Fences play review

Fences play review

Fences, by August Wilson, is a play that outlines the characteristics of life in America society. The play presents a battle between two groups that have distinct differences in their experiences. Struggles and hard life experienced by African Americans are the primary concern for the play. The play covers a variety of themes conveyed by its characters. Race, mortality, responsibility are among the issues encompassing the whole story. The evidence to which racial relations exist among black America is seen with the kind of integration involved in the sports (Rajaram,2018). Several conflicts within the play enhance themes covering the story. For instance, there exists a conflict between troy and cory, troy, and community, among others. Wilson uses the conflict of Troy versus family to fuel other conflicts and elements as indicated by racism, betrayal and dreams, hope, and responsibility.

Racism is an entire ruling presents in the conflict between troy versus society. Troy emerges as a victim who suffers racism through his experiences. He lives in a generation where African Americans had few or no chances of participation in social activities. Therefore, he develops an ideology that black life is through struggles for their survival. Efforts to him meant that staying practical and focused is the only way for their survival with their families (McCormick,2017). Through Troy’s experience, he tries to impose his perception of struggle as the only way to survive. The aim of imposing the view of society, Troy wanted other individuals to view life under the same opinion; however, his improvement brings conflict with the family.

Moreover, racism Exists in the case of Troy’s and Lyon’s relationship. Although their outlook is different, their perception of African Americans seems to differ. Troy views black life as pessimistic, Lyons considers black life to have hope and remains to be optimistic even in his career as a musician. Lyons believes that Africans Americans have more opportunities, and what they need is to stay focused and change any negative attitudes they have.

Betrayal, as an element in the play “fence,” is indicated in the conflict between Troy and his family.

The relationship between Troy and his son Lyons seems to introduce a gap due to their difference in African American views. The fact that Lyons remains optimistic about the beliefs in the black life, Troy assumes this is a kind of blindness and affects their relationship as father to son relations. Due to the experience in black life, Troys seems to lose trust in society and creates obstacles with his son that forces Lyons to move away from the family (McCormick,2017). Betrayal is also evidenced in the case where Lyons ignores his father on the basis that Troy didn’t bring him up. Lyon states hold that, Troy didn’t know him and was in prison, thus does not recognize Troy as his father. The impact of this conflict is that Lyons’s attitudes changes to the extent that he does want any connection with his father.

After his term of imprisonment comes to an end, Troy gets married to Rose, who becomes his wife. Rose seems to trust his husband, Troy, and has faith towards him in all her life. However, a conflict emerges upon his disclosure that he has another child with another woman whom he claims to be his lover (WAN, FENG & ZHANG,2016). This information seems to distract Rose since it is a form of betrayal from her husband. Rose’s trust and faith towards Troy seems betrayed since she did not expect any actions from Troy. The conflict leads to an emotional decline between the two despite Troy’s efforts to explain the reason behind that. Due to this, their relationship comes to an end, and Rose feels that she wasted her time.

Dreams, plans, and responsibility are also evident in the conflict between Troy and family. In the play, Troy seems to take the responsibility of parenting and especially to his son Cory. The kind of parenting associated with Troy appears to be tough, and thus it becomes a difficulty for Cory to cope with the style. Responsibility is the main feature that Troy wants his son to learn. However, there exists a communication barrier that cut’s off the message (Rajaram,2018).On the other side, Cory is much interested in football, and thus he puts effort into getting a scholarship. Cory believes that he would excel in football and earn through it once he gets an award. However, conflict emerges when his father, Troy, feels that Cory needs to work hard to get a job and not in football. According to Troy, Cory should not be concerned with football at all but should think about it as a hobby. However, Troy’s perception concerning the issue of football can be traced back to his life. Troy did not make it baseball; thus, it is a form of envy.

In conclusion, the play “fence” Augustus Wilson seems to focus on the issues affecting society and makes use of conflicts to present his ideas. For instance, racism, betrayal, responsibility, and parenting are some issues existing in the nation today. Wilson uses the conflict between Troy and the family to present those issues. For example, racism is an issue that insulates in many countries, and thus he shows discrimination as a problem (McCormick,2017).

Discrimination practices are extending to various domains where particular individuals are neglected, basing their outlook.

Furthermore, Wilson presents betrayal as another problem in society. Deception is the root of many family break ups due to distrust. For example, in the case of Troy and Rose, their marriage comes to an end as a result of betraying from Troy. Additionally, parenting and responsibility is another issue pointed out in the play. Troy seems to engage in parenting activity where he impacts trust with his son. Besides that, dreams and hope are presented where Cory’s vision was to become a footballer and hopes to get a scholarship that will enable him earn income.

References

McCormick, S. (2017). August Wilson and the Anti-spectacle of Blackness and Disability in Fences and Two Trains Running. Cla Journal, 61(1-2), 65-83.

Rajaram, P. D. (2018). Race Caste and Identity Politics in the Plays of August Wilson and Datta Bhagat A Comparative Analysis.

Mashaiekhy, M., & Pishkar, K. (2018). August Wilson’s Absurd Female Characters’ Spirituality in American African Society. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 5(3), 287-299.

WAN, H. F., FENG, C. Y., & ZHANG, J. (2016). A Study on August Wilson’s Plays in Light of Bildungsroman——Taking Fences as an Example. Journal of Hubei Correspondence University, 2016(22), 92.