¶ … Fences" August Wilson
The Influence of Sports in Fences
Sports is one of the principle motifs in Fences, a play written by August Wilson, and is utilized to facilitate the other themes that this work of drama explores. The protagonist, Troy Maxson (Gilmore), is a former Negro leagues baseball player who is still attempting to reconcile his attempts at a career in professional baseball with the fact that he was not permitted to pursue this option due to a racial barrier at the time he was playing. His son, Cory Maxson, is a high school football player with promise who has the potential to play collegiate ball. Due to these facts and their effects upon the characterization of both of these individuals, Wilson utilizes the motif of sports to demonstrate a lot of the pertinent themes that Fences is based upon -- such as questions of race and justice (Burbank 118), the assertion of autonomy and manhood, and the pursuit of life and its ravager, death.
Cory and Troy are embroiled in a prolonged conflict for the vast majority of Fences, largely due to the fact that the former wishes to pursue an opportunity to play collegiate football against the wishes of the latter. In this respect, it is fairly apparent that Troy is still bitter about his experience playing baseball in the Negro leagues, and was not allowed to play major league baseball because of restrictions against African-Americans. Despite the fact that such restrictions for playing professional sports based on race have been removed during the time period in which Fences takes place, Troy still does not want his son to pursue football because of the limitations of the former's sports career. This conflict between these two players is facilitated through the motif of sports, which the following quotation demonstrates.
Cory: The Braves got Han Aaron and Wes Covington. Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes forty -- three.
Troy: Hank Aaron ain't nobody. (Wilson 1986).
The conflict and tension that characterizes the relationship between Troy and Cory...
Fences" August Wilson Breaking Out: Autonomous Independence in Fences One of the principle characters of August Wilson's play entitled Fences is Cory Maxson, whose role as the son of the play's protagonist, Troy Maxson (Gilmour 2010), is fairly integral to the thematic issues that the author chooses to demonstrate within this dramatic work. As one of Troy's several sons, Cory represents the distinct ideology that is fairly endemic to all parents
Fences & Topdog/Underdog The course of dramatic literature reveals truths of the human condition. Drama is a study of human nature, its tendencies and reactions, its inner-most thoughts. Every play chooses as its theme various facets of humanity to study in various contexts, and some explore multiple ideas, indeed, the more, the richer the play. Take, for example, Fences by August Wilson, and Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, each of which
Trifles" and "Fences" While both "Fences" by August Wilson and "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell depict the stresses and strains upon a group of people who are marginalized by mainstream society, the dramas deploy different narrative techniques to do so. "Trifles" describes the difficulties women face in male-dominated society on stage, while "Fences" makes its African-American characters the center of the dialogue and staging, and white influence occurs in the margins,
The interaction between father and son allow Wilson to introduce the bonding aspect of sports. Troy is so hurt from what has happened to him in prison and afterward, that he cannot believe that things could be any different for anyone else. When it is pointed out to him that there are successful African-American sportsmen, such as Wes Covington and Hank Aaron, Troy scoffs and says, "Aaron ain't nobody...
Fences Playwright August Wilson won two Pulitzers in his illustrious career. In The Pittsburgh Cycle, Wilson wrote a series of plays each depicting a different decade in the lives of African-Americans living in the United States. Of these, Fences, takes place in the 1950s and features the problems not only of the African-American experience, but also the situation of societal oppression indicative of that period. At the heart of the play
Fences (Wilson, 1986) August Wilson, one of America's preeminent black playwrights presents the mercurial nature of one, Troy Maxson. Not much effort is needed before the real and metaphorical fences become evident. Delving deeper into Troy's character unearths the fence that distinguishes his "makeup": vacillation between a sober, responsible person from one that is self-destructive. Troy Maxson, a son of a share-cropper, leaves the deep-south, escaping from his father's brutality.
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