Preview

Fences: A Symbolic Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
641 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fences: A Symbolic Analysis
The idea of the fence has a number of symbolic meanings in the play. You have Troy’s baseball, Raynell garden, and the fence. This play focuses on the symbol of a fence which helps readers receive a better understanding of these events. “Fences” symbolizes a great struggle between the literal and figurative definitions of humanity and blackness. Of course, this fence is much more than just a fence – it's a complex symbol that pretty much sums up the whole play.

Troy is crammed with baseball symbolism, which tackles a great deal of typical importance. Troy was looted of an expert baseball profession in light of his race. The shadow of this bad form has weighed on him for a considerable length of time and made him an astringent man. Troy regularly

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He was “looking for a guy with strong values and a strong personality”. Troy keeps distance between him and his family. Cory: "Tell Mama I'll be back for my things. "Troy: "They'll be on the other side of that fence."(p.89) The fence is a barrier between him and his son. I think this doesn’t show good character, he should just get along with his son. He should know that Cory is not going to be a perfect child. This doesn’t relate to baseball all that much, but I do think it would affect him in a negative way. Troy takes a huge football opportunity away from Cory. I don’t think that is the right thing to do. He should let his son do the sports that he wants and let him be happy. In the book, Cory asks Troy why he doesn't like him. Troy get’s really angry, saying that “ It’s my job. It’s my responsibility! Not ‘cause I like you!(p.38). think it shows a negative side of…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Eng15 Fences

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The play Fences by August Wilson revolves around the front yard of the main characters Troy and Rose Maxson between the years 1957 and 1965. Rose is a long, responsible mother, wife, and friend who tends to show forgiving and selfless character traits. Many of her words and actions also show that she is a strong and assertive yet tender woman. Her husband Troy, on the other hand, is pretty much her opposite. Troy’s character is very dominant. He is and imaginative and boastful person who mostly comes off as selfish and bitter. Within the eight years, which the play takes place, Rose and Troy find themselves in a tragedy. Troy’s character changes between Act I and Act II, however, both his and Rose’s character are responsible for the tragedy.…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    August Wilson’s famous play “Fences” is a drama set in the 1950’s. Being a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the best play of the year, this play has had many positive responses to blacks and whites in this society. It is about protagonist Troy Maxson as well as his african american family that is filled with drama and excitement. In Wilson’s Fences by Joseph Wessling he expresses, “Fences is about the always imperfect quest for true manhood. Troy’s father was less of a “true” man than Troy, but he was a hard worker and a provider. Troy, even as a runaway, carried with him his father’s virtues along with a considerable lessening of the father’s harshness and promiscuity”(5). In this essay you will learn about the characters, the author’s background, the meaning of the play’s title, Fences, and the conflicts between the relationships in the family and life.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Fences, the father, Troy, grew up in a time when racial inequality was still prevalent. Troy was not able to follow his dream of playing professional baseball due to the fact that he was African American. Troy’s wife, Rose, informs him that “times have changed since you was playing baseball” (Wilson 969). She also tells him that “they got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football” (Wilson 369). Their son Cory, who is a teenager in 1957, was high school football player with an opportunity to play college ball. Troy’s jealousy becomes evident during a conversation about a recruiter stopping by. Troy starts the conversation by:…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Troy's Fences

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In The Play “Fences” there is a connection to the fence that each character has. The main character name is Troy and along with him is his wife Rose his sons Corey and lyons right along with his brother named Gabe. Troy wanted to build a fence to keep to keep everything that belonged to him inside of the fence and the things that didnt belong to him outside the fence.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fences by August Wilson presents a slice-of-life in a black tenement in Pittsburgh. The play is set in the late 1950s through 1965. The main character, Troy Maxson is a garbage collector who has taken a great price in keeping his family together and providing for them.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We can see that troy struggled to do his roles and duties as father to his son and husband to his wife. We can easy say that Troy did not do such a great job in either role, right before his death his family has everything they wanted but also disintegration since all the failures that troy did in the past. However, at the end of the play that his family has also matured by due to his example. Fences depicts the difficult dynamics that both tear families apart and hold them together.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fences Character Analysis

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fences by August Wilson is a dramatic and powerful play about Troy Maxson, a hard, gruff man, who has had to learn to survive in a world he does not understand. Growing up, Troy had an awful example of a father. He ran away from home at the age of fourteen, and had to find a way to live even though he had nothing. Now a father himself, Troy finds himself becoming as angry and hard as his father, although he has only ever tried to be a responsible man. Lyons, Troy’s oldest son from his first marriage, is the opposite of Troy. A struggling musician, Lyons’ fatherless childhood condemned him to be an irresponsible dreamer who believes in a future of liberation.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There’s an old saying about children being like their parents that says, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. This saying is very true for Troy Maxson, the main character of the play Fences by August Wilson. Troy strived to be a good father to his children, but as a result of selfishness and not having a good father himself, he had a bad relationship with his sons.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In fences, there’s the strength in that his choice for setting was simplistic yet powerful. It’s all recorded in one scene: the yard of the main character. This gives the play a powerful aspect as it allows the audience to concentrate on the sentimental issues in the relationship of a father and his son. The nature of the setting allows the audience to appreciate and relate the emotional experience of the main character Troy. The play is very educational as the playwright informs the audience at the onset of the play about the experience of African Americans at that time. He says that they sold the work of their hands, they did people’s laundry and cleaned homes, and they were quietly desperate and outwardly proud. He continues to say that the African-Americans sometimes stole asnd that they too chased a…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Troy Maxson's Downfall

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fences is a "tragedy of the common man” who challenges the affront to his dignity. Troy Maxson’s downfall was caused by his response to the challenge that racism posed to his personal dignity. Although Troy was able to knock a baseball out of the park like it was nothing, he constantly "missed the mark" in his personal life. Troy had a tragic flaw, which was that he did whatever he thought was right without thinking of the consequences. In an attempt to respond to the indignities he suffers, he distorts history, denies facts, and lies. The circumstances that shaped Troy to the character he is, led to the development of a begrudging mentality. As Troy did not amount to much, he did not want others to surpass him and diminish his self-reputation. In addition, although prison has a negative connotation, it was a positive turning point for Troy. Also, it can be inferred Troy suffered from athazagoraphobia. Racism played a key role in Troy’s refusal to accept his circumstances.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fences Symbolism

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For Troy the symbolization of the fence changes throughout the course of the play. One of the things the fence represents is Troy wanting to keep out death and the past he separates himself from. After Alberta’s death Troy tries to block death out by using the fence you can tell this by when he whispers "All right . . . Mr. Death. See now . . . I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Fences by August Wilson details the lives of Troy, his wife Rose, and his son Cory. Set in the bustling year of 1957, Fences explores the themes of family, sacrifice, and the effect of racism on jobs and careers in America. The play starts with Troy and his longtime friend Bono’s weekly ritual of drinking and talking about their jobs and lives. Bono accuses Troy of cheating on his wife, Rose, with Alberta, but Troy denies it as his wife walks into the scene. It is made clear that Troy is not a man of commitment; however, his love for Rose surpasses his lack of desire for marriage. He has an internal conflict regarding his son, Cory, who landed a job at the local A&P, despite getting recruited for a college football team. Bittered by…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1985, August Wilson published Fences, which was one of his ten plays that explained the experiences African Americans had in the United States at the time (Meyer 1516). The play focuses on the main character Troy Maxson’s life and the decisions that he has made. With the play focusing on Troy, it allows the reader to understand situations that African American men, women, and teenagers were facing during this time. Through a formalist criticism I will examine parts of the play that will provide analysis to symbols in the story.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fences Symbolism Essay

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity.”-Stephen King. August Wilson’s play, “Fences”, explores an African American family dealing with poverty, segregation, racism etc. in the late 1950s. The play narrows in on Troy Maxson, an African American man who had trouble facing the harsh reality of not fulfilling his dream of playing baseball. Throughout the play, Wilson created a remarkable imagery of his main characters building a fence surrounding their house. The fence represented a unique expression for each main character of “Fences”. A fence represented nurturing and comfort for Rose, that’s why throughout the play she push the ideology of having a fence in their yard. The Inability to finish…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays