Fences

The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary (2004).

So What?

• Important characters

1. Troy Maxson: the protagonist in Fences. Although a responsible and hard-working man, Troy seems to show little compassion toward his family. Although he supports them financially, he provides no love or moral support. His lines are spoken with grammatical errors. An African-American man in his late fifties, Troy has lived out a life of diminished dreams (he once aspired to play in the ML). His in-depth thoughts are slightly manic depressive, with the constant notion of death leading his end-of-scene statements. Additionally, Troy mentions in numerous lines the suppression he has faced due to his race. For Troy, the fence symbolizes his attempts to keep people out.
2. Bono: Troy's friend/ Friday night drinking buddy. Bono has been through much hardship with Troy: they met in jail and Bono witnessed Troy's old glory days as a baseball champ. The friendship begins to dwindle as Bono questions Troy's loyalty to Rose.
3. Rose: Troy's wife. A lady of incredible dignity, strength, and optimism, Rose always expects the best in people and gives all of herself toward her family, both blood-related and adopted. She is the character in the play who requests a fence be built around their house, illustrating her desire to keep her family close by.
4. Cory: Troy and Rose's son. Possessing a promising future in football, his dream (like Troy's) is extinguished. Ironically enough, Troy proves to be the ultimate barrier between Cory and a professional career, eventually thwarting Cory's efforts to be scouted. Cory persistently attempts to distinguish and disengage himself from his father. However, this proves to be unsuccessful. At the end of the play, Cory muses ""Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere."
5. Lyons: Lyons is Troy's eldest son and the product of his first marriage. Therefore, he is not truly Rose's son, but she treats him as such. An unsuccessful musician, his dream, like his father's and his brother's, remains unrealized. Throughout the play, Lyons come by the Maxson household, scrounging for cash.
6. Gabriel: A soldier in WWII, Gabriel suffered a severe head wound and now has a metal plate implanted in the side of his head. As a result, Gabriel is no longer mentally stable and fully believes himself to be the archangel Gabriel. Hell hounds, the gates of heaven, Judgement Day, St. Peter, and ham sandwiches are all common topics of Gabe's. The government sends him checks every month, which Troy takes and spends to help support his family.

• Plot Elements

1. Introduction: The audience is introduced to all the characters' views, personalities, and relationships with the other characters. The routine/lifestlye of the Maxson household is established. Act One.
2. Rising Action: Troy and Cory talk to one another about why Rose would want the fence. Once Cory goes into the house, Bono confronts Troy about the affair. Bono tells Troy, "Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in."
3. Climax: Troy tells Rose he has been carrying an extramarital affair with a woman named Alberta. In addition, she is pregnant. Perhaps the most "climatic" point of the play is Rose's monologue delivered after she hears the news. Cory comes home, confronts his father, and is kicked out of the house.
4. Falling Action: Alberta dies having the baby and Troy brings his child home.
5. Denouncement: Troy dies. The family gathers together for the first time in seven years. Gabriel announces now is the time to open the gates of Heaven. He blows his trumpet. Yet, there is no noise.

• Setting

The play is set in the 1950's - 1960's in a lower- class, black neighborhood in Pittsuburg, Pennsylvania. Nearly all scenes in Fences are set outside Troy's house. It can be inferred the weather is probably nice, or at least decent. Otherwise, the characters wouldn't spend all their time building fences, drinking on the porch, playing ball, or talking outside. Socially, the Maxson family has some rough conditions; Troy is the only member bringing any earnings into the household. As a result, the family must be frugal with their spendings. Their home and yard reflect this.

• Central Conflicts

Man vs. Self: Troy is constantly at odds with himself. He views himself as a failure, having no success as a pro-baseball player. In addition, Troy constantly experiences guilt about cashing and spending Gabriel's government checks. His constant disapproval of himself leads him to initiate the affair, claiming it allows him to escape his situation and feel free inside.

Man vs. Man: Troy and Cory face a deteriorating father-son relationship. From the beginning of the play, it is evident that the two do not see eye-to-eye. Cory wants to play football, then attend college. Troy wants him to work a real job in the A&P. Cory feels a father should like his children. Troy feels a father should provide food, shelter, and life-- nothing more. This conflict is further illustrated when Cory learns of the affair, raises a bat to his father, and leaves the house.

Man vs. Society: In Fences, society is filled with racism and injustice. Troy constantly reiterates the suppression of black males by arguing he was the perfect player, just the wrong race. It also seems unjust that Gabriel, after serving in the army, is arrested for disturbing the peace, and is eventually sent to an asylum.

• Major Themes

1. Illusion vs. Reality: Troy constantly concocts illusions and stretches the truth, especially when speaking of death. Throughout the play, Troy evades the reality of his life. When Lyons asks for ten dollars, Troy digresses into a story of how the Devil sold him furniture accompanied with outrageous interest rates, explaining that he cannot lend his son money. Rose, on the other hand, live in the reality of their situations. When Rose learns of Troy's disloyalty, she comes to terms with the situation, even adopting his illegitimate daughter.
2. Lack of/ Discovery of Identity: Throughout the play, it is evident Troy feels he lacks some piece of himself. He feels as though he simply lives life going through the motions, going to work, coming home, and giving all his earnings toward his family. Rose also seems to struggle with her identity. When she learns Alberta is pregnant, Rose asserts, "You not the only one who's got wants and needs. But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams, and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. " Both Rose and Troy gave up pieces of themselves to be with one another. However, Troy cannot live without himself wholly, leading him to the affair. In the end of the play, Cory discovers himself. While his dream was shattered, he still is able to find his purpose. He joins the Marines, where he excels.
3. Baseball: Sports proves to be a driving foce behind the plot and characterization in Fences. Troy can never come overcome the disappointment of his missed oppurtunity with the Major Leagues, as the time period in which he lived was stained and tainted with racism. "There ought not never have been no time called too early! ... I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson." Troy's attitude toward all aspects of his life appears to be based on this lingering disappointment and dissatisfaction, thus skewing his sense of reality and sense of self. In the end, Troy finally faces Death while swinging a baseball bat in the yard.

• Emotion

The play moved me in many ways. Reading Cory really allowed me to open myself and develop a character, thus leading to a deep examination of Cory's thoughts, and the piece of society which he represents. Reading about African American struggles is nothing new; my earliest memory of such stories is the American Girl series about a black girl Addie with her story set during the Civil War. However, I have never read a play focused soley on African Americans. Because this literary work is a play, rather than a novel or poem, the words come attached with much more emotion, leading to new dimensions of my understanding and perception of the topic.

How?

• Figurative Language

Wilson conveys his characters, conflicts, and themes through figurature language. More specifically, Death becomes an actual character or person of sorts, someone who Troy is constantly at odds with. Death, commonly an abstract idea or notion, become personified in Wilson's play. In various lines delivered by Troy, death becomes concrete, taking on the persona of a fastball, a charging army, and someone with a sickle in a white- hooded robe. Despite Troy's consistent teasing and taunting aloud to Death, he realizes in the end Death will emerge the victor. "Death ain't nothing to play with. And I know he's gonna get me." And in the end, Death does "get" Troy, as he says it will get everyone. "Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die." Troy's emphasis on Death obviously hints at plot developments to come. Thus, the audience begins to surmise which character will fall victim, and when. It is not until the last scenes of the play that Death strikes at Alberta, then Troy. Troy's death is ironic in that it occurs while he is swinging a baseball bat in his yard. In a sense, Troy does indeed "go down swinging", living out his mantra.

• Diction

The diction in Fences chiefly contributes to character developments. Fences is set in an all-black community, with family and close friends conversing. Therefore, the diction is informal as the characters speak to one another using improper grammar and slang. The dialogue in Fences occurs in a family setting, with Troy sometimes talking to Bono. Largely, the diction helps reveal the characters, for diction and word choice are the only principal means of illustrating a character in a dramatic work. There are no lengthy paragraphs of description in drama; the audience only has the words spoken from the character. Thus, the words define the character. Troy, for example, speaks with thundering passion, "Man batting .269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's daughter yesterday, she walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!" Even just reading the lines, the audience/reader senses Troy's personality based his on diction.