Fences

Click the link for a video of an interview of August Wilson [|discussing his work]
 * Title:** //Fences//
 * Year of publication:** 1986
 * Author:** August Wilson
 * Author Bio:** Frederick August Kittle was born on April 27, 1945 in Pittsburgh by his black mother, Daisy Wilson and white father, Frederick Kittle. Following the death of his biological father, Kittle changes his name to August Wilson (doesn’t occur until 1965). He grew up with the struggle of being an African American child within school and on the streets. In 1960, Wilson drops out of high school (tenth grade) and educates himself within the library and within his street environments. In 1962, he enlists for three years within the U.S. Army; however he only stays for one year. He goes through various employments but eventually begins writing with poetry in 1965. His new wife Brenda Burton (married in 1969 and divorced in 1972) gives birth to his first born daughter, Sakina Ansari Wilson in 1970. Plays were then beginning to be written after inspiration of black folk and of a play Wilson had seen himself. As time progresses more of his plays had been showed to large audiences. //Fences// brought a whopping $11 million in the first year. Wilson was known for his various plays such as //Ma Rainey, Joe Turner,// and //The Piano Lesson.// He was also known for his multiple awards given for his plays. The entireties of his plays were about the lives of black people form varying generations and how the lifestyles of the individuals changed over the years. After another wife and divorce (1981-1990), the death of his mother (1983), and many awards from plays, Wilson learns of liver cancer in 2005 and shortly dies a few months afterwards. Even after his death, Wilson is still noted for his amazing works.
 * Setting and time period:** The play takes place in the Maxson household. Most of which is spent in the front yard of a house that badly needs renovating. The time period is the years 1957- 1965.


 * Genre of Novel( Historial Fiction, Bildungsroman, etc):** Drama

-Don’t let the past restrain someone from the present. -Troy Maxson’s past of not becoming a baseball superstar holds back the life of not only himself but his entire family. With him unable to cope with the loss of his possible fame, he still tries to give himself the superstar lifestyle by swoon any woman he catches and appeals to. This affects his entire household. He also tries to grow his son into the man that Troy was never able to be which does nothing but push his son away resulting in stretching his entire family apart.
 * Theme statements (and "central questions"):**

Click the link to see a video on- [|Actors Feelings on Their Characters] written as a play, irony, foreshadowing
 * Primary characters (name/ relationships/ job/ key traits):**
 * Troy Maxson- is a father, husband, best friend and lover to multiple characters in the play. His character seems to be the center of the universe that all other characters revolve around. Troy seems to want to care about others; however his main concern seems to be for himself and filling all his own desires in his life whether the decisions are right or wrong. This aspect of his personality makes him a rather greedy person.
 * Rose Maxson- is Troy’s wife. She is forced to clean up all of Troy’s messes; which is ironic beings Troy’s job consists of garbage pickup. Even though Troy brings home the dough, Rose is forced to take care of everything else in the household. Her character is a strong, willful woman who takes care of anything that comes her way, including a child that’s not her own.
 * Secondary characters (brief identifications):**
 * Alberta- Troy’s lover. She is only used for Troy’s sexual wants which makes her seem as if she is nothing but Troy’s pleasure full vacation away from his real life. Troy gets Alberta pregnant and the birth of his child kills her.
 * Bono- Troy’s best friend. Bono looks up to Troy and follows him around as if he were his role model. However, when Troy starts going down the wrong path and cheating on his wife, Bono is loyal and moralistic enough to question Troy’s actions.
 * Raynell Maxson- is Troy’s bastard baby girl. Raynell is the baby made in the affair between Alberta and Troy. Rose is forced to be the mother of the mistake, but no matter the difference, Rose treats her as if she were her own daughter. Raynell is an innocent child who doesn’t have to live with an overbearing father because of Troy’s death in her infantry.
 * Cory Maxson- is Troy’s eldest son. Cory believes in himself enough to get through anything; however, his father holds him back from achieving many obstacles. Cory wants the chance to become a football player but Troy won’t allow it because of his past with professional sports. Cory just wants to feel loved by his father even though it seems it could never happen. No matter what Cory tries to do, it never seems to be enough to please his father. Cory is a respectful child.
 * Notable structural, literary and stylistic techniques:**


 * Symbols:**
 * Baseball- symbolized Troy’s failure in dreams
 * Fence- symbolized restraint that Troy has upon the entire family
 * Troy’s Affair- birth of a new life and recreation of a new possible dream

Accusatory, Malicious
 * Tone:**
 * Major conflicts (in abstract terms, with resolutions):**
 * Troy’s Affair
 * The Death of Alberta and Birth of Raynell

My reaction to this literary work was surprised. It was nice to see that a man of unworthy power be brought down. However, it was sad to see that his wife was brought down with him in the events that occurred. Many women would be unable to pursue the motherhood of a daughter brought into this world by an affair, so I found that the strength Rose had to overcome her misfortune of events was inspiring in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed the play because of the moralistic binding that held it together. I also enjoyed it because it seemed as though karma played an important part in the play and I love karma.
 * Key scenes (turning points, resolutions, climaxes--inc. page #'s):**
 * Turning point- Rose learns of Troy’s affair with Alberta and the coming of his new child. (Act II, Scene I, page 228 in Literature and Composition textbook)
 * Climax- Alberta dies giving birth to Raynell. (Act II, Scene II, page 233 in Literature and Composition textbook)
 * Resolution- Rose takes care of Raynell after the death of the baby’s mother and Rose makes her point clear that she will be the baby’s mother but he would no longer be loved by her. (Act II, Scene III, page 235 in Literature and Composition textbook)
 * Key quotations (annotate: identify speaker, situation, and relevance—inc. page #’s):**
 * Rose- “There’s a lot of people don’t know they can do no better than they doing now. That’s just something you got to learn. A lot of folks still shop at Bella’s.” (Act I, Scene I, page 199 in Literature and Composition textbook) Rose is discussing how much cheaper it is to shop at A&P than at the local business “Bella’s.” However, the quote seems to be ironic and foreshadowing how she could d better than the husband she has because of his private affairs with Alberta.
 * Troy- “Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrassled with him. You can’t tell me nothing about death. Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner.” (Act I, Scene I, page 201 in Literature and Composition textbook) Troy is using his cocky attitude to say that not even death could take him out. This statement is ironic because in the end Troy loses his battle to death.
 * Your reactions/ reader responses (note personal reactions to any of the above categories, or any other element of the reading experience):**


 * Notable literary devices present in work and how they contribute to meaning:**
 * //Symbolism// helps the reader break down the meaning and provided more meaning to the text.
 * //Allegory// helped the characters symbolize things to contribute to the meaning.
 * //Imagery// was used to help the reader better understand what was occurring within the text and help figure out the mood.
 * //Stage directions// were used with specific //diction// which contributed to the meaning and enabling the reader to better grasp the tone.