Racism Exposed In Fences And The Round House

People are shallow beings and tend to form snap judgments based on appearances alone. Moreover, our skins serve as the covers if we are books. The characters in the play Fences by August Wilson and the story The Round House by Louise Erdrich suffer at the hands of society. Most of them are Native Americans and African-Americans, who were marginalized because they were seen as "different" at the time. Racism, like a ghost, haunts them and influences their paths in life.

Racism forces the characters to make decisions they would not have made otherwise. In Fences, Cory’s dream was to play professional football in the leagues, and he had demonstrated the ability to do so. His father, who had been through the same event before, had always dismissed

But instead of Influencing his career, racism spilled blood on his hands. Always hating Indigenous people, Linden Lark raped Joe’s mother and tried to kill her. “I suppose I am one of those people who just hates Indians generally and especially for they were at odds with my folks way back but especially my feeling is that Indian women are—what he called us, I don’t want to say” (Erdrich 161). Linden’s hate toward Indians is hugely random. He is stuck with events that happened generations ago, and thought what “his folks” did to the Native Americans were completely justified. One of the victims of his racism was Geraldine. The news of the perpetrator being Linden Lark to Joe was like pouring gasoline into an already burning fire. “Every day since the grocer, I wished I had brained Lark. I imagined myself killing him over and over” (Erdrich 249). A significant difference between an adult and a child is the ability for self-control. Planting the seeds of murder in the mind of a 13-year-old can lead to a horrible outcome. Killing Linden was the only thing on Joe’s mind for weeks. As a kid, he eventually did not control himself and killed Linden with his friend Cappy. Although the blood was not on his hands, it reconstructed his worldview and changed his existence; he would live as a killer for the rest of his

When reflecting on his story, Troy mentioned how he moved up to the north, trying to find a better life. “Got up here and found out . . . not only couldn’t you get a job . . . you could not find no place to live. I thought I was in freedom. Shhh. Colored folks living down there on the riverbanks in whatever kind of shelter they could find for themselves”(Wilson I, iv). What was a sweet dream turned out to be a nightmare for him, as he found out that life in the north was only crueler. Because of his race, finding a job for him was way more complicated than everyone else. His power, his talent in sports, had nowhere to be shown. No opportunity provided for him leads to a similar situation to the Coutts, where his mind is affected, constantly underestimating his ability and always looking at the downside of