𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℑ𝔰𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔞 𝔘𝔫𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔬𝔣 𝔅𝔞𝔥𝔞𝔴𝔞𝔩𝔭𝔲𝔯

August Wilson’s Fences: A Postmodern

Breakdown and Themes
POSTMODERN LITERATURE

Submitted by: Forged Dynasties |Submitted to: Dr. Bushra Naz |

Date: 10/09/22 | Section: MPhil-3 (Coursework)
 Contributing Members

Layla Javed (Syndicate Leader)

Rubab Akhtar
Chanda Bashir
Rafia
Areej Mustafa
Abdul Hameed

PAGE 1
Introduction
Fences by August Wilson begins in 1957 with fifty-three-year-old Troy Maxson and his long-
time friend, Jim Bono, drinking on Troy's porch a Friday (payday) night ritual. The friends,
both trash (garbage) collectors, discuss their boss, Rand and a complaint Troy had filed
about working conditions that deny black garbage workers the opportunity to drive
garbage trucks. Bono asks about Alberta, a woman he has seen in Troy's company; Troy
ignores his friend's inquiries.

Rose, Troy's wife for eighteen years, joins Troy and Jim on the porch. Troy explains to Jim
about how he and Rose first met; Rose corrects his version of what happened. Troy and
Rose disagree about shopping at the local black grocery store versus shopping at the A&P
supermarket.

Their difference of opinion continues when they discuss their teenage son, Cory, and his
plans to play college football. College football recruiters want to talk to them about their
son, but Troy shows no interest. As a young man, Troy was a great baseball player, but he
says segregation kept him out of the major leagues, an experience that has embittered him.
Troy then recalls and re-enacts a near-death experience he had while he was sick with
pneumonia, a story he tells often. Lyons, in his early thirties, is Troy's son by an earlier
marriage. He stops by to say hello. Troy anticipates that he wants to borrow money. Lyons
rejects Troy's offer to get him a job because it is his music that gives his life meaning. Troy
directs his son to get ten dollars from Rose, because she is the one who gets her husband's
pay-cheque every Friday.

In Act I, Scene 2, Troy wants Cory's help building the fence he has promised his wife he
would build. Rose tells him his son is at football practice. Troy's brother, Gabriel, appears.
Because of a war injury to his head, Gabriel believes he is actually the Archangel Gabriel
from the Bible. He recently moved out of Troy's house. He is proud of the move, but he
thinks it upsets Troy. Troy used the mone) given to Gabriel for his war injury to pay for the
house they have shared until now.

In Act I, Scene 3, Cory comes home, and Troy rebukes him about falling behind on his
chores. A they work on the fence together, Cory tells Troy he left his job to focus on
football. Troy continues refuse to meet with the football recruiter despite Cory's pleas, and
he insists his son get another job. When Cory asks Troy why he doesn't like him, Troy talks
about responsibility. After Cory leaves, Rose asks Troy why he will not allow his son to play
football. Troy clearly does not trust the recruiter or understand that times have changed.

PAGE 2
Act I, Scene 4 takes place on the next Friday night with Troy and Bono engaged in their
weekend ritual. Troy tells Rose, Bono, and Lyons that Mr Rand has made him the first black
driver. Troy and Bono talk about their fathers and how they left home. Later, when Cory
comes home, he is furious that Troy has forbidden the coach to let him play football or be
recruited by a college team. The act ends after Cory insults Troy, who tells his son, "That's
strike one." As Act II opens, Troy has posted bail for Gabriel after the disabled veteran was
arrested for disturbing the peace. Bono reminds Troy that Rose is a good woman, and Troy
admits to having an affair with Alberta. He says he loves Rose but cannot end the affair.
Troy confesses to Rose that Alberta is going to have his child. Troy tries to explain what the
affair means to him, but Rose turns to walk away, accusing Troy of taking but never giving.
Troy grabs her roughly, and Cory hits his father. Troy is ready to strike back, but Rose stops
him. He calls strike two on Cory. Act II, Scene 2 occurs six months later. Alberta is about to
have the baby. Troy has signed papers to have Gabriel institutionalized. Troy is now
entitled to half of Gabriel's money every month. As Rose accuses Troy of selling out his
brother, a phɔne call informs them Alberta has died in childbirth. The scene ends with Troy
challenging Death, who has taken Alberta, to come to him. In Act II, Scene 3, Troy brings
home his infant daughter. Rose agrees to help Troy care for the baby but says she is
finished with him.

Act II, Scene 4 takes place on another Friday night a few weeks later. Lyons returns money
he had borrowed from Troy. Bono, who has not visited for some time, stops by. The two
also see each other less often at work since Troy's promotion; their connection has been
lost. Cory comes home and tries to force his way past his father, who is drunk and singing
on the steps. The two get in a verbal fight that turns physical. Troy throws Cory out of the
house. As he leaves, Cory says he has no intention of coming back. Alone, Troy taunts
Death again. Act II, Scene 5 takes place seven years later. It is the morning of Troy's funeral.
Cory, a corporal in the US Marine Corps, returns home for his father's funeral. Jim
compliments Cory on his achievements and tells him, "Your daddy knew you had it in you."
Lyons, who has been in prison for cashing other people's cheques, bad received permission
to attend his father's funeral. Still bitter, however, Cory informs his mother that he does
not plan to attend the funeral. Rose reminds him that Troy was his father. Cory and his
half-sister, Raynell, strike up a conversation and begin to sing Troy's childhood song about
Old Blue, prompting Cory to change his mind and attend his father's funeral. Gabe, who is
still institutionalized, also had received permission to attend his brother's funeral. Gabe
sees this as a momentous time: he takes out his trumpet and prepares to signal Saint Peter
to open the gates of heaven for Troy. When no sound comes out, he does a ritualistic dance
and chant. In the play's final moment, we're told the gates of heaven are wide open.

This family shows many of the problems that African-Americans faced during this time
dealing with racism, lack of money, insufficient job opportunities, and the stress of holding
it all together. It ends somewhat sadly with most of the characters in worse situations than

PAGE 3
where they began, almost all due to Troy's influence on their lives. The only one with true
potential for success is Raynell since Troy is gone, and she can make her own decisions
without his influence.

THE NEGRO LEAGUES AND THEIR LINKAGE TO FENCES

In August Wilson's Fences, Troy Maxson is a former Negro League baseball player who
narrowly missed the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues. When he was a young player
at the top of his game, Major League Baseball was segregated. The first African-American
baseball players were not recruited to the majors until Troy was already too old to be a
viable team member. This experience leaves Troy cold and bitter, and it influences his
relationship with his son, Cory, who has aspirations of playing college football.

This experience was not an uncommon one for the scores of African-American baseball
players who played in the Negro Leagues. Only now, approximately fifty years after the
dissolution of the last Negro League teams, are the skills and talent of these Negro League
players beginning to be honoured by modern day baseball. A look at the history of Negro
League baseball offers a glimpse into a world of segregation, but it also offers a look at an
elite group of skilled players representing their communities on a national stage.

Until the 1950s, baseball in America mirrored the broader racial culture. In baseball, the all-
white National and American Leagues reaped most of the money, prestige, and attention
for professional sports fans. African-American baseball players played in the Negro
Leagues. The Negro Leagues had their beginnings in the late nineteenth century and early
twentieth century with the organization of the first professional paid teams of baseball
players. These teams would participate in circuits, called Bamstormer leagues, where teams
would travel across the United States playing in large cities and small towns or anywhere
else that provided a field and fans. In 1920 the first professional league of black baseball
teams was organized by Rube Foster, a baseball pitcher and manager. The league was
named the Negro National League. It consisted of eight teams: The Chicago American
Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABC's, Kansas City
Monarchs, St. Louis Giants, and the Cuban Stars.

The history of Negro League baseball is best seen through the careers of famous Negro
legends Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson (both are mentioned in Wilson's play). Paige is
considered to be not just one of the best Negro League pitchers ever but also one of the
greatest pitchers in the history of the entire game of baseball. Paige suffered a rough
childhood, he was born into poverty and resorted to stealing by the time he was a boy. He
was sent to Mt. Meigs Juvenile detention centre as a child. It was here that Paige first
learned the game of baseball and learned that he had a special talent for pitching.

PAGE 4
In the Negro League World Series of 1942, Paige claimed that he intentionally loaded the
bases just so that he could pitch to Josh Gibson, the league's best batter, and strike him out
on three straight pitches. Gibson himself is, perhaps, a model for Troy Maxson in Fences.
Gibson was known as the best hitter in Negro League baseball. According to the Baseball
Hall of Fame, into which Gibson was inducted in 1972, Gibson hit almost 800 home runs in
his career.

Like Troy Maxson in Fences, Josh Gibson would never play in the white Major Leagues.
This fact haunted Gibson for much of his life. Later in his life, he is reported to have
suffered from alcoholism and depression, diseases that his former teammates and friends
say were brought on by his frustration and disappointment with the game. Gibson died of a
stroke in 1947, just months before baseball was integrated when Jackie Robinson signed a
contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Satchel Paige, on the other hand, would get the chance to play in the Major Leagues. At the
age of 42, Paige was signed by the Cleveland Indians to pitch from their bullpen during the
pennant race of 1948 Though his pitching was not as electric as it had been in his younger
days, Paige played a crucial role in helping the Indians win the American League pennant
that year. In 1965, in what was considered a gimmick promotion, Paige was brought on to
pitch in a game for the Kansas City Royals. He thus became the oldest man to ever pitch or
play in the Major Leagues The Negro Leagues, as seen through the lives of its players, is
remembered as a symbol of both great injustice and great achievement. Several of its
players, including Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, would go on to legendary careers in
the Major Leagues. Most of the League's great players, however, were denied the chance to
compete against their white counterparts. Players such as Gibson and Paige, including
other great stars like Monte Irvin, Cool Papa Bell, and Judy Johnson, are not only fondly
remembered for their individual achievements but also for the way they ushered in a
golden era of black baseball. Through such distinguished players, baseball was not just
white America's game, but a game for all Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball
America's pastime and its history of segregation shape Fences's protagonist, Troy Maxson.
From the days after the Civil War, African-Americans and whites played professional
baseball, together and separately. In 1890, however, a “gentleman's agreement" among team
owners effectively barred African-Americans from playing in the major leagues. The Negro
National League was established in 1920 and featured some extraordinary talents, notably
Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. Salaries, however, were generally less than those in Major
League Baseball. Then came Jackie Robinson. In 1946, the general manager of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, Branch Rickey, determined to integrate baseball, searched for an African-
American player who would "have the guts not to fight back" against the racial slurs from
players and fans. Robinson made, and held to this agreement. After one year in the minor
leagues, the second baseman joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the colour barrier,
eventually winning over his teammates and the fans. Robinson paved the way for other

PAGE 5
African-American players and Hispanic players to follow in his footsteps. Robinson is
mentioned in Act I, Scene I of Fences (see pp. 11 & 12). Rose says he broke the colour line
and "they got a lot of colored baseball players now" (p. 12). Troy is not convinced, and he
doesn't think much of Robinson's talent. Robinson and his achievement, however, had
already changed the sporting world by 1957, even if Troy doesn't see or acknowledge it.
Civil rights movement A key issue in Fences is the generation gap between Troy and Cory.
Troy is stuck in a past dominated by Jim Crow laws and segregation. As the child of a
sharecropper, these bitter legacies of slavery shaped Troy's childhood and young
adulthood. When Troy leaves his father's small plot of land for Pittsburgh, he had had no
education and no legitimate way to survive in the city. Once out of jail, Troy tries to make a
living using the one skill he has - playing baseball. But this path is blocked, mainly because
he comes out of jail a middle-aged man.

Troy's experience leaves him embittered and blinded to the changes around him. The
action in the play begins in 1957, three years after Brown v. Board of Education led to the
desegregation of public schools, and the same year Little Rock Central High School in Little
Rock, Arkansas, was forcibly integrated. Troy is unable to see how these changes could
make a life for his son that is very different from his own. Other characters in Fences see
these changes and want to live their lives according to a new set of rules. August Wilson's
setting the play in this period enhances Troy's internal conflict and his conflict with Cory.

THE PITTSBURGH CYCLE

Fences is part of a 10-play cycle known as the Pittsburgh Cycle or the Century Cycle, in
which Wilson addresses important issues African-Americans faced between the 1900s and
the 1990s. Fences represents the decade of the 1950s. Wilson set all but one of the plays in
Pittsburgh, not just because he grew up there but also because he thought the city
epitomized black America. Wilson didn't write the plays in chronological order. The first in
the cycle, Jitney (1982), is set in the 1970s. Jitneys were unlicensed cabs that operated in the
Hill District of Pittsburgh, where legal cabs would not go. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984),
the second play written in the cycle, is the only one not based in Pittsburgh's Hill District,
unfolding instead in 1920s Chicago. Fences, the third play written in the cycle, focuses on
Pittsburgh in the 1950s. The plays are not meant to be a serial, but they are unified by their
themes: "My plays are ultimately about love, honor, duty, betrayal," said Wilson. They also
feature recurring characters, settings, and motifs, such as blues and jazz.

Themes

PAGE 6
1. Coming of Age within the Cycle of damaged Black Manhood
Both Troy and Bono relate accounts of their life as a youngster in the south and stories of
their associations with troublesome dads to Lyons in Act One, scene four. Their frequently
difficult recollections give a setting to understanding the similitudes and contrasts of the
ages isolating Troy and Bono from Lyons and Cory. Troy’s dad, in the same way as other
Individuals of color after the abolishment of servitude, was a bombed tenant farmer. Troy
guarantees that his dad was shrewd to such an extent that no lady remained with him for
extremely lengthy, so Troy grew up generally motherless. At the point when Troy was
fourteen, his dad saw that the donkey Troy was as far as anyone knows dealing with had
strayed. Troy’s dad found Troy with a young lady Troy had eyes only for and seriously beat
Troy with cowhide reins. Troy thought his dad was only furious at Troy for his rebellion, yet
demonstrating Troy’s dad was much more abhorrent, his dad then assaulted the young
lady. Troy feared his dad until that second. At that point, notwithstanding, Troy accepts he
turned into a man. He could at this point not live under the rooftop with a man that would
commit these inadmissible demonstrations, so he ventured out from home to be all alone,
however he was destitute and broke, without any ties or family somewhere else.
Masculinity, to Troy, implied isolating from his dad due to struggle and mishandle. The one
characteristic Troy regarded and gladly acquired was a feeling of obligation. Troy’s dad
accommodated eleven kids, and Troy also turned into the sole provider for his family. Bono
in any case, recalls an alternate sort of father. Bono’s dad was similarly discouraged about
existence as Troy’s dad, yet not at all like Troy’s dad, Bono’s father never gave a fathering or
giving job to Bono and his loved ones.

Bono depicts his dad as having, “The Strolling Blues,” a condition that kept his dad from
remaining in one spot for a really long time and moving often starting with one lady then
onto the next. Bono could scarcely perceive his dad and had hardly any familiarity with
him. Bono says his dad, in the same way as other African Americans of his dad’s age, were
“looking throughout The New Land.” As Individuals of color were liberated from
subjugation and needed to escape the frequently subjection like states of sharecropping,
many strolled north in what history calls The Incomparable Relocation, to seek after a
superior life in the north, especially in metropolitan communities. As a result of Bono’s
dad’s untrustworthy character, Bono decided not to father kids, to protect he wouldn’t
leave a youngster like his dad. Yet, in spite of Bono’s feelings of dread, his dad’s character
was not a family quality, but rather a decision to adapt to his specific conditions. Bono has
been faithful to his better half, Lucille for very nearly eighteen years.

Lyons and Cory had totally different childhoods, however their improvement into men
doesn’t fall excessively far from the tree of their dad’s insight. Lyons spent his whole youth
growing up with just a single parent, his mom, while Troy was in prison. Lyons feels he has
the privilege to go with his own life choices and seek after his own fantasies in music since
he had more familial help and less difficulties than Troy. Troy was not around to form him

PAGE 7
into a mindful individual, so Lyons will in general have to get cash, however he takes care
of Troy deferentially. Cory winds up venturing out from home in a comparable struggle
with Troy that Troy had with Cory’s fatherly granddad. To Troy and Cory, turning into a
man comes to mean leaving the man that raised you in light of a brutal clash. This
agonizing system of transitioning is befuddling. For both Troy and Cory, the production of
their own character when their good example is an animal of duality — part dependable
and faithful, the opposite side, terrible, narrow minded and oppressive, demonstrates a
troublesome model with which to shape their own way of life as developed men with a
more encouraging future than the dad who undermines their livelihood.

PAGE 8
2. African American Difference

In Fences as in Wilson's other plays, a tragic character helps pave the way for other blacks
to have opportunities under conditions they were never free to experience, but never reap
from their own sacrifice and talents themselves. This is Troy Maxson's situation. Troy's last
name, "Maxson," is a compressed reference to the Mason-Dixon line, considered as the
imaginary line originally conceived of in 1820 to define the separation between the slave
states and the free states. Maxson represents an amalgamation of Troy's history in the
south and present life in the north that are inextricably linked.
Wilson purposefully sets the play during the season Hank Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves
to the World Series, beating the New York Giants. When Fences takes place, blacks like
Aaron proved they could not only compete with white ballplayers, but that they would be
leaders in the professional league. Since we can look back on history with 20/20 hindsight,
Wilson asks his audience to put together what they know of American history with the way
his various characters experience and perceive history through their own, often conflicted
eyes.
All of Wilson's plays take place in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and Fences is no exception.
The Pittsburgh of the Maxson family is a town where Troy and other men of his generation
fled from the savage conditions of sharecropping in the south. After Reconstruction failed,
many blacks walked north as far as they could go to become urban citizens. Having no
resources or infrastructure to depend on, men like Bono and Troy found their way in the
world by spending years living in shacks, stealing, and in jail. Wilson clearly draws a linear
link between the release of the slaves to the disproportionate number of black men in our
jails and in low-income occupations by arguing that the majority of a homeless, resource-
less group let loose into a competitive and financed society will have a hard time surviving
lawfully. Wilson's characters testify to the fact that the United States failed blacks after
Lincoln abolished slavery and that the government's failure, made effective legally through
Jim Crow laws and other lawful measures to ensure inequality, continues to effect many
black lives. Wilson portrays the 1950s as a time when a new world of opportunity for blacks
began to open up, leaving those like Troy, who grew up in the first half of the century, to
feel like a stranger in their own land.

3. The American Dream

The play demonstrates that the fulfillment of the American dream remains only as a fantasy
for the black community in a population where racism serves as their significant obstacle.
Racism dramatically limits the extent to which blacks can fulfill their achievements.

The American dream makes it clear through its agreement of the freedom and equality
with the promise of prosperity and success as per the ability or personal achievements of

PAGE 9
every American citizen. The black society lives in a country that claims to be the land of
equal opportunities. However, they are required to tolerate various forms of discrimination.

Fences is a play in which the author portrays an African American family and their troubles
to fulfill their American Dream, even after such hard work. By considering the economic
approach in Wilson’s Fences, readers can identify racial discrimination as a barrier for
African Americans to achieve the great American dream.

DREAMS, HOPES, PLANS

For example, Troy and his son, Cory, are the most prominent figures associated with such
themes as the American Dream.

First, it is necessary to define the American Dream to explore the way it is employed in the
play under consideration. The American Dream is the belief that hard work, creativity, and
commitment can make a person successful in the USA, the country of great opportunities.

Many people try to pursue this dream while others become disappointed with it. Troy is
one of those who lost their faith in access to opportunities due to his failed attempts to play
in the Major League Baseball.

In the first part of the twentieth century, the American society was highly segregated, and
people of color hardly ever achieved high results in sports or other spheres of life. Troy was
one of the best players of the Negro League, and he believes he was not allowed to go
higher since he “wasn’t the right color” (Wilson 39).

However, it becomes clear that racial discrimination was not the major reason as Troy was
rather old to be in that league and had a criminal record. Moreover, the protagonist of the
play refuses to see the changes that have taken place and does not allow his son to play in
his school baseball team. Troy’s wasted chances in the past prevent his son, Cory, from
pursuing his own dream.

Rose: "Cory done went and got recruited by a college football team." (1.1.68)

This is the first time in the play that we learn of Cory's big dream: to be a football player.
More than that, Cory sees this as a chance to go to college. He hopes to break out of the
cycle of poverty that many black people were trapped in at the time.

Troy: "He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make
a living." (1.1.69)

Troy says Cory's big dream is impractical. He thinks his son should learn a trade instead of
focusing on sports. That way Cory will have a real skill that he can use to make it through
the world.

PAGE 10
Rose: "They goanna send a recruiter by to talk to you. He'll tell you he isn’t talking about
making no living playing football." (1.1.70)

Rose doesn't necessarily disagree with the idea that football is an impractical way to make a
living, but she tries to get her husband to see that the football scholarship is Cory's big
chance to go to college. Unfortunately, Troy won't listen to her. Troy Maxson is an African-
American sanitation worker whose washed-up dreams of becoming a baseball pro embitter
him and all those who love him

Rose: "They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football."

Bono: "You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too
early." (1.1.76-1.1.77)

Bono and Rose are trying to talk some sense into the stubborn Troy. They want him to
understand that just because racism crushed his dreams of being a professional ball player;
it doesn't mean the same thing will happen to Cory. Once again, though, Troy refuses to
see their point of view. It seems like he's too jaded by the failure of his dreams to see the
new reality around him. Rose's dream in fences is wanted a house that I could sing in. And
that's what your daddy gave me. I didn't know to keep up his strength I had to give up little
pieces of mine. I did that.

Lyons: "I just stay with my music because that's the only way I can find to live in the world."
(1.1.153)

Here we learn Lyons's dream: to be a musician. Well, he already is a musician, but he hasn't
managed to make a living at it yet. It looks like he mostly survives off his girlfriend's money
and the ten dollars a week that Troy reluctantly gives him. With Lyons, just as with most
characters in the play, we see a person whose dreams never quite come true.

Gabriel: "Got me two quarters....I'm goanna save them and buy me a new horn so St. Peter
can hear me when it's time to open the gates." (1.2.56)

It seems like Gabriel's dreams are simultaneously the smallest and biggest in play. You
could say that he doesn't want much out of life. He's just trying to sell enough fruit to buy a
new trumpet – no big deal, right? Of course, he claims to need this trumpet to help open
the gates of heaven itself.

Bono: "[Troy's] goanna be the first colored driver. Isn’t got to do nothing but sit up there
and read the paper like them white fellows." (1.4.50)

We wonder if Troy was so determined to be a driver because of the discrimination he

experienced in the pro-sports world. Is this quest in some way a substitute for the dream

PAGE 11
that was squashed earlier in his life? Was he dead-set on breaking down this racial barrier
because of the one that held him back before?

Rose: "I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams...and I buried them inside
you. I planted a seed and waited and prayed over it." (1.2.122)

Rose admits that she placed all her hopes and dreams on Troy. Whatever personal goals she
had she put aside to be Troy's wife. She's heartbroken when she learns that Troy has
betrayed her trust by fathering a child with another woman. In a way, all her dreams have
been shattered.

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 on 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.

August Wilson is one of the renowned American playwrights who displayed the complexity
of the American society. Fences can be seen as one of his most referenced works that dwell
upon the challenges of African Americans’ lives in the USA of the 1950s. The play uncovers
the story of the life of Troy, a man of remarkable “honesty, capacity for hard work, and…
strength” and his family, who try to pursue their dreams (Wilson 1). The piece can also be
seen as an illustration of racial issues and the way they were addressed by different people
in the middle of the twentieth century. Wilson offers many themes to discuss based on the
major characters of the play.

PAGE 12
4. FREEDOM vs. PROTECTION

The fence in August Wilson's play serves as a symbol of conflicting desires. In one sense,
Troy and Rose seek to build a fence to keep the world out of their lives. Rose's desire for a
fence symbolizes the way in which she seeks to protect her family. She knows that Troy's
checkered
past is always there and that he is, perhaps, only moments away from making decisions that
forever affect her and her child. Rose's fence seeks to keep the family in and the dangerous
world out. It is a symbol of protection.

Though Troy seeks to protect his family and his way of life, the fence also becomes a
symbol of discontent in his own life. In his confrontation with Rose, Troy exclaims that he
has spent hiswhole life providing for the family. He has been the protector and defender of
a quiet, normal life.

The fence, therefore, does not protect Troy but instead keeps him from achieving his
ultimate desire for individuality and self actualization.

5. Interpreting and Inheriting History

Much of the conflict in Wilson's plays, including Fences, arises because the characters are
at odds with the way they see the past and what they want to do with the future. For
example, Troy Maxson and his son, Cory see Cory's future differently because of the way
they interpret history. Troy does not want Cory to experience the hardship and
disappointment. Troy felt trying to become a professional sports player, so he demands that
Cory work after school instead of practicing with the football team. Cory, however, sees
that times changed since baseball rejected a player as talented as Troy because of the color
of his skin. Cory knows the possibility exists that the professional sports world will include,
not exclude him. In Act One, Scene Three, Cory provides examples of successful African
American athletes to Troy. Cory says, "The Braves got Hank Aaron and Wes Covington.
Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes forty-three." Troy responds, "Hank
Aaron ain't nobody." Cory's sport, football, integrated its players years before baseball. For
Troy to accept this change in the world would cause Troy to accept the death of his own
dreams.

PAGE 13
Troy refuses to see Cory's potential because it would mean accepting his own misfortune.
Troy and Cory see history in a way that benefits their worldview. Unfortunately, this
conflict pushes father and son away from each other. Troy, who learned a responsible work
ethic from his otherwise abusive father, means well when he insists that Cory return to
work because he sees the job as fair, honest work that isn't at the mercy of powerful whites'
sometimes arbitrary decisions, as in Major League baseball. But by attempting to ensure
Cory of a harmless future, Troy stifles his son's potential and prevents Cory from having a
promising future.

Troy's perception of what is right and what is wrong for Cory, based on Troy's refusal to
perceive a historical change in the acceptance of Black people, tragically causes Cory to
experience a disappointing fate similar to Troy's. Troy passes his personal history on to his
family in other ways throughout the play with sayings that represent his philosophies of life
like, "You gotta take the crookeds with the straights." His children also inherit Troy's past
by learning songs he sings like, "Hear It Ring! Hear It Ring!" a song Troy's own father taught
him. Cory tells Rose in Act Two, scene five, "Papa was like a shadow that followed you
everywhere." Troy's songs and sayings link his family to the difficult life in the south that
his generation was free to run away from, though penniless and without roots in the north.
Theme of Duty

In Fences, we have many instances of discussions on duty essentially involving the duty of a
father to his family. Troy Maxson, the play's protagonist, seems to think that a father's only
real duty is to provide food and shelter. He does not think it is important for a father to
show love to his son, and he does not feel his duties to his wife include fidelity. Troy has an
affair but does not believe it is necessarily wrong He has 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, his infidelity brings a major crack in his family life.

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