The American Dream is one that almost every American citizen has dreamt about at some point in their lives, however it is repeatedly destroyed in reaching it by the people who are so often known as the ones created to support them. An example of this is Fences, by August Wilson (1983), as it essentially describes family life, and how the dynamics of each family depends on how they treat each other and the circle of abuse. It is also an example of how the people who are the closest can either encourage their family members to go to their dreams, or completely crush them. They have the ability to do this due to their position, and because their opinion means more to the person whose dreams are in question. “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston supports …show more content…
Rose considers this vulnerability, and chooses to repel from her instinct to leave. She believes that if something isn’t working, they should try to fix it before they abandon everything they once viewed as irreplaceable, “Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me. Don’t you think it ever crossed my mind to want to know other things? That I wanted to lay up somewhere and forget my responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You not the only one who got wants and needs. But I held onto you, Troy” (Wilson, 71). Today, it is less uncommon for people to face their problems in family life head on, and not just avoid uncomfortable topics like divorce when it isn’t working out in benefit for everyone involved. In Fences, Rose and Tony both feel stuck within their relationship, perhaps bored. Troy, although he wishes he weren’t, is raising his sons similarly to how his father raised him. He fails to see why the strategies should change because the times have, and he still values work and respect for those older, however he does take basic care of his children with human necessities. He feels the need to be in charge …show more content…
In the 1950s, there were usually a specific guideline for what a family is supposed to look like. According to a Washington Post article by Bridgid Schulte in 2014, called “Unlike in the 1950s, there is no “typical” US family today”, the United States has since changed the family dynamic. In the 50s, the head of the family was always the father, and he made the money to support his wife and their kids, who would someday do the same for their families. The mother would almost always stay home to care for, feed and clothe the children as the stereotypical “Homemaker” that was romanticized during this decade. Schulte mentions that, “But perhaps what we haven’t fully understood yet is that today, there is no one “typical” family. The breadwinner-homemaker family, the norm since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, is being replaced by a new norm of diversity” (Schulte). Family life in the 1950s is one of the most looked back upon generations, because it was so closely following the second World War, and was the beginning of the Baby Boomer generation. Because a lot of the soldiers were returning from the war to their wives to have children, the
August Wilson’s play Fences was written in 1983. Fences is the sixth play in Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle. Pittsburgh is important because it represents a better life for blacks; it provides them with jobs and helped them to escape the poverty and racism of the south after the civil war. It represents promises and promises that were broken. I feel like Fences represents the struggles Troy and his family faced because of their complexion and their constant disappointments as black people.
Yes, I do agree with the article because in my opinion the 60s ideal family was a historical anomaly. Even studying U.S. history on its own reveals the vast majority of families had two working parents. While only one might work outside the home, the other still worked to contribute to the family income or at least lessen the family expenses. I believe the decline in the traditional family is the result, at least in part, by a lack of earnings and increased levels of consumption. Many families need dual-incomes so they can provide for their family.
She thought of all the things she should have done to prevent Simon’s leaving. She should have placated Tony; she should have lived alone; she should have pretended to be straight; she should have never became an alcoholic; she should have never loved; she should have never been born. Let go! She cried somewhere inside her. ‘Let go!’
KAA UPOL May 2023 Linda Škodová How did the Great Depression affect traditional family life in the USA in the 1930s? This paper presents an argument that the general idea of a family was changed in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The essay is structured into paragraphs with each paragraph presenting supporting evidence for the argument. The data for this paper was collected through secondary sources and newspapers from the era found on online databases.
Fences is a story that displays various life issues that have happened in real life. The problems that have been addressed throughout this story have to do with race, and poverty. Some of these issues have been done knowingly, and others have happened indirectly. Many of the problems that occurred were social norms back in the 1950’s, for example race because there was a lot of discrimination and disadvantages towards black people, which ultimately lead to poverty. Race was an obstacle in the process of acquiring a job for many black’s, which prevented them from supporting their families financially.
The hardships that people face, coming from racial and gender injustice, can sometimes affect not just those directly concerned, but their families as well. These injustices, such as the treatment to Troy in Fences during his younger years, change the ways he acts to his sons and the rest of the characters and is the source of much of the conflict they face. Many of the conflicts in the play arise because the characters disagree with the way they see the past and what they want to do in their respective futures. For example, Troy and Cory see Cory's future differently because of the ways they have been treated in their pasts.
Troy’s inability to commit to building his fences despite his repetitive speaking of how he is going to finish his fence shows how his isolation from his wife stems from his inability to truly commit to his wife even though he always told her he loved her. He wanted to protect his wife from the truth that he cheated on her and has a baby on the way with her but the fence prevented true communication with his own wife. Troy's inability to see the change in civil rights during his time period because of the fence led to the isolation of his mindset towards African American rights and the straining of his relationship with his son. His struggle to be accepted into playing professional sports alongside white men lead to preventing his son from playing professional football despite the changing times in civil rights. Without isolation from change, his relationship with his son could possibly be a happy one.
He becomes a "woman less man". In addition, the fence appears to symbolize thedifference in personalities of Troy and Rose. It takes Bono to make Troy realize that "Rose wants tohold on to [him]", for Rose gives everything she has to Troy, including her entire life andlove. Yet, in contrast, Troy's in no rush to build any type of fence. He
In the epigraph, August Wilson states that we do not always have to act out the sins of our fathers and that it 's possible to banish them with forgiveness. While Troy may not have forgiven his father, after he marries Rose, he doesn 't act on the sins of his father. Troy 's father didn 't teach Troy any positive traits directly, instead Troy adopted them in order to differentiate himself from his father and to live a better life. Troy learned the value of hard work from his father and all the time he spent working on the farm when he was younger and he lives by that trait. He takes care of his family because he knows it 's the responsible thing to do no matter what.
Troy has a singular perspective on the world. He has a strict demeanor because of how society viewed African Americans back in the 1950s. Troy cares a lot about his family even if he doesn't show it. Throughout his life, Racism has been a barrier for him. He was once young and he chased his own dreams but because of his skin color, several "ideals" got in his way.
The Pulitzer prize winning play Fences by August Wilson follows the ups and downs of a single family in 1950s Pittsburg. Lead by Troy Maxson, father, husband, and brother, the play shows the struggles and triumphs of the family relating to his choices and actions. The job of a man is to be well rounded in the workplace and in the home. Men are responsible to be there for their children and to be loyal to their spouse. They should not cheat, lie, or make irrational decisions.
Starting in the 1960’s, there was a shift in the way people could view marriage and family. Families no longer stuck only in traditional values of husbands as the breadwinners and their wives as the homemaker, but adopting to a modern approach. The new perception of family took women out of the kitchen and into the workforce. Machines to replace much of the domestic duties as well as the idea of marriage as a union of mutual love and affection not duty and survival. Women in the 1950’s were subordinate to their husband with very little rights of their own.
Troy is controlling and often verbally abusive to his family members because he lacks a sense of control in other areas of his life, he is unable to achieve his dream of becoming a pro-baseball player or advance in his career and this makes him feel inadequate. Troy’s wife Rose represents a stereotypical mother and dutiful wife role. Rose has two disadvantages in her life because she is not only African American, she is also a woman and in some ways she is the wife you would expect during the 1950s era. Rose however, is not weak minded because she recognizes how times have changed and this what makes Troy and Rose so drastically different throughout the play. Their contrasting ideologies represent two different aspects of the “African American Experience” by showing a major question many African Americans faced during the 1950s and that is: “are times really changing?.”
A woman played the role of an average housewife and was expect to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. According to the photograph from the 1950s, it was advertised that “the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks.” Women were encouraged to be a housewife and that is was the norm in the
The play “Fences” by August Wilson shows the dynamics in relationships and the multiple dramatic means by which they are established by using one pinnacle point. Wilson uses his main character Troy to stem of four other types of relationships. He shows the complexities of marriage and love in the relationship between Troy and Troy’s wife, Rose. He shows the commitment and betrayal of in the relationship between Troy and Troy’s