ipl-logo

Father In The Play Fences

1706 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes in fences

Fathers Kicking in Our Blood and Our Butts When we look up at the moon and we wonder if there truly is the man sitting in the crescent, we wish we could be as far away from earth as he is due to the issues that consume our lives. A problem larger than any of the monsters lurking in the seas but smaller than disputes between nations, a problem amongst sons and their fathers is one that is recurring from generation to generation. A prime example of a son and father having issues agreeing on certain ideals is in the play Fences by August Wilson. In the play, the characters Troy, Cory, and Lyons display to the audience how a father and his sons got along during the time before and during the Civil Rights movement. In the case of Fences, the apple does not fall far from the tree, especially …show more content…

Through this play, Wilson is trying to show the audience that fathers definitely have a lasting impact on their kids throughout their lives. An audience sees this through the character Troy, in how his rough relationship with his father causes him to treat his two sons with a strict and demanding attitude. Although Troy distanced himself from his father at the age of fourteen, he still had a burdened relationship that affected him in the long term. This recurs again with Lyons and Cory when they both try to set apart from what their father wants them to do, and at the end of the play, they feel as though they turned out just like their father. The main ideal that Wilson is trying to show his audience that those who we surround ourselves with have such a lasting influence that can change our whole way of living and carrying ourselves. Wilson uses this recurrent cycle of boys growing into being their fathers to show that the dominant male role to a child is a delicate one to assume and that fathers should understand their impact on their

Show More
Related
705 Words | 3 Pages

However, his use of tough love and lack of approval towards his children creates conflict in the play, which suggests the importance of a father’s emotional role in a family. The role as a breadwinner: In Troy’s mind, he has done everything right as a father because he has provided his family with basic needs for survival: a place to live, food on the table, and clothes on their backs. His strong work ethic has made him the man he is today; but he often burns all his fuel at work and, at the expense of his family, copes with his pain by drinking.

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore he starts drinking more, being that he cannot stand not being the center of everyone’s attention. But all the problems he has originated from, and worse than that, he does nothing productive to try and fix any of them. This once again proves that Troy is unsuitable to be a proper father for Cory and a respectable husband for Rose. Troy loses the dignity, respect and even love that was once given to him by his friends and family. His own selfish needs are fuel for the destruction of the life he once knew.

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

but it also impacted the relationship he has with his children. As a child, his father never showed him affection, therefore he is unable to replicate. Although Troy is a protective and loving father, he is unable to show these emotions due to his past experience. Troy never learned how to treat others, especially those close to him. Instead, his past hinders his present, destroying every loving relationship he has

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

In Fences by August Wilson, Gabriel is presented as a veteran from World War II who was injured and receives disability money is taken from him because of his brother. That doesn’t give Gabriel any justice because of white superiority that controls the life of blacks. This play by Wilson takes place in the 1950s a time period where blacks started the period of better advancements for black veterans with disabilities. Veterans with disabilities or any person with a disability is no treated the same. Gabriel is treated as a fool who has no real purpose anymore because he is not the same so Troy and the world look and treat them differently.

Read More
1516 Words | 7 Pages

The play, Fences by August Wilson, is about Troy Maxson and his struggling family relationships. A recurring idea throughout the story is the construction of a fence around Troy's home. Troy's fence could symbolize two things, Troy is trying to protect his family from the outside world, or Troy is isolating himself from his own family. As the construction of the fence progresses, the more severely damaged Troy's relationships become. In this play, the underlying message is that, despite the fact that fences can both protect and isolate, Troy’s fence isolates him from his family rather than to protect his family.

Read More
2195 Words | 9 Pages

Gender Roles in the Play “Fences” Gender roles are different behaviors that are considered acceptable among both sexes. These roles determine the way in which a man and woman should behave at home and in public. Gender roles may vary depending on the culture and society one lives in, and based on the beliefs and experiences that a person may possess. If a person were to describe these roles his or her response would vary depending on the time period that this person would live in due to the changes that occur over time (Gender Roles).

Read More
165 Words | 1 Pages

The two plays, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Fences by August Wilson are extremely diverse from one another in terms of plot, but the two have a broad amount of alike themes that they share between them. The stories circle around families that are far from the stereotypical family and how they hope to achieve this comprehensive state of normality. The idea of sports plays a large role in both Death of a Salesman and Fences as both main characters have a son who chooses to better himself by playing sports in school. In both plays women are seen more as objects to be misused than to be respected, this leads to both central figures are having affairs outside of their own marriages. The thought of death is also powerful in both plays

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

August Wilson's play Fences addresses a great content of interpreting and inheriting history. Throughout Fences, much of the conflict emerge because the characters are at disparity with the way they see their foregoing and what they want to do with their forthcoming. Fences explores how the damaged aspirations of one generation can taint the dreams of the next generation on how they deal with the creation of their own identity when their role model is a full of dishonesty. Wilson illustrates his qualities primarily through his use of symbolism in the play Fences.  

Read More
1105 Words | 5 Pages

Ancient greece evoked many things, and one of them was tragic hero. Tragic hero is someone who can be noble, tragic flaw, reversal of fortune, suffers, recognition, and catharsis. Noble, is someone that is important, they have a high status, and hold an official title. Reversal of fortune is when someone’s life is good at the beginning and ends up being bad or someone life is bad and ends up good. Suffering, is someone who is feeling pain and hurting.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

August Wilson faces a lot of difficulties in his life. He begins writing Fences in the twentieth century, and he portrays the African American experience between the 1900s to 2000 (Wilson 11). In Fence August Wilson tells the story of a father, Troy Maxson’s lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy was a very talented baseball perspective with hopes to play in the major leagues. Maxson’s had the bad luck of having to grow up when racism was the biggest part of America.

Read More
985 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

Lastly, the two words the son and the man add to the complexity of the relationship. This shows that the man can’t picture himself being a father, especially after knowing he can’t meet the child’s expectation, but will always picture his son being a child in his eyes. In conclusion the author uses literary devices to add depth and emotion to the complex relationship between the two characters. He does this by changing the point of view throughout the poem from son to father. He uses a purposeful structure from present to future coming back to present to demonstrate with the complexity of the father's

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
1457 Words | 6 Pages

"When the sins of our fathers visit us, we do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness; As God, in His Largeness and Laws"(Wilson X).This epigraph by August Wilson provides an insight into the importance of the topic in the play Fences. In Fences, the play depicts the relationships of the Maxson family and their friends. Troy Maxson, a middle-aged African American man, is happily married to his wife Rose and takes care of his son Cory whilst occasionally interacting with his other son from a previous relationship. However, the complexities of Troy 's past create issues for him and his family and their relationships begin to deteriorate.

Read More
1501 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More

More about Father In The Play Fences

Related Topics

Open Document