Analysis Of Fences, By Zora Neale Hurston

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

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

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