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Fences Foreshadowing Analysis

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In the play “Fences” by August Wilson, there are numerous elements of fiction including irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, and imagery placed in the play that show how main character Troy has failed to achieve living the American dream. The irony in this play is that Troy had dreamed for a long time about becoming a driver for a trash truck but, once he finally accomplished getting the job, it fell short of his expectation. A use of symbolism throughout this play is that baseball used to be something that brought happiness into Troy’s life but, when he got older baseball was what ended his unhappy life. Another element of fiction that plays a major part in this play is foreshadowing. At the beginning of the play Troy talks about how he isn’t …show more content…

Death is nothing to make fun of, and Troy soon figures this out for himself. In the line “ Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrassled with him. You can’t tell me nothing about death. Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I’ll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying.” (Wilson 14). It is easy to see here that Troy is trying to downplay death as nothing serious. At the beginning of the play is when the audience first hears Troy talks about death in this manner. This foreshadows what is to come at the end of the play. Troy talked about death a majority of the play and at the end of the story it comes back to get him, taking his life after he suffers a heart …show more content…

His hopes for becoming a major league baseball player falls through very quickly in his life, and with the use of symbolism the audience sees that baseball becomes one of the most negative things for Troy. Irony shows that he believed that if he gets a job as a track truck driver he will finally become happy with his career choice but, once he finally gets the job he despises it. Imagery takes the form of the broken fences in Troy’s yard just like his family that falls apart over time and his marriage becomes broken. Everything he thought his life would become falls apart very quickly. Foreshadowing showed constantly mocked death all of his life, then one day it caught up to him when he least expected it to. Throughout this play the audience is constantly remind through different elements of fiction of how Troy is not living the life he once thought so confidently he would

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Growing up during a time of racial discrimination and facing numerous hardships, Troy carries the weight of these experiences into his adult life. His dream of becoming a professional baseball player is shattered by racial barriers, and this disappointment, along with the discrimination he faced, shapes his worldview. Troy's past experiences of racism and missed opportunities influence his decisions and interactions with loved ones throughout the play. For instance, he discourages his son, Cory, from going after his dreams of playing football, driven by his own bitterness and a desire to protect him from the same disappointments. Furthermore, Troy's past abandonment by his own father influences his perspective on responsibility and fatherhood.

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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.

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In the play “Fences”, written in 1957 by August Wilson annotates how Troy’s childhood experiences affected his life and put a strain on his relationship with family and friends. Troy’s enormous amount of pride, flaw of judgment, and malicious actions lead to his shortcomings and resulted into him becoming a tragic hero. In the story, Troy had a lot of flaws in his character throughout the play. As Troy was growing up he never had the proper guidance, so he had to take care of himself the best way he could.

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The Text describes that eventually “Troy assumes a batting posture and begins to taunt Death, the fastball in the outside corner” (Wilson). This quote describes an action, yet in Troy’s mind he’s been taunting death for years now, ready for his fight. Troy’s attitudes toward playing baseball are the same as his attitude toward death, he fully intends to go down swinging. There is a sad juxtaposition between Troy’s fight with death, and his understanding of his eventual death.

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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.

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See?" He uses the metaphor of building a fence around his yard to keep Death away, symbolizing the desire to control and protect what is his. Troy's desire to build a fence to surround what is his implies a sense of control over his life and family. Due to other family members' potential feelings of exclusion or control as a result of Troy's behavior, this ownership and demand for control may cause disputes within the family. Troy's desire to build a fence around Death also emphasizes the dread and worry that might accompany the concept of

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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.

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B.) I believe the title, “Fences”, symbolizes how Troy keeps attempting to fence his family members in from their full potential.

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This meant that all professional baseball teams were still not for black people from playing. In fences, the troy character is very negative just because, he suffered in his past. In Fences, August Wilson shows that troy is a villain because he is unfair to his wife, wants to control everyone, and mean with his son. In the fences, August describe how Troy is a villain because of the unfair to his wife.

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Troy’s outlook on life is more narrow minded however, his family is more optimistic for a better future. Troy was raised by a very dominate male figure who was abusive. His father would be little him and made him like he would not be able to overcome racism. Troy despised his father who was mean and never showed him any love.

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The illusion of death has wondered and astonished many for years. This doesn 't exclude the fantastic author Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Shakespeare focuses on death and how society glorifies it. He often uses metaphor and analogy in order to make death seem more welcoming. Turmoil and confusion can internally destroy any country.

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Fences is a play written by the playwright August Wilson, who dedicated himself to writing plays capturing what it was like to be an African American in the United States during every decade of the 20th century. Fences was a play that was specifically written to provide an outlook into the lives of African Americans in America during the 1950s, during the process of demarginalization. Each character of the novel provides a unique perspective to capture different aspects of the “African American Experience” during this time period. In Fences, it was very important to August Wilson to truly capture “The African American Experience” and he was able to do so through the portrayal of the Maxson family, with his representation of African Americans during the 1950s in Fences, and with the multiple perspectives of African Americans captured

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In August Wilson’s playwright Fences, the narrator portrays racism in a social system, in the workplace, and in sports, which ultimately affects Troy’s aspirations. Troy Maxson is constantly facing the racism that is engraved into the rules of racial hierarchy –– fair and unfair, spoken and unspoken. Troy suffers many years of racism when he plays in the Negro major Baseball League; therefore he decides to protect Cory from ever experiencing those blockades in his drive for success. In the end, although Troy is always driving to obtain agency, Troy always succumbs to the rules of racism because those racist ideologies are too hard to overcome. Throughout the play, Troy is perpetually confronting the racist social system that displays unspoken

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