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Psychology In The Play Fences

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The psychological effects of our childhood experiences can have an outsized impact on who we become later in life. The world in not a perfect place and people face obstacles throughout their lives. In the play Fences, written by August Wilson, there lives an African American family living in a largely segregated world in the 1950´s. Troy Maxson is the Father of Lyons. Lyons is Troy 's son from a previous relationship. In the past, Troy had Lyons when he was still homeless and squatting in a shack by the river. Since Lyons 's mother moved on to another man while Troy was in prison, Lyons never had a father figure as he was developing into a man. Now pretty much all Troy contributes to Lyons 's life as he is now older is the occasional …show more content…

Troy and Lyons relationship is similar to my Father and I relationship physically, but the times are switched around. As of now my Father is not there for me as i’m developing into a woman. Things that he should be here for he’s not. Then when I come to visit him he always trying to me what i need to do and how i should do things. I feel like if you don’t like the way i’m living or doing things you should be there for me, but you’re not. That’s like Troy and Lyons’ relationship. Troy always trying to tell Lyons how he should live his life but Troy was never there for him to be an example of how to live life like a man. My father and Troy are alike. They both didn’t have Father figure as they were growing up. My father was a “hothead” when he was forming to an adult. He got women pregnant, he was stealing, and he want to jail. Troy have similar experiences. I think that could have an effect to why they act they way they act mentally and physically. The fact that they didn’t have support, cause the to raise themselves and learn thing the hard way; and that could be the reason they treat their children the way they because of the experiences that they been through. Lyons and I are the same just in different times. I had a father figure when i was younger, but now he drift in/out my life. Lyons has a father figure now that he is grown. Both our fathers try to tell us how we are suppose to live but they wasn’t there or

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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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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.

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He's my father (1)! " Young Sarty Snopes describes his own inner conflict as “the being pulled two ways like between two teams of horses (7).” On one side is “the old fierce pull of blood” — family loyalty (). Truth and justice is on the other.

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The dynamic between a father and son is never a simple journey, but instead, comes with curveballs thrown left and right. In Fences, by August Wilson, he writes of the hardships between a father and son relationship and the difficulties a father has over trying to shield his son from life’s cruelties, to the salvation found between being fenced in and finally being placed outside of the fence—both literally and metaphorically. Through out the play, there are numerous confrontations between Troy and Cory—whether it be when Cory asks Troy whether or not he loves him or when Cory throws his football helmet towards the direction of Troy—which show the difficult and complicated relationship between father and son. Also prevalent in the play, was the lack of a father and male figure in Troy’s own life, during his most influential and important years. Troy recognizes that and the way he was/is treated by society in general and wanted to “help” his son by showing Cory the difficult lessons Troy learned during his youth, as a way to lessen the pain that would be inflicted on his son later on.

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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.

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In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy Maxson presents as the protagonist. He is an unsympathetic character who seems to hurt all those around him with his aggressive persona. Troy is a selfish man, with a one sided perception on life which made him unable to accept the choices others made. Due to his upbringing, Troy is unable to show love in a normal fashion. Instead, he blocks his family out by using a harsh exterior, emotionally excluding himself from his underlying love.

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The way he does this is by putting all those negative emotions aside and attending Troy’s funeral. Part of the anger Cory felt, is because he never felt loved; he questioned his fathers’ love for him: “ How come you ain’t never liked me?” (1.3.37). According to Troy, he doesn’t think he needs to like Cory in order for him to be a good father. Cory fails to see Troy’s point of view, because all he sees is a non-supportive father who will not let him follow his dreams.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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"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.

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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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