Society’s mistreatment of women
Women are regarded as nothing more than a second thought in society. They are often forced into compromising positions where they put others first, because that is what is expected of them. A character oppressed by these societal restrictions is Rose Maxson from the play Fences. Written by August Wilson in 1983, Fences is set in Pittsburgh in the 1950s that follows an African American family during times of injustice and familial conflicts. Rose was a character largely mistreated throughout the play by her husband, Troy, and was forced time and time again to put others before herself. Rose as a character represents the restrictions society has placed on women.
In Fences, Rose was forced to give up her dreams
…show more content…
One would expect Rose to have found another place to stay, or that she would cut off all communication with Troy. Unfortunately, this is not a possible reality for a housewife. During this period, there were essentially no job opportunities for women available. Rose was stuck where she was because she had no other choice- she needed Troy’s income to afford to live. This is due to the fact that women are overlooked in society, and are deemed not as capable of working as compared to men. There are many instances where women choose to stay with their male partners even after they cheat because they have been shaped into the gender roles of being accommodating and nurturing. Rose similarly had all independence stripped away from her because she was a woman-, while Troy as a man had the opportunity to go out and continue living life normally, Rose could not get away from her husband. She voices her frustration at his lack of regard for her, explaining to him that she cannot continue to live like this. Troy has continued to mistreat her and goes to visit Alberta and his friends almost every day. Rose attempts to establish some sort of control over the situation, and says to him, “I want you to come home tomorrow after work” (II.2). However, as her husband holds all the power over her, Rose is unable to accomplish much at all- she has become effectively trapped in her house by the lack of opportunities available to
Rosedale is perceived as a good and kind person. She was surprised that serious about his wedding proposition in quite a while. As she said " Selden offering to see Lily, though at the request of Gerty. Contrast Rosedale still loves Lily, and would only marry her if she reconciles with Bertha Dorset.
Despite the challenges she faces as Troy's wife and the strains in their relationship, Rose draws strength from her own past experiences. Reflecting on her difficult upbringing, Rose reveals her resilience and the wisdom she gained from her past. She states, "I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom". Rose's past struggles inform her decision to find strength within herself and create a better life for herself and her family.
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.
At the beginning of the play, Rose’s relationship seems stable and they are portrayed as a loving couple. Although Troy’s actions and decisions may lead some to view him as an antagonist, it is essential to explore his flaws and admirable qualities to understand his character fully. On one hand, Troy’s stubbornness and inability to accept change lead him to make poor decisions, such as cheating on his wife. For instance, “I gave everything I had to Troy Maxson. And now she..
In the 1950s through the 1960s, the economy was booming, the number of suburban homes was increasing, and the beginning of the civil rights movement would forever alter the course of American history. Fences, written by August Wilson, portrays the hardships that some people had to endure to keep their family together and try to live a better life. Living as an African-American male in America throughout the peaking times of racial discrimination and poverty, Troy Maxson tries to mend certain actions from his past and prevent more mistakes from happening in the future. Although he follows such rules in a fashion that he would have approved of in his day, Troy's methods were not always regarded favorably by the generation to which he was applying
78-79). Rose stayed with Troy after the cheating because she had no better options. She was not scared of Troy compared to the girls in the Crucible, however, she did know that she needed to depend on Troy to survive and live a proper life, so she stuck with him. She knew that Troy need to figure his life out, but she also needed someone to provide her with the necessities of life due to factors in that time period. This happens in The Crucible as well when Abigail speaks to the girls about not telling on themselves, Abigail lays down a vicious plan, and the girls can do nothing but agree.
She did everything in every single way to become what her husband needed, she was loyal to Troy and stayed with him for eighteen years. Eighteen years of making sacrifices, sacrificing herself into making her surrounding better for her family and her husband. She really would try to be everything what her husband needed, as she put it, “I done tried to be everything a wife should be. Everything a wife could be.” She was expected to take care of her family, she minitrated the finances in the house, she was suppose to help her husband out that was her job not another woman's job, Rose is Troy’s wife.
He spent two years of high school with teachers who smacked and paddled their students in a feeble effort to control them. The students he was surrounded by enjoyed partying, dealing drugs, and getting into fights. Rose didn’t fit in, but stayed enrolled in the vocational classes. One day in his religion class, his classmate Ken Harvey remarked “I just wanna be
Troy puts himself above his family, as he was well aware that having an affair like he had would most certainly break up his family. Despite trying to defend his actions with the hardship he’s gone through, his whole family has gone through the same difficulties aswell– but he only looks out for himself. Troy’s selfish decision to make a baby with Alberta causes harm on his entire family because of the loyalty shown to him by Rose, despite not being happy at all
Troy says to Rose that he is going to keep seeing the girl he has cheated on her with, Alberta. He then tells her, “It's just... [Alberta] gives me a different idea... a different understanding about myself. I can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems" (Wilson, 1986, p. 68).
Troy expects his family to thank him for everything that he provides for them and does not like the idea of a woman being thanked instead of him. As a man, Troy owns everything in the house including the money that Rose possesses. This connects to the theme of traditional
August Wilson's play Fences addresses a great content of interpreting and inheriting history. Throughout Fences, much of the conflict emerge because the characters are at disparity with the way they see their foregoing and what they want to do with their forthcoming. Fences explores how the damaged aspirations of one generation can taint the dreams of the next generation on how they deal with the creation of their own identity when their role model is a full of dishonesty. Wilson illustrates his qualities primarily through his use of symbolism in the play Fences.
"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.
From the readers point of view, it is obvious that Rose is too good for Troy, but Rose constantly is faithful to Troy. This shows a special aspect of marriage and the relationship between Troy and Rose. It shows the level of commitment it takes to be in a marriage, but it also show the lack of commitment and gratitude that could be in a marriage. Troy ends up cheating on Rose, because he began to take what he had for granted.
The time when this story took place was a time when women were viewed as second class citizens. Mothers had traditional roles, which usually left them in the house, while men also had their roles, outside of the