IvyPanda . "African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/august-wilsons-fences/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "African Americans' Ambitions: "Fences" by August Wilson." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/august-wilsons-fences/.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Fences — An Analysis of the Father and Son Relationship in Fences, a Play by August Wilson

Analysis of Troy and Cory's Relationship in "Fences"

• Categories: Character Fences

About this sample

Words: 1703 |

Published: Sep 4, 2018

Words: 1703 | Pages: 3 | 9 min read

In August Wilson's powerful play "Fences," the theme of father-son relationships takes center stage, offering a complex and thought-provoking exploration of the ties that bind these characters. Within the narrative, we witness three distinct father-son relationships, each marked by its own complexities and challenges, showcasing the intricate web of emotions and consequences that arise from these bonds.

The play introduces us to Troy Maxson, the central character and father to Cory and Lyons, with Rose Maxson as his wife. Bono, Troy's loyal and long-time friend, and Gabriel, Troy's brother, are also significant characters. Troy's relationship with his father serves as a crucial backdrop, shaping his behavior and attitudes towards his own sons. This complex connection foreshadows similar consequences in Troy's relationships with his sons.

In the end, these father-son relationships in "Fences" demonstrate the inescapable nature of familial ties and the profound impact of parental influence. While the sons endeavor to break free from their fathers' shadows, they find themselves navigating a complex terrain of emotions, expectations, and disappointments. The play poignantly illustrates the intricate interplay of fate, upbringing, and individual choices, shaping the destinies of each character, often leading them to fates similar to their fathers'.

Table of contents

Father-son relationship in fences, troy and his father’s relationship, troy and cory’s relationship in fences, lyons and his father (troy), works cited.

• Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2009). August Wilson's Fences. Infobase Publishing.
• Elam, H. (1997). The past in August Wilson's Fences. Journal of American Studies, 31(3), 387-398.
• Gantt, K. E. (1999). Playing in the dark: August Wilson's Fences and the African American experience. African American Review, 33(1), 35-47.
• Koprince, S. (2003). Baseball as history and myth in August Wilson's Fences. African American Review, 37(1), 67-82.
• Nelson, E. C. (1994). Representations of fathers in August Wilson's plays. MELUS, 19(1), 61-76.
• Petti, S. (2010). Breaking the fences: The African American father-son relationship in August Wilson's Fences. Textus: English Studies in Italy, 23(2), 373-392.
• Shannon, S. L. (2001). Strategies for teaching August Wilson's Fences. National Council of Teachers of English.
• Shannon, S. L. (2013). August Wilson's Fences: A Reference Guide. Greenwood.
• Shannon, S. L. (2018). August Wilson and the African American Odyssey. University Press of Mississippi.
• Wilson, A. (1986). Fences: A Play. Plume.

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Home / Essay Samples / Entertainment / Movies / Fences

Fences Essay Examples

"fences": analysis of august wilson's play.

In this August Wilson's "Fences " Analysis Essay we will analyze the literary devices and main themes of this play. The play “Fences” written by August Wilson took place in the late 1950’s. It portrayed a challenging lifestyle of a white dominated society and the...

Fences by August Wilson: the Issue of Sufferings of African-americans

August Wilson (1945-2005) was a conspicuous African-American writer who composed 15 plays for which he won numerous honors. To give some examples of the prizes Wilson won, one can allude to a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Honor for his play Wall, and a second...

Review of August Wilson’s Play Fences

“Fences,” is a play written by August Wilson, taking place in 1950’s to the 1960’s. These decades were filled with political and social protests for the Civil Rights Movement and the integration efforts. Throughout this story there are struggles with racism, which is one of...

Review of the Film Fences

Fences is a 2016 drama film starring and directed by Denzel Washington, based on the 1987 play written by August Wilson. The film follows a 53-year-old black man, Troy Maxson, in 1950s Pittsburgh who struggles to support his family as a waste collector. Instead of...

The Symbol of a Fence in the Movie Fences

The movie fences is a movie that was produced and directed by Denzel Washington and carries many themes with it. “Fences” takes place in the 1950s in Pittsburgh. The movie portrays various themes such as family dynamics, personal truths, the power of forgiveness. Troy Maxson,...

The Use of Religion in August Wilson's Fences

In the play, Fences, the main character Troy Maxson is by nowhere near a religious man. Troy has created his own philosophies, especially with baseball, through his own definition of religion. Sandra G. Shannon's interpretive examination of, 'The Good Christian's Come and Gone: The Shifting...

Fences: Making a Home in the 1950s

The 2016 Film “Fences” is a drama portraying an African-American man, Troy Maxson, working hard to support his family in the 1950s in Pittsburgh, PA. This film has won an overwhelmingly long list of awards from multiple associations including the Oscars, Golden Globes, Screen Actors...

Fences: Triumph and Hypocrisy

In August Wilson’s “Fences” each character goes through things that will define the character in their life. The chooses they make will also affect each and every member of the family. In the Maxon family as a whole they juxtapose one another with their own...

The Meaning of the Fences

“Fences” by August Wilson is a story about Troy Maxson, who was a victim of extreme social injustice. Troy Maxson was a talented baseball player. However, he had to give up his dream because he was rejected to play for many teams. Because of his...

Fences: Film Evaluation

The film selected for this topic essay is “Fences,' directed by Denzel Washington and based on August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The plot takes place in the 1950s in Pittsburgh, where the characters are part of the Afro American community, rising...

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About Fences

August Wilson

Comedy, Drama

A Negro baseball league player is now a garbageman; his bitterness affects his loved ones

Blackness and Race Relations.Practicality, Idealism, and Race. Manhood and Fathers.Family, Duty, and Betrayal.Mortality.

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