The movie ‘Fences’ has three main characters: Troy Maxson, Cory Maxson, and Rose Maxson. However, I believe characters such as Lyons Maxson, Jim Bono, and Gabriel Maxson play extremely important roles in the movie also. Therefore, I will speak on all six.
In the powerful play Fences by August Wilson, tension can be found through characters like Troy Maxson, Corey Maxson, and Rose Maxson. Troy Maxson has gone through a life in a country where to be proud and black was to face pressure that could crush a man. Corey Maxson wishes to play football, however, his father wants him to get a job and do “labor work”. Rose Maxson is the wife to Troy Maxson they had a happy relationship until Troy has a child with a woman named Alberta? Troy is the main source of tension in the book. His action impacts the family and takes a heavy toll on his relationship with his family.
Throughout his play Fences, August Wilson presents characters who are stuck in the cycle of the bitter relationship between father and son due to the past sins of the fathers. Troy’s father does not care for his family not even providing food or place to stay for Troy. Throughout the play, Troy creates a similar relationship with his son Cory. Although Troy thinks that he is showing love through providing economic stability to his family, Cory is unable to understand Troy’s thinking. To Troy, love toward his family meant providing food and clothing every day. Troy remembers his father as a person who “wasn’t good for nobody” (Wilson I). Even after long period of time Troy is still unable to forgive his father. However, it is this bitter feeling that what actually leads him to create a similar relationship with Cory although that is what he wants to stay away from. Troy wants Cory to “move as far away from [his] life” (Wilson I). Throughout the story he is too focused on the ill of the society that he
“Veteran poverty should be unimaginable, but sadly, it is an unpleasant fact today for some veterans” (“The Ugly Face of Veteran Poverty in the United States”). Many homeless veterans are not getting the support they need. People need to be witness to this injustice and stand up for it. “The kind of hope we need is an orientation of the spirit a willingness to position ourselves sometime, someway, someplace in hopeless spaces and be a witness and say something” (Stevenson). Veterans are living in horrible conditions after serving in the military because the government is not providing enough support for veterans.
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.
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
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. 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.
Helping our veterans should be mandatory because of their sacrifice. Even though some people believe war veterans acquire enough from the Government, others believe they deserve more for their services. Veterans of the United States of America should not be homeless since they fought for our country with a sense of bravery and commitment. Therefore, the Department of Veterans Affairs should be reconstructed, also expanded to meet the growing need of our veterans.
"When the sins of our fathers visit us, we do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness; As God, in His Largeness and Laws"(Wilson X).This epigraph by August Wilson provides an insight into the importance of the topic in the play Fences. In Fences, the play depicts the relationships of the Maxson family and their friends. Troy Maxson, a middle-aged African American man, is happily married to his wife Rose and takes care of his son Cory whilst occasionally interacting with his other son from a previous relationship. However, the complexities of Troy 's past create issues for him and his family and their relationships begin to deteriorate. Throughout the play, the characters look at faith, race, opportunities, fatherhood and
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
In summary, the play “Fences “setting was set during the 1950’s in Pittsburg, where many African Americans were fighting for their rights. Many of the minority population were getting treated poorly and unfairly. Troy Maxson, his wife and son lived off a small alley in a big-city. The main character Troy was a sanitation worker and former Negro League baseball player. His talented son Cory is being hindered by his dad Troy from being a professional football player. Troy Maxson disagrees with his career decisions because of his past life, causing him to not be able to enter the leagues once getting out of jail. As a result, Cory and his dad got into a fight and Troy kicked him out of the house and eventually had
When reading the play “Fences” by August Wilson, one may say that it is a tragedy, and that the protagonist, Troy Maxson, has tragic flaws that leads him through a path of false judgement. Troy is seen as a stubborn man and wants everything to go his way or the highway. However, in actuality, he is not a bad guy, Troy is just a father who wants to keep his family out of harm’s way. This led me to three journalists with similar judgments of Troy Maxson. Critics Joseph H. Wessling, Alice Mills, and Myles Weber all give their own insight on the play “Fences.” I agree with Wessling’s statement “Troy, for all his strengths, is flawed humanity in need of forgiveness,” disagrees with Mills’ claim “…Troy does not face trail of initiation until he crossed the fence and left behind the protection of his family for the world of difficult choices.”, and Weber’s claim “Troy’s cruelty constituted a clever method of challenging
Veteran’s pay a heavy price for our freedom, but do we in turn repay them back? Once veteran’s return home they receive several benefits, such as education, disability compensation, and low-cost medical care. Each are specific due to how they benefit each veteran, but not all are capable of fully providing the veteran.
The notion of loyalty is something that is valued in a family trying to survive a stressful life. Fences is a play written by August Wilson about an African American Family having a hard time with a man due to his refusal of acceptance and loyalty. With this play I believe that the author is trying to explain the importance of forgiveness and loyalty within a family living through struggles at a time of racism and poverty.