In the past, the African American families were faced with various challenges such as racism, insufficient finances, and job discrimination as depicted in the play, Fences. Fences, a play written by August Wilson, focuses on the life of Troy who has a greater influence on the lives of the other individuals in the society starting from the year 1957. Being an African-American, Troy Maxson has to undergo various challenges that make life difficult leaving him at a worst scenario that he was before (Wilson, 1957). The purpose of the report is to discuss the importance of the fence in August Wilson’s fences.
The significance of the fence is to represent the separation between the family and the rest of the world. There are contradicting views between Rose and Troy whether the fence should be built. Rose, Troy’s wife, wants the fence to protect her family and it is a symbol of nurturing and love. On the contrary, Troy is not committed to the building of the fence since he lacks commitment to his marriage and goes ahead to cheat on his wife. Additionally. to Troy, the fence symbolizes the restrictions that he undergoes because of his race while trying to look for a job (Wilson, 1957).
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The other significance of the fence is to portray how people use a barrier to protect themselves from external influences and pressures as has been depicted by Rose. In the play, Wilson uses the fence to signify how Rose is protective of the family and how Troy is concealing a love relationship outside their marriage. Wilson has also utilized the fence to bring out the theme of discrimination against black whereby; African-American have little opportunities compared to the whites (Wilson, 1957).
The fence is also significant in the play since it shows that even after creating a barrier to conceal someone’s behavior, some of the issues will eventually be revealed to people. As the play comes to an end, Troy becomes loveless and lonely, when his secrets are uncovered and loses respect from his family members an indication that the fence that he had created before is not a permanent solution. “I see you be walking up around Alberta’s house. You supposed to be at Taylors’ and you be walking up around there” (Wilson, 1957). Finally, the significance of the fence in the play is to reveal that fences can be a source of trouble in individuals’ lives. After creating a fence and having a secret love affair with Alberta, Troy ends up break his marriage.
The fence represents different scenarios to both Rose and Troy. Rose, Troy’s wife, wants the fence to protect her family and it is a symbol of nurturing and love. On the contrary, Troy is not committed to the building of the fence since he lacks commitment to his marriage and goes ahead to cheat on his wife. Troy creates a fence in his life that makes it possible for him to cheat on his wife. Notably, the fence symbolizes the restrictions that Troy undergoes because of his race while trying to look for a job (Wilson, 1957).
The theme of the play is to portray the reason people build fences to protect themselves. Therefore, Wilson uses the fence to signify how Rose is protective of the family and how Troy is concealing a love relationship outside their marriage. Wilson has also utilized the fence to bring out the theme of discrimination against black whereby; African-American have little opportunities compared to the whites (Wilson, 1957).
References
Wilson, August. (1957). Fences. Retrieved on August 10, 2018 from
http://scriptfest.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FENCES.pdf
