While you could think that the title was chosen because a main part of the story focuses on Troy and Cory building a fence, there is actually a lot of symbolism behind the “Fences” title. The fence takes a very long time to build, which causes tension between Cory and Troy as he gets angry that Cory is never around to help. This leads to Cory making a point that Troy isn’t getting anything done because he is always going to Taylors’ where he visits his mistress, Alberta (pg #). Troy ignores his responsibility to build the fence, just like he is ignoring his responsibility to his family and wife.…
Fences Based during a time of segregation and prejudice, Fences is a story that realistic for its era and reflects on the rejection people felt during this time. A black man during pre-Civil Rights time, Troy is determined to become the first black trash man (Wilson, 10). Adamant that racism will never end, Troy tries to shield his son Cory from the realities he faced within sports. Cory, on the other hand, is a part of the future that believes the world is becoming more accepting of race and asserts that he will be able to become a professional in football.…
In Fences, August Wilson creates a character, Troy, constantly wanting to control the lives of Rose, Cory, and Gabriel. In Troy’s mind, it’s his responsibility to protect his family; however, it falls into control over their lives. Eventually Rose, Cory, and Gabriel take control over their lives to get away from Troy’s control in various ways. Rose, Troy’s wife, is a typical, stereotypical 1950’s housewife in the novel.…
When defined, a fence is a barrier intended to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary, especially such a barrier made of posts and wire or boards. But, a fence can also be an emotional barrier between people. They are the result the result of conflict and tensions between the people involved, and can have negative results if not addressed. In August Wilson’s play “Fences”, Troy Maxson often conflicts with the people in his life.…
Rose Maxson is a forty-three year-old African American housewife who volunteers at her church regularly and loves her family. The title “Fences” metaphorically connect to Rose Maxson, because she request that Troy and Cory build a fence in their small dirt backyard comes to represent her desire to keep her loved once close to her. In the play she told Troy,”And you know I ain’t never wanted no half nothing in my family”(2.2). She said that when he fathered a child by another woman.…
Fences Literary Analysis Jack Kelley P.1 In the play Fences, a fence itself symbolises what the family wants for each other and how certain characters want to live their lives. Rose, the main character’s wife, wants the fence because it makes her feel secure both physically and mentally. While Troy, the main character, wants it because it gives him control of his territory.…
Troy may be a narrow-minded, cheater but he still cares and wants to protect his family. On page 77, after Troy learns that Alberta has died during childbirth, Tory goes to the yard and takes his anger on Death. Tory tells Death that he gonna build a fence around his family and he orders Death to stay on the other side of the fence. Troy realizes that he'll eventually lose his battle with Death but he will still fight with all he got and he also want to be the first one to die. By having Tory see Death as a man,that needs to stay out of his family life, shows Troy struggle is not just with his family but, also with the right to control his own fate in life.…
Dayana Chevez 1.Using Bono’s line on page 61, analyze the various implications of the play’s title. “Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves.”(Bono page:61)…
Have you ever stopped to look at a rose? At first you will see its fine beauty and presence; however, with a closer look you will find its thorns that are there to protect itself for survival. In the play “Fences” by August Wilson, we are introduced to a character named Rose Maxon. Her first name can be represented with a literal meaning relating the flower. She is a very admirable woman who is also strong and set in her ways.…
The actual fence to me represents anger and obstacles that Troy faced throughout the story. Troy believed he would have been a successful baseball player, but he didn't get a chance at that success due to racism. Troy is trying to keep himself separated from the world. Troy appears as a closed off person not allowing no one to get close to him. Troy is separating himself from the people who loves him.…
Starting from his father’s cruel and abusive actions to the racism that thwarted his professional baseball career that he had rightly deserved, Troy’s journey through life reflected the dreams unattained of black America in a predominantly white world. Such damaged incidences followed Troy throughout his life and constantly made an appearance in his relationship with his wife and son in the form of a fence. In Act 1, Rose persistently mentions, “you supposed to be putting up this fence” to Troy, but just as Troy never was given the opportunity to completely fulfill his dream, he puts off finishing the fence (Wilson 1041). Troy’s lack of commitment to finishing the fence symbolizes his lack of commitment in his marriage and his marred emotional connection to his son. Instead of working on the fence with his son, Cory, Troy ventures to the bar every time to which Cory describes his father as “don’t never do nothing, but go down to Taylors” (Wilson 1040).…
The play, Fences, was written by August Wilson in 1985 as part six of ten in a collection titled the "Pittsburgh Cycle". The play takes place in the 1950s and the main character is a man named Troy Maxson, a strong, responsible, and hard working man who is married to a woman named Rose and they have a son together, Cory, Troy also has a brother, Gabriel, who claims to know St. Peter after an accident left him with severe brain damage. When things take a dark turn later in the play, Rose turns to Religion to guide her, but this is not the only time Religion is shown or referenced in the play. Throughout the play we are given hints and clues, Bible verses, Religious paraphernalia, and subtle hints of the underlying theme of Religion and Faith…
In the two plays, A Raisin in the Sun, and Fences, the plot is centered around an African American man living in the city with his family. In A Raisin in the Sun, that man is Walter Lee, who is middle aged, and works as a chauffeur for a rich white man. In Fences, it is Troy Maxson, who is in his fifties, and he works for the sanitation department lifting garbage into trucks. The two of them are fathers of boys, Walter Lee having one, and Troy having two (until the end in which he has a girl). Throughout the story, they are concerned with fathering their children, and being a fatherly figure in the household.…
Without caring for the people in his life, he acted out in selfishness without realizing the implications of his actions. Not only did racism affect him, it also destroyed the bonds he shared with his family. The title Fences plays a very important symbolic role in the play. In the beginning Rose pestered Troy to build a fence; Troy did not understand the reason behind her wanting a fence but it was later explained to Troy by Bono that: "Some people build fences to keep people out . . .…
“No Second Troy” is a poem by W.B. Yeats about his love relationship with a beautiful Irish woman called Maud Gonne. The poem is one of the greatest literary love stories of the twentieth century. It indicates how beauty can cause a tragic distraction with the reference to Helen of Troy. “Leda and the Swan” is another poem written by W.B. Yeats, it retells the fantasy from the Greek mythology of how Zeus - the most powerful god of all - raped Leda, the daughter of the king of Sparta, taking the form of a swan. “No Second Troy” might look like a sonnet, but as it is known a sonnet contains 14 lines but this poem has only 12; while “Leda and the Swan” is a Petrarchan sonnet because it has 14 lines and there is a shift after the eighth line.…