Professor Byrd
English
April 7, 2017
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 his mother. He ends up dropping out of school in the ninth grade but this did not affect him he ended …show more content…
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 baseball 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 from. 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 the 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