ipl-logo

Play Overview: Fences By August Wilson

1501 Words7 Pages

Overview: Fences is a play written in 1983 by August Wilson. The play follows Troy Maxson, a garbage worker, and his family in Pittsburgh during the 1950’s. This play focuses on the conflict between Troy and his son Cory due to their contrasting perspectives of success and their idea of the opportunities available to African Americans during this time.

Structure: The play Fences is split into two acts composed of individual scenes occurring chronologically, with a time jump occurring as the play moves past the 1950’s to the year 1965 between the final two scenes.

Character List:
Troy Maxson: Troy is a fifty-three year-old, African American man who works for the sanitation department, lifting garbage into trucks. Troy used to be a successful baseball player in the Negro Leagues before he was declined acceptance into the major leagues …show more content…

Cory Maxson: The son of Troy and Rose, Cory is a high school senior who gets good grades and is on his high school football team. Cory is being scouted by colleges to play football in college, however Troy discourages him from following this path.
Jim Bono: Jim Bono is Troy’s best friend of over thirty years, after they met in prison playing baseball who looks up to Troy as a role model.
Lyons Maxson: Lyons is Troy’s eldest son and is from his previous marriage and is a musician who frequently returns to visit Troy, often to borrow or pay money back to Troy.
Gabe Maxson: Gabe is Troy’s brother who is a WWII veteran and received financial compensation for a traumatic head injury he received during the war. Using this financial compensation Troy bought the house he currently lives in with Rose and Cory. Due to this injury, which required Gabe to get a metal plate inserted into his head he believes he is Saint Gabriel, a biblical figure who blows his trumpet to indicate when a person should be admitted into

Show More
Related

Troy Maxson In The Movie Fences

2169 Words | 9 Pages

The movie ‘Fences’ has three main characters: Troy Maxson, Cory Maxson, and Rose Maxson. However, I believe characters such as Lyons Maxson, Jim Bono, and Gabriel Maxson play extremely important roles in the movie also. Therefore, I will speak on all six. Troy Maxson (53), is an African American garbage collector.

Read More

The Evolution Of African American Generations In August Wilson's Fences

2299 Words | 10 Pages

Evolution – the gradual development of something – has been around since the beginning of time. August Wilson epitomizes the evolution of the African American generations during the 1950s in his play, Fences, through the characters of Troy, Cory, and Rose. Wilson uses Troy’s character to represent the past generations, Cory to represent the future generations, and Rose is a bridge between the two generations. In the play, Wilson introduces Troy Maxson as a middle-aged garbage man, former baseball player, mediocre father, and an unfaithful husband.

Read More

August Wilson Fences Literary Analysis

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

Character Analysis Of Troy In Fence By August Wilson

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

Racism In The Play Fences

702 Words | 3 Pages

The play Fences is a drama written by August Wilson who was one of six children and also dealt with opeesrrions and racism when he dropped out of school due the struggles of racism. The play Fences presents the character Troy Maxson a person who has faced racism and discrimanation throughout his life. The Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in 1957-1965, a time when African-Amercians where hopeful for a better life. In Fences, racism haunts Troy Maxon’s life past and present. The play brings the view of racism in the world through Tory Maxson, family and friends.

Read More

The Theme Of Love In 'Fences' By August Wilson

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

August Wilson Literary Devices

867 Words | 4 Pages

A strong, passionate play as Fences written by the magnificent August Wilson is a major American play. Due to having a basic dialect with the sense of humor, it sends a passionate message to the reader of what is occurring in the play. Fences comes across to face many problems in which women can be seen as a minor by the way a men behaves with them. Marginalization to the overall women in this play can be seen clearly from each scene to scene that we unfold. Rose, a significant main character is more than enough to demonstrate the injustice a woman undergoes in the play.

Read More

Fences By August Wilson: Character Analysis

594 Words | 3 Pages

Fences by August Wilson is a Pulitzer Prize winning play about an African American family that struggles to understand each other and the society they live in. The relationships between characters is a driving force in the plot of play, therefore, casting the appropriate actors is important. For this play I decided to cast Lawrence Fishburne as Troy, Tequan Richmond as Cory, Audra McDonald as Rose, and James Monroe Inglehart as Jim Bono. These actors have the appropriate physical qualities that embody their respective characters. I chose Lawrence Fishburne to play Troy Maxson, because his appearance is similar to how Troy would look.

Read More

How Does August Wilson Use Language In Fences

1010 Words | 5 Pages

Fences by August Wilson is a play set in 1950s Pittsburgh which chronicles the life of an African American family. Language is a crucial component of the play, revealing the characters, conflicts, and meaning of the story. In Fences, Troy is a strong character who uses his language to assert his dominance, especially over his son, Cory. Troy treats Cory with a harsh exterior, which masks his deep hopes for a better future for his son.

Read More

African American Experience In Fences

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

Fences August Wilson Character Analysis

942 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

The Importance Of The Father In August Wilson's Fences

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

August Wilson Fences Themes

704 Words | 3 Pages

Ultimately the fence is not completed until the final scene in the play where Troy has already passed away, hence signifying the incompletion and the confusion that was going on throughout his life in the play. August Wilson’s Fences, does an excellent job of putting forth the injustices against African Americans in that time frame, while also shows the consequences of not adapting to the changing times while remaining to be being caught up in the

Read More

Fences Themes In The Play

1217 Words | 5 Pages

The outside of the fence represents a blur where strangers live and where problems for the family emerge, like the act of the infidelity that Troy committed. Trying to fulfill the American Dream, Troy builds a white picket fence around his house. Ultimately, he dies within the barrier, one in which death was not welcomed. 2.) The play “Fences” unfolds distinctive features that makes the play about African-American.

Read More

Theme Of Racism In Fences

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 Play Overview: Fences By August Wilson

Related Topics

Open Document