Analysis of “Fences”

August Wilson’s famous play “Fences” is a drama set in the 1950’s. Being a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the best play of the year, this play has had many positive responses to blacks and whites in this society. It is about protagonist Troy Maxson as well as his african american family that is filled with drama and excitement. In Wilson’s Fences by Joseph Wessling he expresses, “Fences is about the always imperfect quest for true manhood. Troy’s father was less of a “true” man than Troy, but he was a hard worker and a provider. Troy, even as a runaway, carried with him his father’s virtues along with a considerable lessening of the father’s harshness and promiscuity”(5). In this essay you will learn about the
“He cannot overcome the contradiction in his life -- the journey from superstar to picking up trash for nickels and dimes”(1). In an interview by Yvonne Shafer to August Wilson he is asked about Wilson’s reasons of writing about African culture and his response was, “I think it’s important to recognize the fact that these thirty million black people in America are Africans, that they came from America. They’ve lived here since the early part of the seventeenth century and there’s a tendency to forget that”(4). August Wilson used his own experiences and background to help write his plays. The characters, setting, and tone of his plays have caught many positive feedback. It gives possibilities to African Americans something positive to look forward to in their own lives. It also teaches the hardships one has to go through to live in America. Wilson intends to write his plays for the whites to make them realize what they go through after the cruelties of the past like slavery and racial prejudice. The conflicts portrayed in the play are relationships, baseball, work, and just everyday life where many people can relate to. This play has the unexpected keeping one out of their seat to see what happens next. Fences is very realistic having to do with everyday situations with people. African Americans are more articulate today making it easy for readers