In the play Fences by August Wilson
The author gives an introduction that brings out a clear picture of an African-American's life. This paper focuses on the hardships that Troy Maxson, the main character, and how this relates to the life of August Wilson as a black family man in the 1950's and 60's (Wilson 2016). The author is using this narration to tell a story about him and how this life turned around his life by spearheading his career.
Using literary and metaphoric work
The author uses the word fences to take the reader through the life of Troy, who is been trying to prevent people from intruding his personal life. This fence has directly started to affect the relationship between him and his family. Through the play, the reader is meant to see an incomplete fence which hereby depicts his wife and the gaping relationship. His wife wants him to build this obstacle to block the outsiders and keep his loved ones protected by all means (Gantt 2009). In the 20th century, racism had taken a greater course in the lives of Native Americans. African Americans had to deal with a variety of challenges in this period because of discrimination. These challenges affected the lives of black Americans and forced them to look at things in a hateful way. It forced them to build a wall that separated them from the rest of the world and avoid the problems that came with the fact that they were black Americans.
A good example of discrimination
Troy's desire to become a professional baseball player being terminated by the fact that he is black. From this point in his life, he lives a life full of anger for being shielded from his dreams and this, therefore, becomes evidently displayed with the decisions he makes thereafter. He has created a self-illusion of himself and how he looks at the world as a cruel place. He never gets past this action and therefore the decisions he makes for his family ends up creating a rift between him and the whole family. One of the instances that the rash in decisions by Troy affects his family is when he denies his son, Cory, a chance to play football. Even though he wanted to protect his son from going through the same experience he did, it didn't have to be the same (Wilson 2010). Troy believed that people were going to look at or treat his son the same way he was discriminated against, according to the color of his skin. The story unfolds more when Troy confronts the coach, telling him not to allow Cory to be part of the football team. This way he creates even a worse situation by subconsciously denying Cory a chance to lead a better life than he had. Although he loves his son, he believes that denying him a chance to play football is for his own good. However, doing this makes him become part of the society he used to hate unintentionally.
As mentioned earlier, Troy is not intending to hurt his family by any chance
He is just trying to offer them a different life than he did. He went through a lot of challenges growing up and as the father; he believes that it is his job to protect them from going through the same life he did. Troy went to jail for murder and even there, though being a convict, discrimination was still catching up with him (Wilson 2010).
When Troy was in prison
Lyons, Troy's son from a prior marriage, did experience the existence of a father growing up and he did not have proper guidance to take on life (Bogumil " Mary 1999). Surprisingly, Lyons did not have bitterness for not having a father figure and just took life as it came by just like any other kid at his age. His passion is to become a musician in the future. Troy, however, does not find this a serious thing and is opposed to I, which drives a wedge between. Instead, he considers this as a dangerous path to take on especially when he is a black kid. Troy says to Lyon, "You living the fast life wanna be a musician running around in the clubs and things." Troy sees his son's dream as a complete waste of time because he is not getting paid for this kind of profession. Whenever Troy gets paid, Lyon is waiting for him to give him money for his expenses. This offends Troy because he never had handouts coming up. From the experiences of growing up in a white society, he believes that African Americans have to work for everything that they want.
Troy 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 does not 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 (Pereira 1995). 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 was 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.
Works cited
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Bogumil, Mary L. Understanding August Wilson. Univ of South Carolina Press, 1999.
Gantt, Patricia M. "Putting black culture on stage: August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle." College Literature (2009): 1-25.
Pereira, Kim. August Wilson and the African-American Odyssey. University of Illinois Press, 1995.
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Samuel French, 2010. Print.
Wilson, August. Fences: A Play. , 2016. Print.
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