Fences August Wilson Character Analysis

The play “Fences” was written by August Wilson in 1983. Although the text had been written in the 1980’s, the actual setting of the play was set in the 1950’s, between the korean and vietnam wars. The themes of the play revolve around the pre-civil-rights-movement. Fences was based on the lives in an average african american household in the 1950’s. Throughout the play, the audience is constantly following the tragic father and son storyline, as well as the complicated relationship between Troy and Rose. Troy maxson is the main character of the play, and the overall theme of the book revolves around his struggles he faced growing up, and how his past experiences have impacted not only his own life, but those around him. August Wilson had written women to be portrayed as the powerless social group compared to the dominant males. The

Daily, women were left in the household to cook and clean for the men of the house until their husbands to return from work, as rose had done for troy. August Wilson created a female character, that in today’s society would be recognized as a strong and independant woman. But due to sexism, and the gender stereotypes that gave society in the 1950’s the idea that women should be controlled by men, rose’s strength and intelligence was minimized. Her words of resistance against troy had clearly bothered him, because he knew she had valid reasoning. Near the end of the play, rose had made most of her decisions without consulting troy, and he had no choice but to let her. August Wilson chose to make women in the beginning of this play be seen as the powerless social group, and to put the male character in a place of authority, so that in the end, he could show how rose’s choice to voice her resistance had set her free from troy’s