August Wilson’s Fences
If you have any test reviews, homeworks, guides, anything school related that you think can be posted on this website, reach out to me at makingschooleasier@gmail.com
How does the image of fences in the play foreshadow
the family’s future problems?
In
August Wilson’s Fences, symbolism
plays a big role in the play by foreshadowing various problems the characters
face.
From
the beginning of the play Rose wants Troy and Cory to build a fence around the
home but Troy sees no point of building a fence around the home because there
is nothing worth stealing in the home. He puts this off until later on in the
play but while putting it aside he does builds fences to the people closest to
him. From a very young age he began building fences around himself for
protection and respect. When he was young he had a problem with his father and
he could not live with what he did to a girl he like so he ran away from
home. Later on in life he does the same
thing to Cory but he’s about to beat him with a bat but he stops short and
tells him to get out. He remembers what his father did to him and he does it
again to his son. His relationship with his son is a bad one because he never
admits to “liking him” but he does this because he doesn’t want to get close to
his family because of past experiences. Troy’s fence causes him to isolate
himself from his son and also his wife, Rose because he ends up fathering a
child to a different woman. Troy’s isolation leads him to ignore his feeling of
love toward his family and this is especially visible when he is apologizing to
his wife. He does not say he is sorry straightforward but rather he uses baseball
to justify his actions. The fences were Rose’s ideas and she wants to hold on to
[them because] she loves [them]. Her wanting to build fences shows that she
feels that her family might fall apart in the future and Bono tells this to
Troy. He tells him to be good to her because she is a good woman and that they
have been together for so long. Rose fence is a physical one that she wants
built and hers does not harm anyone in the family except maybe Troy. Troy feels
that he has been stuck with Rose for all this time and that he is not getting
anywhere. Both Troy’s and Rose’s want of containment and isolation cause them
to have problems that affect their family.
If you have any test reviews, homeworks, guides, anything school related that you think can be posted on this website, reach out to me at makingschooleasier@gmail.com