¶ … fences' is precisely that 'fences' and yet whilst some handicaps seem impassible, there are others that are built on mental schemas, personal experiences, and the way that we instinctively and unconsciously interpret the world. A recent book that I read (unsuccessfully traced) conveyed the author's conclusion from his years of psychotherapeutic practice which was that people construct narratives of their lives in order to make meaning of them. Frequently, these lives narratives may be self- destructive and dangerous to the person's progress. Introducing shifts in these narratives in his practice, the author often found that people were no longer obstructed by their societal or 'self' imposed fences and could move on to form totally different, fare healthier type of life for themselves. Fences, Wilson seems to tell us, are not immutable. They can be broken through and transcended would individuals so wish to do so. Some of the characters in 'fences' indeed did as much.
The characters of 'Fences' constructed numerous limitations for themselves. Some of these, it is true, were socially constructed. Even these, however, may have profited from a twist in the narrative and the characters may have emerged with a difference in their life histories.
Societal and experiential limitations are many: Blacks are not allowed to drive garbage trucks (and inherent in this is the many social limitations constructed against Blacks); Troy never received his longed for change to play in the Major leagues for Blacks were not accepted at the time; Cory cannot play on the team (and thereby forfeits his chance of opportunities) due to the fact that his father forbade the
Baseball had defined Troy; had given him meaning and status. Now it left him with nothing tangible (62).
Troy has become so locked into the misery of his past that he cannot see the present nor Cory's future and he impedes his son from obtaining success. In Troy's case, the pattern of abuse continues. Abused by his own father, he controls his son and, consequently, loses him.
Troy is not the only one who is limited by confining narratives. Rose is too. Living in the 1950s, she is confined by subservience to her marriage. In the end, fences, both physical and metaphorical, seems to be the recurrent themes of this essay. The metaphorical ones seem to be both internal and external and life at the end seems doleful, miserable, and meaningless.
Can narratives be changed?
At the funeral, Gabe blows his trumpet and no sound comes out. He tries again, but the trumpet won't play. Gabe will not give up. He does not accept 'fences'. He dances. "He makes a cry and the Heavens open wide. He says, "That's the way that goes." And the play ends. May that be a message to the reader never to accept limitations but to rather change one's narratives however impassable they seem to be?
The author's life history seems to tell us as much.
August Wilson (or Frederick August Kittel as he was…
He insists Cory give up any dream of playing ball and makes him return to the A&P. It is important to note Troy does not intend on making his son's life difficult nor does he want to make him miserable but he does want him to have a stable job that will allow him to provide for a family. There is also the notion that at the A&P, Cory
His famed position was that of the lone man, dependent entirely upon his own strength, speed, and skill, in direct competition with the physical prowess of his opponents and with no assistance from his teammates. His mental confrontation with Death, whom he sees variously as a martial force and as a competitor on the field, demonstrate the perspective that Troy has on life and the world, and they also
Wilson, Fences August Wilson's Fences allows the ordinary objects of domestic life to acquire a larger symbolic significance in their dramatic use. The play uses these symbols to dramatize a crucial moment in African-American history: the 1950s, when the great advances of the Civil Rights era are taking place, but when an audience might very well question what tangible effect they had on the lives of actual African-Americans. In presenting
"She relaxed limply in the seat. "Oh, no. No. I don't want to go. I'm sure I don't." Her face was turned away from him. "It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty." She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly -- like an old woman" (Steinbeck). There are a number of fairly eminent points to be
As Canada has become less wild, many of these obstacles have been recognized by writers to exist internally, as Atwood says: "no longer obstacles to physical survival but obstacles to what we may call spiritual survival, to life as anything more than a minimally human being." Grim survival is that sort of survival which overcomes a specific threat which destroys everything else about one, such as a hurricane or plane
The image of the two farmers on either side of the wall is also powerful because even while they are together, they are separated. This physical setting sets the tone of the poem, as the wall serves as an image of safety for the neighbor, who feels it necessary to have the wall, even if for his own peace of mind. The speaker, however, sees things differently, He states,
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