Fences Analysis Themes August Wilson 1945 2005 Literature

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Fences – Analysis & Themes August Wilson (1945 -2005) Literature: Craft & Voice |

Fences – Analysis & Themes August Wilson (1945 -2005) Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Introduction • Fences opened in Broadway on March 26, 1987, and ran for 525

Introduction • Fences opened in Broadway on March 26, 1987, and ran for 525 performances, a remarkable run for a drama. • In his New York Times review, Frank Rich wrote, “Fences leaves no doubt that Mr. Wilson is a major writer, combining a poet's ear for vernacular with a robust sense of humor (political and sexual), a sure instinct for crackling dramatic incident and a passionate commitment to a great subject. ” • In the New York Post, Clive Barnes stated, “In many respects, Fences falls into the classic pattern of the American drama – a family play, with a tragically doomed American father locked in conflict with his son. Greek tragedy with a Yankee accent. ” • Fences won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award for Best New Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play, and the Tony Award for Best Play. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

August Wilson • August Wilson was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA, in an

August Wilson • August Wilson was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA, in an impoverished section known as the Hill District. • He was raised in a two-room apartment without hot water or a telephone. • His German father abandoned him and his African-American mother and saw Wilson rarely. • Wilson’s mother remarried and moved to a white neighborhood where mother and son experienced much racism. • Wilson stopped going to school at the age of fifteen when a teacher falsely accused him of plagiarizing a paper on Napoleon. • A voracious reader, Wilson spent his days in the local library. • As a young man he developed his love for the blues and different forms of African. American expression. • He dedicated himself to becoming a writer by his late teens. • In the 1970 s, Wilson took the last name of his mother. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Wilson continued … • Frustrated by his lack of direction, his mother threw him

Wilson continued … • Frustrated by his lack of direction, his mother threw him out of the house. • Wilson enlisted in the army, but spent only one year in active service before returning to Pittsburgh to live in a boarding house. • He began writing poetry, but did not have much of an impact as a poet. • But he said, “After writing poetry for twenty-one years, I approach the play the same way. The mental process is poetic: you use metaphor and condense. ” • In 1969, Wilson, with playwright and teacher Rob Penny, founded Black Horizons on the Hill, a black activist theater company, which gave Wilson an opportunity to present his plays mostly in public schools and community centers. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Wilson continued … • In 1978 Wilson moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, when he

Wilson continued … • In 1978 Wilson moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, when he was invited to write plays for a black theater founded by Claude Purdy. • His first significant play, Jitney, revealed promise, and would be reworked later for larger productions. • In 1982, Wilson met Lloyd Richards, who offered to produce Wilson’s work at Yale. • At Yale, Wilson emerged as a major dramatist. • Wilson’s first play at Yale was Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which opened to a successful Broadway run with Lloyd as director on October 11, 1984. • With the opening of Fences on Broadway in 1987, Wilson’s reputation soared. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Wilson continued … • Subsequent Broadway premieres and awards awaited him and his new

Wilson continued … • Subsequent Broadway premieres and awards awaited him and his new plays. In 1990, he won his second Pulitzer for The Piano Lesson. • In total, Wilson won two Pulitzer Prizes and seven New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, and he has received twenty-three honorary degrees. • Married three times, Wilson died of liver cancer in 2005. • On October 16, 2005, fourteen days after Wilson's death, the Virginia Theatre on Broadway was renamed the August Wilson Theatre, the first Broadway house to be named after an African American. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

The Pittsburgh Cycle • Fences is a part of August Wilson’s ten-play cycle that

The Pittsburgh Cycle • Fences is a part of August Wilson’s ten-play cycle that explores the African-American experience in the twentieth century. • “I’m taking each decade and looking at one of the most important questions that blacks confronted in that decade and writing a play about it. … Put them all together and you have a history. ” • Collectively, the plays are known as the Pittsburgh Cycle ― all but one take place in the city's Hill District. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Pittsburgh Cycle continued … • Wilson completed the cycle, but the plays were not

Pittsburgh Cycle continued … • Wilson completed the cycle, but the plays were not written in chronological order. 1900 s ― Gem of the Ocean (2003) 1910 s ― Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988) 1920 s ― Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1985), set in Chicago 1930 s ― The Piano Lesson (1990) 1940 s ― Seven Guitars (1995) 1950 s ― Fences (1987) 1960 s ― Two Trains Running (1991) 1970 s ― Jitney (1982) 1980 s ― King Hedley II (1999) 1990 s ― Radio Golf (2005) • The Pittsburgh Cycle is recognized as one of the great achievements in the American theater. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Wilson as Dramatist • Wilson said that his plays are influenced by the “

Wilson as Dramatist • Wilson said that his plays are influenced by the “ 4 B’s”: • the Blues; • fellow playwright and poet, Amiri Baraka; • author, Jorge Luis Borges • and painter, Romare Bearden. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Wilson as Dramatist • “I see the blues as a book of literature and

Wilson as Dramatist • “I see the blues as a book of literature and it influences everything I do. … Blacks' cultural response to the world is contained in blues. ” • From Baraka and plays like The Dutchman, Wilson was inspired to write directly and aggressively of the African-American experience. • From the novelist Borges, Wilson was inspired to include elements of the fantastic or magical realism into his plays. • Regarding Bearden, Wilson claimed, "When I saw his work, it was the first time that I had seen black life presented in all its richness, and I said, 'I want to do that—I want my plays to be the equal of his canvases. ’” Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

“My concern was the idea of missed possibilities. Music and sports were the traditional

“My concern was the idea of missed possibilities. Music and sports were the traditional inroads for blacks, and in both Ma Rainey and Fences, with both Levee and Troy, even those inroads fail. ” – August Wilson Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Fences – Opening Stage Directions • The stage directions that introduce the play are

Fences – Opening Stage Directions • The stage directions that introduce the play are lengthy and specific. • Consider Wilson’s description of the Maxson house: • strong with a “sturdy porch” … in need of repair and maintenance … “ancient” and “badly in need of paint” … “lacks congruence” … is of “dubious value” … located “off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood. ” • These details suggest weariness, exclusion, frustration, and disappointment. • Subsequent paragraphs contrast the European immigrant experience with that of the descendants of African slaves. • By 1957, the time of the play, those early twentieth-century European immigrants were full participants in the American Dream and had contributed to making the 1950 s a decade during which life seemed “rich, full, and flourishing. ” Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Stage Directions continued… • On the surface, 1957 seemed so placid that the World

Stage Directions continued… • On the surface, 1957 seemed so placid that the World Series might have been the most remarkable event – of course, Wilson’s mention of the Series also introduces the importance of baseball to the play. • But as Wilson suggests, there was a strong undercurrent beneath those seemingly placid waters, one that would not remain submerged in the 1960 s. • Instead, this undercurrent, which flows through Troy Maxson, would make the next decade “turbulent, racing, dangerous, and provocative. ” • Wilson uses his elaborate stage directions to set the tone of his main characters’ lives and the tone of the play. • The setting is filled with the weariness and frustration that follows broken dreams. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy Maxson • Literally and figuratively, Troy is a large, powerful man. • As

Troy Maxson • Literally and figuratively, Troy is a large, powerful man. • As his wife Rose says, when he “walked through the house he was so big he filled it up, ” but he didn’t always leave room for others. • Troy’s first name suggests the legendary city of Troy (from Homer’s Iliad) – and Fences is about the fall of Troy Maxson. • His surname, Maxson, is an amalgamation of Mason and Dixon, i. e. , the Mason-Dixon line, which separated the slave states from the free states. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy Maxson • Troy was raised in the South, served a lengthy prison sentence,

Troy Maxson • Troy was raised in the South, served a lengthy prison sentence, and lived subsequent years in the North. • Troy’s life has been filled with hope and disappointment. • He was an outstanding baseball player in prison, but his professional career was disappointing because of the color barrier in Major League Baseball. • He confronts his boss to become a driver of the garbage truck, but is disappointed with being separated from his friends behind the truck. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Self-Mythologizing • Much of Troy’s hope derives from his bolstering of himself

Troy and Self-Mythologizing • Much of Troy’s hope derives from his bolstering of himself and his low self-esteem through selfmythologizing. • He draws on the Bible to recreate himself as a man of mythical or Biblical proportions. • He tells of wrestling with Death, which recalls Jacob’s wrestling with an angel. • He fights off Death for three days and three nights; as a result, he has learned to “be ever vigilant. ” Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Self-Mythologizing • Troy wants to give himself grandeur, power, and a sense

Troy and Self-Mythologizing • Troy wants to give himself grandeur, power, and a sense of immortality. • He wants those around him to admire him the way fans once admired him. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Responsibility • Troy’s values are rooted in his sense of responsibility. •

Troy and Responsibility • Troy’s values are rooted in his sense of responsibility. • He carries out his responsibilities diligently and he expects others to fulfill their responsibilities to him. • As he tells Cory, “Mr. Rand don’t give me my money come payday cause he likes me. He gives me cause he owe me. ” • This emphasis on responsibility may work well for Troy in the workplace, but it fails him at home. • Responsibility displaces love as the most important family value for Troy. • Troy explains to Cory why he provides for him: • “… cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not ‘cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35 care of you. I owe a responsibility to you!. . . I ain’t got to like you. ”

Troy and Responsibility • Troy’s sense of responsibility is shortsighted as it costs him

Troy and Responsibility • Troy’s sense of responsibility is shortsighted as it costs him an opportunity to get close to his son. • Troy’s emphasis on responsibility, which he defines in financial terms, allows for an extramarital affair. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Responsibility continued … • Although he loves his wife, he seems to feel little

Responsibility continued … • Although he loves his wife, he seems to feel little guilt over the affair. • He never apologizes to Rose. • He might feel justified because he turns over his paycheck to her and because Alberta offers him more laughter, joy, and veneration: • “I can sit up in her house and laugh … she firmed up my backbone, ” but “I take my pay and give it to you. I don’t have no money but what you give me back. I just want to have a little time to myself … a little time to enjoy life. ” • Troy may be fiscally responsible, but as a husband father he is otherwise selfish, self-indulgent, hypocritical, and emotionally Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35 irresponsible.

Responsibility continued … • Troy may be fiscally responsible, but as a husband father

Responsibility continued … • Troy may be fiscally responsible, but as a husband father he is otherwise selfish, selfindulgent, hypocritical, and emotionally irresponsible. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Old Blue • Consider Troy’s song, “Old Blue. ” • For Troy,

Troy and Old Blue • Consider Troy’s song, “Old Blue. ” • For Troy, “Old Blue” is about loyalty and the failure of human love. • Only Troy’s dog Blue was there to awaken him after his father’s brutal beating. • All of Troy’s human relationships – beginning with his mother’s abandonment of him – have failed Troy. • At the end, Cory and Raynell sing “Old Blue” to signal both their respect for and their forgiveness of their father. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Baseball • Troy uses baseball as a metaphor throughout the play. •

Troy and Baseball • Troy uses baseball as a metaphor throughout the play. • Baseball not only gives his life direction, but it also gives him a vocabulary for self-expression. • Although Troy may be illiterate, his use of baseball imagery is at times poetic and always expressive. • He began life, he says, with two strikes against him, defines death as “nothing but a fastball on the outside corner, ” and explains his affair as trying to steal second base after the frustration of standing on first base for so long. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Troy and Baseball • At that point, Rose is understandably frustrated by his baseball

Troy and Baseball • At that point, Rose is understandably frustrated by his baseball metaphors: • “We’re not talking about baseball! We’re talking about you going off to lay in bed with another woman. ” • Troy responds, “Rose, you’re not listening to me. I’m trying the best I can to explain it to you. ” • But Rose is insensitive to her husband’s only means of articulation. • Troy says he was born with “two strikes” against him. ” What are those two strikes? Poverty? Being African American in a racist culture? Being abandoned by his mother and Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35 being raised by an abusive father?

Rose • Rose is committed to family and church. • She tries to be

Rose • Rose is committed to family and church. • She tries to be an intermediary between father and son, explaining Cory to Troy in an effort to soften the father. • She tries also to get Troy to see life more realistically. • When he mythologizes his past, she corrects him or tells him to “hush that talk. ” • Rose is understandably disappointed and hurt by Troy’s affair, but her bitter response is destructive of not just Troy and their marriage, but herself as well: • “From right now … this child got a mother. But you a womanless man. ” Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Rose • Rose does not practice the Christian precept of forgiveness, and, as a

Rose • Rose does not practice the Christian precept of forgiveness, and, as a result, she lives a lonely life. • However, she passes on her understanding of her mistake and convinces Cory to be forgiving of Troy. • Rose takes in Raynell not just out of sympathy and selflessness, but also because Raynell is the daughter that she always wanted but never had: • “… but I took on to Raynell like she was all them babies I had wanted and never had. ” Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Rose continued … • Rose expresses the failure of her marriage in gardening terms

Rose continued … • Rose expresses the failure of her marriage in gardening terms of stunted plants and ungerminated seeds: “Troy, I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams… and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom. ” • However, Rose does not rely on the gardening imagery as much as Troy relies on baseball imagery. • Rose’s language is often unmetaphoric and direct. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Cory • By the end of the play, Cory seems ready to embrace the

Cory • By the end of the play, Cory seems ready to embrace the higher values of his father and mother. • He has demonstrated responsibility in the Marines; • after six years he has risen in rank to corporal, • and, after his discussion with Rose, he has learned to forgive his father. • The way for Cory to escape his father’s shadow, as Rose told him, is through forgiveness, not stubbornness, which staying away from the funeral would have indicated. • Cory can move forward without the ghost of his father to haunt him. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Religion • There are several references to the Bible, Jesus, and Rose’s church, all

Religion • There are several references to the Bible, Jesus, and Rose’s church, all of which point out the strong role of Christianity in the African-American community. • Troy is critical of Rose’s church and ministers. • Rose is active in her church and when she bakes for the cake sale, • Troy comments, “All them preachers looking for somebody to fatten their pockets. ” • Troy is obsessed with economics, so much so that he cuts himself off from the possibility of spiritual fulfillment as offered by the church. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

The Ending • The most important religious symbol is Gabriel, especially his actions that

The Ending • The most important religious symbol is Gabriel, especially his actions that close the play. • The ending of Fences suggests that Wilson might not be pleased with those Christian churches who rely too completely on the white Christian tradition. • Gabriel, who thinks himself the Archangel Gabriel, blows on his trumpet, but he is unable to open the gates of heaven for Troy. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

The Ending • His failure leads him to “a frightful realization, ” and he

The Ending • His failure leads him to “a frightful realization, ” and he begins “a dance of atavistic signature and ritual” that opens heaven’s gate. • Wilson might be suggesting that black churches, for spiritual wholeness, must consider their African roots in their rituals and spiritual experiences. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Title There are several “fences” to which the title can be said to allude:

Title There are several “fences” to which the title can be said to allude: • The Fence Troy constructs in his backyard • slowly he builds a fence that he finishes after Alberta’s death. • This fence symbolizes Troy’s gradual alienation from his family, friends (Bono), and co-workers (as a driver he misses the camaraderie of those hauling the trash cans). • His treatment of his sons, for instance, has led in time to his alienation from them. • Baseball fences • over which Troy hit so many home runs, suggests the color barrier in baseball that made it impossible for Troy to fulfill his athletic and financial potential. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Title • Institutional restrictions • August Wilson said in an interview with David Savran

Title • Institutional restrictions • August Wilson said in an interview with David Savran in In Their Own Voices: • “At the end of Fences every person, with the exception of Raynell, is institutionalized. Rose is in a church. Lyons is in a penitentiary. Gabriel’s in a mental hospital and Cory’s in the marines. The only free person is the girl, Troy’s daughter, the hope for the future. ” • Rose finds refuge from the world’s bleakness behind the “fence” of her faith: • “Jesus, be a fence around me every day. ” • Fences constructed by white America • in a general sense, all the barriers and hardships imposed on black Americans are fences constructed by white Americans to keep blacks marginalized. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme - Race • Most of Fences is set in the 1950 s. •

Theme - Race • Most of Fences is set in the 1950 s. • There had been some progress made on race relations by this time, such as the integration of pro sports teams. • However, on a whole, America had a really long way to go. • Slavery has been gone from America for over seventy years, but its shadow still presses down on the country. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme - Race • All the characters in the play are African American, and

Theme - Race • All the characters in the play are African American, and they must deal with racism everyday. • The South is still officially segregated and much of the North is unofficially. • The play takes place before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960 s. • Fences shows what it was like in the decade before the movement caused such radical change in America. • Some of the characters seem to sense that progress is in the air, while others are still trapped in America's troubled past. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme – Men & Masculinity • Fences is often thought of as a father-son

Theme – Men & Masculinity • Fences is often thought of as a father-son play. • The main conflict centers around the tension between Troy and his son Cory. • The play shows how Troy in many ways repeats the mistakes of his own father while raising Cory. • By the end, we're left with the hope that Cory will be able to break the cycle. • Fences also questions what it is to be a man. • Throughout the play we are forced to ask what it takes to be a good man. • Is it duty to your family? • Is it following your heart? Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme - Mortality • Though there are only two actual deaths in Fences, mortality

Theme - Mortality • Though there are only two actual deaths in Fences, mortality is a constant theme. • Troy begins by telling a story where he literally wrestled with Death and won. • There are several monologues throughout the play where he taunts Death, almost daring Him to try and take him again. • In the end, Death does take Troy, but we're left with the impression that Troy doesn't go down without a fight. • Fences seems to view human mortality as both a dark inevitability and our ultimate chance for peace. • When the gates of heaven open for Troy at the end of the play, we're left with the impression that he's found rest in the afterlife. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme – Hopes, Dreams, Plans • Troy Maxson has had his dreams taken from

Theme – Hopes, Dreams, Plans • Troy Maxson has had his dreams taken from him. • He wanted more than anything to be a pro baseball player, but his career was stopped because of racial discrimination. • The central conflict of Fences centers around Troy's refusal to let his son Cory play football, which destroys Cory's chances of going to college. • The damaged dreams of one generation can damage the dreams of the next. • By the end of the play, Cory must find a way to form new dreams out the ashes of the ones he's lost. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme - Family • Revolving around the trials and tribulations of the Maxson family,

Theme - Family • Revolving around the trials and tribulations of the Maxson family, Fences is a family drama. • We watch Troy struggle to fulfill his role as father to his son and husband to his wife. • Troy doesn't do such a great job in either role • Before his death, his family has all but disintegrated due of his failures. • By the end of the play, we see that the family has also grown by his example. • Fences depicts the complex dynamics that both tear families apart and hold them together. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Themes - Betrayal • Fences explores many different types of betrayal. • Troy Maxson

Themes - Betrayal • Fences explores many different types of betrayal. • Troy Maxson manages to betray just about everyone in his life: • his son, his wife, his brother, and his best friend. • Pretty much every character in the play is betrayed by Troy in some way. • Though many of the characters are hurt by Troy's actions, the final scene shows that they also have respect for him. • Troy never betrayed them in his heart. • Troy never apologizes for anything he does in the play. • It could be that this is why the other characters respect him by the end. • Though all disappointed by the things he did, Troy always did what he thought was right. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Themes - Duty • Troy Maxson, the play's protagonist, seems to think that a

Themes - Duty • Troy Maxson, the play's protagonist, seems to think that a father's only real duty is to provide food and shelter. • He doesn't think it's important for a father to show love to his son, • He doesn't feel his duties to his wife include fidelity. • Troy has an affair, but doesn't believe it's necessarily wrong. • He's provided for his wife and loves her, but his love now includes someone else. • Though Troy fulfills his own idea of his duties to his family, others may question this. • What does a father and husband owe his family? • What is he required to give? Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35

Theme - Dissatisfaction • The play's protagonist, Troy Maxson, is dissatisfied with his life.

Theme - Dissatisfaction • The play's protagonist, Troy Maxson, is dissatisfied with his life. • He's unhappy that his pro baseball dreams were stopped by racial discrimination. • He feels trapped and unfulfilled in his job as a garbage collector. • His son constantly disappoints him by not seeing the value of work. • And even though he loves his wife, Troy finds a new love in another woman's arms. • Dissatisfaction can lead to behavior that destroys a person's life and the lives of those around them. Literature: Craft & Voice | Delbanco and Cheuse | Chapter 35