Authors, throughout history, have constantly evolved the notion of the American Dream for the people of the United States. During the initial development of the nation, the American Dream was embodied in the idea that: “We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence, 17776, par 2). While initially the definition of “all men” was read as an exclusionary group, which only included Caucasian men of wealth, the statement has been reinterpreted over time to include men and women of different races, nationalities, and class status. In the early 1980s, playwright …show more content…
August Wilson Characterizes Troy as an African American man whom has faced adversity all throughout his life. In his younger years, Troy was not able to play in the major leagues because of his race. The racist ideology continues to haunt Troy’s every existence. “I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were. Come telling me I come along too early. If you could play… then they ought to have let you play” (Wilson pg.12). Even though Troy was able to play ball for the Negro Leagues, not being able to play for the major leagues has tainted his views on life, and thus, the ability for an African American man to pursue his version of American Dream. Consequently, Troy continuously associates death with baseball: “Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrassled with him. You can’t tell me nothing about death. Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner” (Wilson, 12). Troy’s confidence, and hubris, in beating Death at his own game will ultimately lead to his own demise. Interestingly enough, though, troy does not let the sting of the Jim Crow laws hold him back from fighting for equality, at work, later in his life. Since the motifs of baseball and death innately connected with Troy’s fight for equality, August Wilson appears to suggest how the fight for equality is not necessarily the only hope to fulfill the American
Menson (233) writes to explore an interesting story about Troy, who had his dreams of becoming baseball player deferred. The author also exposes on some issues facing Troy including the 15-year wait to see his wife Rose. All these deferments come as a result of Troy’s incarceration. Menson-Furr (227), explains how Troy acquired his house and the plight of his sons, Cory and Lyons, during World War II. The fact that, Troy stopped his son, Cory, from playing football exposes the elements of an arrogant parenthood (Menson-Furr 222).
Troy’s life is a symbol of the game of baseball, with starts, stops, and lost opportunities. He may not have been able to control his life through the days of the Jim Crow laws and couldn’t get into the major leagues, but baseball still followed him throughout his life. Baseball harmed his relationship with his family throughout his life. He missed many opportunities to fix what his mistakes in his life, but never realized he had a chance to fix them. He made so many mistakes that they probably won’t ever be able to forget.
“The term American Dream was first used by the historian James Truslow Adams in 1931 to explain what had attracted millions of people of all nations to settle in America” (American Dream then and now 1). The idea of the “American Dream” has changed for all ethnic groups throughout time; but my primary focus is African Americans. In general, “The early settlers in America hoped for a better life than the one they had left behind in Europe. Their main reasons for leaving Europe were religious persecution, political oppression and poverty” (American Dream then and now 1). Today, “Critics see the American Dream as a clever political and economic strategy” (American Dream then and now 2).
In the play “Fences”, the main character is a 53 year-old man by the name of Troy Maxson. He has been married to his wife, Rose, for eighteen years. Troy’s father mistreated him and his mother at a young age thus driving away his mother and ruining his family leaving him to run away from his father where he eventually settled in Pittsburgh, PA. He didn’t grow up with a loyal father and only had the examples and morals that his father had taught him. Troy was a thief in his younger years because he couldn’t get a job due to racial factors during the time.
The play Fences, written by August Wilson, tells the story of Troy Maxson and his family during the 1950s. Throughout the novel, Troy attempts to gain power and control on people such as his wife Rose and his son Cory. In the play, Wilson uses Troy’s power struggle to develop him as a tragic hero and to enhance his theme of people isolating themselves from those closet to them. Troy can be seen as a hero who overcame great odds.
(Wilson) rHe is not allowed to drive the truck, as that job is reserved for the white man. Walter also is a chauffeur for a rich white man, a fact he laments throughout Fences. Both men, like so many other black men in their time, have no formal education and are relegated to serving the white man, even a century after overt slavery ended. For them, their lives are not fully in their control. In both plays, they find they can only ever improve their circumstances through hardship: in Fences, Troy was able to purchase a home because of his brother’s injury and permanent disability from the war.
August Wilson faces a lot of difficulties in his life. He begins writing Fences in the twentieth century, and he portrays the African American experience between the 1900s to 2000 (Wilson 11). In Fence August Wilson tells the story of a father, Troy Maxson’s lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy was a very talented baseball perspective with hopes to play in the major leagues. Maxson’s had the bad luck of having to grow up when racism was the biggest part of America.
“Playwright August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 1945. His mother, Daisy Wilson, was of African-American heritage. His father was a German immigrant named Frederick Kittel” (August Wilson Biography). When he turned sixteen, he got in trouble because people thought he did plagiarism when they thought he wrote a professional paper that the administration at his school did not believe he wrote. The principal of the school that Wilson went to has chosen to neglect his hard work because of being accused of plagiarism, he got suspended for it.
For instance, they recall, “Robinson, when he retired from baseball in 1957, sought to bring the same tactics to bear on increasing African-American employment opportunities.” (Goldstein 1). He wanted for African-Americans to have the same opportunities as whites. He repeatedly throughout his life shows this. For example, Nine days before his death he states, “I’d like to live to see a black manager.”
During this most important game in the history of college basketball, Coach Don Haskins shattered racial barriers and encouraged the Texas Miners to succeed against all odds, while Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced and paved the way for the desegregation of schools and other institutions and the landmark legislation, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act (History.com staff, 1996). Through self-discipline, hard work, and bonding together as a team, Coach Haskins formed a team that withstood violence, discrimination, verbal abuse, and death threats and triumphed to expose and reduce racism in basketball and society. The film’s sports suspense illustrates how the Miners paved the road for future generations to play in a league that was thought to be mainly for white people; thus, today basketball is a sport that is predominantly played by black players. Additionally, African Americans began to be treated more equally in
The Pulitzer prize winning play Fences by August Wilson follows the ups and downs of a single family in 1950s Pittsburg. Lead by Troy Maxson, father, husband, and brother, the play shows the struggles and triumphs of the family relating to his choices and actions. The job of a man is to be well rounded in the workplace and in the home. Men are responsible to be there for their children and to be loyal to their spouse. They should not cheat, lie, or make irrational decisions.
Fences is a play written by the playwright August Wilson, who dedicated himself to writing plays capturing what it was like to be an African American in the United States during every decade of the 20th century. Fences was a play that was specifically written to provide an outlook into the lives of African Americans in America during the 1950s, during the process of demarginalization. Each character of the novel provides a unique perspective to capture different aspects of the “African American Experience” during this time period. In Fences, it was very important to August Wilson to truly capture “The African American Experience” and he was able to do so through the portrayal of the Maxson family, with his representation of African Americans during the 1950s in Fences, and with the multiple perspectives of African Americans captured
“The American Dream” is and has been a fundamental part in forming the culture and social structure of the Americas, mostly North-America. The basis of its formation lies in the year 1848 when a great number of German lower class people fled Germany after the March Revolution; the working and middle class stood up to the autocracy of the German Empire but were fruitless in the revolution and in turn fled to America. Those people chose their destination, America, because of the social structure and political freedom. The Declaration of Independence states, that “Every man is born equal”, thus forms America into a republic with no privileged order, nationwide social equity and no prejudice towards its citizens.
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
August Wilson and His Influence on American Theatre by Isaac Harris As I sit here, on my couch, researching a man named August Wilson, who died ten years ago, I wonder why he is still taking up my time. What has he done in his life that is oh-so important that he is still stressing teenagers out over an essay they have to write about him. Well, for starters, he won 25 theatre awards over the course of 25 years, he wrote 16 plays, ten of which correlated directly to each other and his life, and he is influencing playwrights all over the world to this day. August Wilson connected all his plays to one another, starting a trend that is still prevalent today, as seen in much of Tim Burton’s work. Wilsons collection is called “The Pittsburgh