Fences by August Wilson Analysis Essay

Drama Analysis Paper: Fences by August Wilson

Having a play as relatable and as realistic as “Fences” by August Wilson really helps us realize that racism, and struggles in the family, also known as family drama, happens often and we are not alone. Because of its relatableness, “Fences” by August Wilson, was a success and is considered as August Wilson’s biggest commercial success. The play “Fences” even won him his first Pulitzer Prize, and it was also released on Broadway while another one of August Wilson’s plays, “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”, was playing at the same time. This made August Wilson the first African American playwright to have more than one play on Broadway during the same time period. The play “Fences” is a great representation to how Racism and other conflicts in life can affect the attitude and the outlook of a person. The protagonist, Troy Maxson, had gone through many struggles during his life period and due to those struggles his attitude towards life in general changed and made him a rather bitter man.

The primary conflict of the play concerns Cory and his opportunity to attend college under a football scholarship. Nonetheless, Troy disagrees to sign the permission paper since he does not want his son to go through the same endeavor of racial discrimination that had interfered with his dreams to become a professional baseball player. Since the play took place during the 1950’s, before the Civil Rights Movement, a grand amount of people were racist towards others and many African-Americans weren’t able to pursue careers that were mostly or fully populated by white americans due to their beliefs. As stated in Racism: Defining The Limits of Acceptability; “Racism has weakened. This is surprising for racism has not disappeared, nor is it in the process of doing so as recent events around the world demonstrate. Racism is alive.” In “Commentary; Modern-Day Racism Mask Its Ugly Head: [Home Edition]” it is mentioned that “Racism became unique in the United States largely because of the efforts to abolish slavery. These efforts intensified the efforts of slavery's apologists to justify their "peculiar institution." Thus if we can say that contemporary racism is a product of American slavery, then we must also accept the premise that American slavery demonstrates other consequences that are as alive and well today as is racism.”

As briefly mentioned before, the main theme of the play “Fences” by August Wilson is Race. This is because the protagonist’s bitter attitude in life was the effect of Racism. Troy was not able to become a professional baseball player because of his race. This affected his attitude in many ways and led to different conflicts with his family and friends. The other themes in this play include:

Men and Masculinity: The play Fences by August Wilson is often thought of as a father-son play since the main conflict is focused on the father-son tension between Troy and Cory. Unfortunately, Troy’s bitter attitude in life made him resemble his father’s parenting style while raising Cory. In the end though, we are left with the belief that Cory will break this parenting cycle.

Hopes, Dreams, and Plans: Troy’s dreams of being a professional baseball player are taken from him due to racial discrimination. This lead to his bitter attitude in life.

Family: The protagonist was not the best father or the most faithful husband. Nevertheless, the family grows up from this experience by the end of the play. This play is a very great example of family drama.

Betrayal: Troy Maxson betrays practically everyone in his life: his wife, Rose, his son, Cory, his brother, Gabriel, and his best friend, Bono. However, during the final scene, it shows that even though those characters were hurt by Troy’s actions, they still respect him.

Dissatisfaction: Troy Maxson is basically dissatisfied with his life due to the fact that his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player were

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