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Similarities Between Fences And Death Of A Salesman

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Carly Cianciulli Professor Rich Russell Introduction to Literature Paper #2 August 14, 2023 Father-Son Dynamics Throughout different forms of literature, different themes arise in stories that are not all that different and inapplicable to our modern society. Whether it be the theme of infidelity, family dynamics, marital strife, or societal pressures, literature depicts what the audience encounters in their personal lives. For example, the father-son dynamic is a theme explored in many literary works. Two prominent works focusing on this theme are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson. These plays depict the strained relationships between fathers and sons and how they struggle to connect and understand …show more content…

The main character, Willy, is a salesman who has not had much success in his career and is struggling to provide for his family, leading to his failure to live up to this ideal American Dream. On the other hand, his son, Biff, is a former high school football star who is unsure of what he wants to do with his life. Throughout the play, Willy constantly reminisces and projects his hopes and dreams onto his son. He wants his son to be successful and live up to his expectations, but he fails to understand or accept Biff's lack of ambition. However, Biff is resentful of his father's unrealistic expectations and frustrated with his failure to meet them. Their strained relationship and struggle to communicate effectively led to a climactic confrontation in the final …show more content…

The sons struggle with self-identity throughout both plays as they feel trapped in the shadows and by the fathers' dreams. At the end of The Death of a Salesman, Biff can break free as he says he is leaving and not coming back. Meanwhile, in the final scenes of Fences, Cory makes peace with Troy and his behavior by talking to his mom, Rose, just before Troy's funeral. Both plays conclude the father's storyline with different versions of death, allowing the audience to see the sons coming to terms with their new reality and the sense of individual freedom that coincides. In Death of a Salesman, Willy commits suicide once the weight of the dream he once envisioned and believed in comes crashing down, while in Fences, Troy dies of a heart attack. Both plays depict the father character as selfish and deeply flawed, as both Troy and Willy have consistently failed to see the significance of the people and situations around them, which in the end affects the relationships they have or do not have with their

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Fences Final Michael Goussios EGCC Mrs. Dewberry ENG102 February 10, 2023 Abstract This essay focuses on the main character, Troy, in the play Fences. He persistently exemplifies the scheme that he is an inadequate father. Countless times all throughout this essay, Troy reveals himself closing the relationships that are closest to him.

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This essay compares and contrasts the resources of two characters, Biff Loman and Cory Maxson, from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson. This essay observes three resources concerning poverty that Ruby Payne defines in her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty, and it additionally analyzes those resources for each of these two characters. This essay specifically focuses on support systems, role models, and emotional resources, which are three of the resources that Biff and Cory both need to overcome their difficult and uncomfortable circumstances. Biff lacks some of these resources, and the ones he has are very weak. On the other hand, Cory’s resources are not exceptional, but he does have all of the resources

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Research has shown that 25% of men cheat on their wives and only 25% of those marriages stay together. Rose Maxson and Linda Loman are a part of the 6.25%. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and August Wilson’s “Fences'' both depict the struggles and joys that come along with the American dream. They both take place in the 50s and portray the importance of a wife and show the complexities of having that role. Rose and Troy Maxson's marriage is centered around the significance of reluctant acceptance.

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Many people look up to their fathers, and wish to be just like them when they grow up. Other people turn out just like their parents as said in the quote “like father, like son”. In both Fences, eloquently written by august Wilson, and the film, Sins of the Father directed by Robert Dorhelm, the characters feel animosity towards their fathers due to their sins. William Shakespeare once said,” The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children”. This quote conveys that in the play “Fences”, written by August Wilson, and the film Sins of the Father, directed by Robert Dorhelm both Tom from Sins of the Father, and Cory from Fences, fathers made these characters to be very defiant.

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This fits the first qualification of being a tragic character: a man must be of noble stature. Willy tries to see the good in Biff because he knows that deep down he is a good person. Troy does this in a similar way, but his way is different because it does not fit the criteria. Instead of trying to see the good in Cory, Troy's son, Troy tries to keep Cory from reaching his full potential. He does this by not allowing him to play football after learning about Cory lying to him about the job.

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The hardships that people face, coming from racial and gender injustice, can sometimes affect not just those directly concerned, but their families as well. These injustices, such as the treatment to Troy in Fences during his younger years, change the ways he acts to his sons and the rest of the characters and is the source of much of the conflict they face. Many of the conflicts in the play arise because the characters disagree with the way they see the past and what they want to do in their respective futures. For example, Troy and Cory see Cory's future differently because of the ways they have been treated in their pasts.

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August Wilson’s play Fences focuses on a man named Troy Maxson, a garbage man who is married to Rose and with her, has a son named Cory. Troy has an affair with a woman named Alberta who becomes pregnant with his child. This causes lots of tension in the house, not only between Troy and Rose, but also between Troy and Cory. This is because Cory is furious at what Troy did to Rose as well as Troy ruining Cory’s chance to go to college. In the end of the play Troy dies and Cory refuses to go to his funeral until Rose gives him a speech about why he has to.

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Unlike Rose’s positive symbolic meaning of the fence, for Troy, the fence symbolizes bitterness and authority, harming and affecting Cory. The bitterness and exasperation radiating off of Troy is almost visible in many times of the play. It seemed that almost Troy and Cory never really had a decent conversation without leading to conflict. Frank Rich, in “Theater: Wilson’s ‘Fences,’” says, “Although Cory’s ambitions are the same as Troy’s once were, the father cruelly derails his son’s attempts to emulate him.” Similar to Troy, Cory yearns to play football.

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Both of the plays, Fences by August Wilson and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, exhibit father and son relationships in a way similar to that of the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In Hayden’s 1962 poem, a son describes the relationship between him and his dad, or the lack thereof. Using impactful and descriptive words, Hayden is able to beautifully illustrate this love-hate relationship between father and son. The poem entails how the father gets up early, even on the weekends, to go into the freezing chill and perform intensive physical labor in order to provide for the family. He still makes time to polish his son’s shoes too.

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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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Family Matters Family is vital to each of us, but betrayal from one can deter the entire structure. A stable bond of members characterizes a family. Family is the key to success in life; it lays the foundation for future relationships. In Fences by August Wilson, the author describes a feeling of discouragement about his life because of his inability to reach certain heights due to racism and segregation. The book is interesting; it illustrates the protagonist's arrogance toward his son and defines their unstable relationship.

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Troy displays an even greater desire for dominance over his other son, Cory, because of tension and conflict between the characters. A central conflict in the plot of Fences is that Cory wants to play football professionally but his father will not let him. As Ama Wattley states in Father-Son Conflict and the American Dream, “due to racial discrimination… [Troy] directs his son away from the dream of success and toward the pragmatism of surviving and coping in a racist society” (Wattley 3). Troy’s emotional conflict against himself and society for not participating in major league baseball coupled with Cory’s possible success creates a strain on their

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Brother, Gabriel. He shows the father and son complex in the relationship between Troy and Troy’s son, Cory. And finally he shows true friendship in the relationship between Troy and Troy’s best friend, Bono. Wilson masterfully crafts the novel to show many different types of relationships in a short three acts.

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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

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1681 Words | 7 Pages

Fences Outline Endless Opportunities; financial success; equality; upward social mobility are what the American Dream is all about, for those who succeed, but what about those who fail? Imagine being a proud black man in such a hateful country during the 1960s, society diminishes any ounce of self confidence and dignity an individual can have all while trying to achieve the idea of the American Dream. Author Wilson (1986) constructed the play Fences which depicted main character Troy Maxson who expressed the struggles black individuals faced during the 1950s and 1960s. Troy has two sons, Lyons who strives to be a well off musician, and Cory who wishes to pursue a football career, and though the career choices are different, Troy disapproves

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