Fences Research Paper
Fences
Lives are lead with anxiety over certain issues and with apprehension towards certain events. This play, Fences written by the playwright August Wilson deals with the progression of a family through the struggles of oppression and the inability to obtain the American Dream. The characters in the play develop throughout the story and can be viewed or interpreted in many different ways, but one man remains constant during the play and that is Troy. Due to certain events that transpired as he was growing up, Troy is shaped into a very stubborn yet proud man. To be a man who was black and proud ran the risk of getting destroyed, both physically and mentally. The world of the 1950s and 60s was rapidly changing and grew strange to Troy as he was living in a place that he understood less and less each day. Troy grows bitter through his misconceptions of the world and lives a life devoted to everything other than his family. As a result of racism Troy is unable to acquire his American Dream of becoming a baseball player, which results in his extreme bitterness that negatively impacts his family relationships and makes him deeply aware of his mortality. Troy’s dreams are thwarted due to accounts of racism that occur in his life and he refuses to acknowledge that any racial progress has been made. Although he is constantly told he is too old to play baseball, Troy sees it in different way. To Troy ability has nothing to do with age, he believes the single reason for him not making it in the major leagues is racism. Troy’s longings to become a baseball player are obstructed by oppression and discrimination. Like many black athletes, Troy was not given the same opportunities as white people were, which strengthened his already adamant view toward the idea of one’s skill vs. the color of one’s skin “I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were” (Wilson 18). Troy gets frustrated with
Lives are lead with anxiety over certain issues and with apprehension towards certain events. This play, Fences written by the playwright August Wilson deals with the progression of a family through the struggles of oppression and the inability to obtain the American Dream. The characters in the play develop throughout the story and can be viewed or interpreted in many different ways, but one man remains constant during the play and that is Troy. Due to certain events that transpired as he was growing up, Troy is shaped into a very stubborn yet proud man. To be a man who was black and proud ran the risk of getting destroyed, both physically and mentally. The world of the 1950s and 60s was rapidly changing and grew strange to Troy as he was living in a place that he understood less and less each day. Troy grows bitter through his misconceptions of the world and lives a life devoted to everything other than his family. As a result of racism Troy is unable to acquire his American Dream of becoming a baseball player, which results in his extreme bitterness that negatively impacts his family relationships and makes him deeply aware of his mortality. Troy’s dreams are thwarted due to accounts of racism that occur in his life and he refuses to acknowledge that any racial progress has been made. Although he is constantly told he is too old to play baseball, Troy sees it in different way. To Troy ability has nothing to do with age, he believes the single reason for him not making it in the major leagues is racism. Troy’s longings to become a baseball player are obstructed by oppression and discrimination. Like many black athletes, Troy was not given the same opportunities as white people were, which strengthened his already adamant view toward the idea of one’s skill vs. the color of one’s skin “I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were” (Wilson 18). Troy gets frustrated with