Color Barriers In The Play Fences

In the 1900s, African Americans faced a lot of discrimination due to color barriers. The play Fences deals with boundaries that hold people back and the trials and tribulations they face when trying to cross them. The author August Wilson focuses on Troy a fifty-three year old man who struggles with providing for his family. Wilson’s Fences reveals the anger toward the racism that failed Troy’s attempt at achieving the American Dream, therefore causing him to establish fences between him and his loved ones. Prior to the civil rights movement in the 1950s, many African-Americans faced racial segregation. They were restricted from certain institutions like schools and churches. African-Americans were also not allowed to use the same restroom or eat at the …show more content…
Rose’s character demonstrates an African-American housewife and a caretaker of her family. She asked her husband Troy Maxson to build the fence to protect her loved ones. In Act One, Scene two Rose sings “Jesus, be a fence all around me everyday, Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way, Jesus, be a fence all around me everyday.” Her loving and nurturing side is shown through her selflessness when takes on the mother role for Troy’s first son Lyons and Troy 's affair child Raynell. Troy on the other hand speaks about the fence as a barrier to keep death out and keep in what he owns in, Troy: "All right...Mr. Death....I 'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? I 'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. See? You stay over there until you 're ready for me." (2.2). Troy didn’t complete the fence until the time of his death because he had a difficult time committing to it. The lack of dedication to build the fence also demonstrates the barrier of disloyalty, he built with his loving wife