Fences By August Wilson: A Literary Analysis

No matter how enrapturing a piece of literature may be, if the ending leaves the reader unsatisfied, then the writer has not completed his or her job. By appropriately concluding a work of literature, an author successfully writes a well rounded story. A good example of a well rounded story would be Fences by August Wilson. In his play, Wilson develops believable characters in a relatable setting to appeal to his readers. But to make his story memorable, he constructs a well developed plot that unravels into the a balanced conclusion that possesses an appropriate amount of interpretation and concrete ideas. The interpretation comes from his characters’ stories. Each one left at the end of the play is not just left as they are after Troy’s death. …show more content…
Rose and Cory both exemplify Wilson’s effort in ending the play very well. When Cory comes back from the marines, he explains to Lyons that he has planned to finally marry a young girl he met. This addresses Cory’s later life after the play ends. But Wilson also discusses Cory’s inner emotions for his future as well. Right at the end, Rose is arguing with Cory about who he really is. It is then that Wilson reveals Cory’s continual fear of his own father and the shadow that looms over him still. Cory does not want to be like his father, but as Rose backhandedly tells him, there is no other person he can be, even if he has to cut down to size. What this shows is the possible future Cory will have in living in his own father’s shoes. With the understanding of Troy’s own views and how he ended up treating his kids much like his own father did, the reader could interpret this conversation as Cory’s future as a father and husband. How Wilson handles Cory’s character plot is clever in that he addresses his character arc in a way that gives enough for the reader to be pleased, but still allow room for interpretation. Similarly, Wilson also does this with Rose. Although throughout the play it is obvious Rose is betrayed and hurt by Troy’s affair with another woman, Wilson shows the full scope of her emotions at the end. In that same argument with Cory, she explains her …show more content…
Throughout the play, Troy continually mentions his quarrels with death and how in any moment he is ready for him. The ending really brings that idea to full circle when Rose accounts his death. She describes Troy with a grin on his face after swinging his bat and missing the ball before he keels over onto the ground. This encounter demonstrates Troy’s final fight with death that brings that topic of the play to an end. However, Troy’s death also exhibits the end of the problems that he brought with him from childhood. With his father only doing enough to keep him healthy and running him off at such a young age into a life of thievery, Troy, as much as he does not like to admit, still brings that life with him into his own family. He pushes Cory away enough to kick him out over the fence, fosters a child to a woman because he’s put so much responsibility onto himself that he lost sight of what is actually important, and after all that drifts so far apart from his best friend, Bono, that he no longer feels like he knows him. This ruins the family and finally rips the threads that it was being held together by. With his death, it represents the end to all the mistakes and pain he brings to them from his own childhood. By ending the play with Troy’s death, Wilson appropriately concludes his play,