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Racism In Fences By August Wilson

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Around the early 1900s, racism was prominent and wasn't sugarcoated either. African Americans had to deal with many obstacles around this period because of the discrimination involed in their lives. These actions effected many African Americans because it forced some of them to hate the world and limit many of their opportunities in life. Racism is sad reality in our nation that affects all types of people and it continues to shake and alter lives. People use racism as a sort of way to detect the differences with their peers and spike bias towards a group of people. Some people go the extra mile in insulting, attacking or mentally attacking others because of racist ideals they believe in. In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy's dreams of …show more content…

Troy's true intentions are to show his son that nothing comes easy. The ultimate flaw however is that Troy looks at the world in his perspective. Troy is trying to prevent Cory from going through the same harsh experiences as him but he is unintentional recreating the same obstacles which are preventing Cory from becoming the full potential of himself. Throughout the play, Troy is imposing his will on Cory and he is basically preventing him from exploring the world for himself. This causes Cory to have conflicts with his dad because they don't agree completely. In the article "Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson's Fences" by Susan Koprince, Susan says that "Troy's front yard is literally turned into a battleground during his confrontations with his younger son Cory" (Koprince 354). With each argument and conflict, Cory slowly characteristics change in the story. In the beginning of the story, he was a cheerful kid hopeful for his future. However because of the denial of pursing football and the constant back and forth between him and Tory, he becomes very bitter just like his father. This isn't a good thing because once Cory picks up his father characteristics, it forces him to see the world in a single perspective and that's not his full potential but an intentional effect from Troy's reactionary …show more content…

Troy has a singular perspective on the world. He has a strict demeanor because of how society viewed African Americans back in the 1950s. Troy cares a lot about his family even if he doesn't show it. Throughout his life, Racism has been a barrier for him. He was once young and he chased his own dreams but because of his skin color, several "ideals" got in his way. Racism caused a lot of Troy's bitterness towards life. He went to jail and ultimately makes sure he doesn't fall back there. All of his decisions were very influenced by past experiences from racism. Whether it be denying Cory's dreams, neglecting Lyons and breaking the barriers of his marriage with Rose. All of these decisions caused tensions around the family and ultimately fenced his family away from him.

Koprince, Susan. "Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson's "Fences.." African American Review, vol. 40, no. 2, Summer2006, pp. 349-358. EBSCOhost,

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Although, Wilson emphasizes this journey with Troy who believe that racial boundaries prevented him from being a major in baseball. He wanted to show that education is more valuable than sports. Troy felt that Corry could reach his true potential of becoming someone educated. He believes that his role as father to keep a roof over his family head. Troy doesn't realize how he became a bully pushing his family and friends around.

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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 book Fences by August Wilson, the author chooses baseball to compare many of the struggles everyday people deal with in everyday society. August Wilson created some very relatable characters to portray the message of life and love Fences attempts to display. It is ultimately displayed in a quote by the main character Troy Maxson. Troy said “That’s all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner” (10).

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His relationship with Bono shows this clearly. For it always appears as though Bono only listens and comments in their conversations. It is rare that he brings up a new topic, and when he does Troy is sure to make it go in a direction he wants it to. Rose has to be the worst victim of Troy’s selfishness because Troy never even considers her feelings or how he might hurt her. He also ignores the responsibility he owes her in being her husband, all because he wanted to indulge himself with another women.

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His aggressive attitude steams from his past experiences. He had a rough upbringing, experiencing many hardships at a young age. Troy had an abusive father who he referred to as “evil” and an absent mother. This forced him to move out at the young age of fourteen, making him to grow into a man. When Troy’s past gets brought up, he states “sometimes I wish I hadn’t known my daddy…

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Troy chose to escape his reality by having an affair that gives him some laughs and good time every now and then. However, despite the flaws in Troy’s character, he was a providing family man who wants to insure a better life of his sons than the one he had. Based on the play’s time period, which took place at the 50’s, apparently the main problem of Troy Maxson’s character was racism against African Americans at the time that had prevented him from achieving his dreams. Throughout the play, Troy expresses his dissatisfaction in several scenes with the other characters.

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Troy’s speech directed to death is an example of the distance he wishes to attain through his fence, telling death “I'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side” (85). Shortly after this, during a dispute with Cory over Troy’s role in their home and in Cory’s life, Troy tells Cory to “go on and get away from around [his] house” (98). To which Cory responds he will “come back for his things” which Troy informs him will be “on the other side of that fence” (99). The importance of this lies in the symbolic exile of Cory from Troy’s life.

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He persistently criticizes and neglects his two sons, which thus draws them away from him. Troy pushes Lyons away by refusing to hear him play his "Chinese music". He also scars hisrelationship with his other son, Cory, by preventing him from playing football and rejecting his onlychance to get recruited by a college football team. Also, Troy states that Cory's things will "be on theother side of that fence" when he kicks Cory to the street. Through this scene Troyacknowledges the fence as an actual, physical divide between him and his son.

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"Fences" by August Wilson took place in 1957, before the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s. During this time period, racism and discrimination was still highly around which made it harder for African Americans to pursue their American Dream. Wilson, an African American male who dreams to be a major league in baseball, was denied the opportunity to reach his American Dream because of his skin color. This causes him to perpetual internalized oppression. Although some characters such as Rose, Cory and other sense the changes of racism in the present, there are others like Troy who stilled stuck to the American past.

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742 Words | 3 Pages

Rose’s Parenting is better than Troy’s Parenting In the play Fences, by August Wilson, Troy and Rose Maxson have extremely different parenting styles. They are the parents of three children, Lyons, Cory and Raynell. Lyons is the son of Troy’s previous wife, Raynell is Troy’s illegitimate daughter, and Cory is the son of Troy and Rose. There are many different styles of parenting.

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This meant that all professional baseball teams were still not for black people from playing. In fences, the troy character is very negative just because, he suffered in his past. In Fences, August Wilson shows that troy is a villain because he is unfair to his wife, wants to control everyone, and mean with his son. In the fences, August describe how Troy is a villain because of the unfair to his wife.

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Troy’s outlook on life is more narrow minded however, his family is more optimistic for a better future. Troy was raised by a very dominate male figure who was abusive. His father would be little him and made him like he would not be able to overcome racism. Troy despised his father who was mean and never showed him any love.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Troy is controlling and often verbally abusive to his family members because he lacks a sense of control in other areas of his life, he is unable to achieve his dream of becoming a pro-baseball player or advance in his career and this makes him feel inadequate. Troy’s wife Rose represents a stereotypical mother and dutiful wife role. Rose has two disadvantages in her life because she is not only African American, she is also a woman and in some ways she is the wife you would expect during the 1950s era. Rose however, is not weak minded because she recognizes how times have changed and this what makes Troy and Rose so drastically different throughout the play. Their contrasting ideologies represent two different aspects of the “African American Experience” by showing a major question many African Americans faced during the 1950s and that is: “are times really changing?.”

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Troy 's hatred of his father acts as a catalyst for many moments in Troy 's life, in negative and positive ways alike. Unlike most fathers, Troy 's father didn 't leave him with a material possession such as a house but instead left him with emotional baggage that crippled the earlier and later parts of Troy 's life. From the beginning, Troy 's father was abusive to his mother and all of his siblings. Troy and his family worked hard on their father 's farm and endured his bitterness towards being a sharecropper. Troy states that his father was greedy and would put his own personal needs above the needs of the family.

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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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