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How Does August Wilson Portray The Struggles Of African-Americans?

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“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason” (Abraham Heschel). That one’s own threat is simply their skin color. “Fences” by August Wilson is a play that depicts the struggles of a black man living in the 1950s, where racism was at peak. Wilson was inspired by the situation at Pittsburg, where he lived, that he wrote a play to depict the segregation from what he had seen, thus Fences was born. He showed how the African-Americans are trying to find their racial identity, their treatment, and how Troy and Wilson are alike.
As many of the people know Fences is a play that is part of the Pittsburg cycle of August Wilson. It depicts the hardships of the African-American’s went through living in the 1950s …show more content…

He focuses on too much of what happened during his time; that it swallows him up. Baseball to Troy Maxson is his whole life but then when the year came that segregation ended, he was denied in any access to the major-league because of his age. He is sitting in his house watching the famous Jackie Robinson and other talented African-Americans, though not as talented as he was himself. Because of that he cannot brag to people of his skills because he was not in major-league baseball (Shannon). His excuse is always the fact that he could not play major-league because of his color and even though segregation ended, he still blames his skin color instead of the fact that he is too old to be playing in the major-league. Even Rose made it clear for him that his age was actually a problem and not his skin color. With his experiences he also shows it to his son Cory, who was given a scholarship to play in football, by telling him to reject the offer because the coaches would only put him at the bench instead of letting him play. Wilson's artistic battle is also reflected in Troy Maxson's willingness to go against an all-white workforce knowing full well that doing so would place his job (and his family) in jeopardy. The issue of resisting control over one's person or over one's art—whether it is in the workplace or on the set, defines Wilson's character as an

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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 powerful play Fences by August Wilson, tension can be found through characters like Troy Maxson, Corey Maxson, and Rose Maxson. Troy Maxson has gone through a life in a country where to be proud and black was to face pressure that could crush a man. Corey Maxson wishes to play football, however, his father wants him to get a job and do “labor work”. Rose Maxson is the wife to Troy Maxson they had a happy relationship until Troy has a child with a woman named Alberta? Troy is the main source of tension in the book.

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This play was set in the 1950’s, an era when racism was indeed an issue. August Wilson used this play to show the struggles a black man had to endure while trying to make it in a white man’s world during this time. Troy Maxson was an African American who believes his

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Troy does not want Cory to experience the hardships and injustices he felt trying to become a baseball player, so he wants Cory to work after school instead of practicing with the football team. Cory, however, sees that times changed since baseball rejected a player as talented as Troy because of the color of his skin. Cory knows the possibility exists that the professional sports world will include, not exclude

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In the play Fences by August Wilson Troy Maxson uses his authority for being Cory's parent by making the decisions he makes for Cory to protect him because Troy believes he knows what’s best for him and when Troy feels like Cory isn't treating Troy the way he thinks he should be treated then Troy sees that as an Unjustice and reacts to it by using the three strikes and you’re out method because Troy sees life as a baseball game. Troy was raised with an abusive father, lived during the years of discrimination long before the civil rights movement or MLK or Harriet Tubman, and was a former baseball player for the Negro League. Troys dream was to become a Major League baseball player and that was going for him until he got dropped because of his

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August Wilson’s Fences is a play about the lives of an African-American family and the hardships that they face to keep a stable family. Many people in the short play such as Troy Maxson, and his wife are courageous people who play a big part in the story line. But one character who shows a great amount of courage is Cory Maxson, Troys son. Most of his courage is expressed because of the tension between his father and himself. They often disagree, argue, fight, and there are often punishments dealt to Cory that he has to deal with.

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“Fences” the play by August wilson and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, Both share a common theme and are based around the love of family. Love that can also cause pain intentionally but can accidentally hurt the people around them. ” Fences” and “My Papa’s Waltz” embodies character, symbolism and, figurative language throughout both poem and and play. In “Fences” the play tells the life of an average African American garbage collector Troy Maxson.

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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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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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