Fences Symbolism

Troy's lack of commitment to finishing the fence that Rose wants put up represents his lack of commitment in his marriage. He doesn't understand that Rose wants to keep the family close because he never truly had a close family. He becomes a womanless man. “From right now… this child got a mother. But you a womanless man” (79). Troy pushes Lyons away by refusing to hear him play his "Chinese music" (48). He also damages his relationship with his other son, Cory, by preventing him from playing football and rejecting his only chance to get recruited by a college football team. The “fence” also depicts that Troy is disowning Cory when they get into an argument and Troy kicks him out on to the streets. Troy states that Cory’s things will be on “the other side of that fence” (89). As a result, Troy ends up driving everybody away just like his father. The “fence” acts like a physical divider between the Maxson’s household and the outside world because Troy doesn’t bring anything others would normally have into his house and Rose does not want any outsider intruding her family.

The play “Fence” by August Wilson’s has a connection with real world fence. “The yard is a small dirt yard, partially fenced, except for the last scene, with a wooden sawhorse, a pile of lumber, and other fence-building equipment set off to the side. The Opposite is a tree from which hangs a ball made of rags. A baseball bat leans against the tree. Two oil drums serve as garbage receptacles and sit near the house at right to complete the setting” (Wilson 2). He mentions that the fence has three parts open, unopened and cornerstone. The word yard and fence are symbolically represented structure and dream of country, society and Troy’s family.

Fences, written by August Wilson, is a play about a man, named Troy, struggling to support his family during the late 1950’s. In this play, we see that Troy hurts the people closest to him. He has been uncaring towards his wife, Rose, his brother Gabriel and his son, Cory. This is because Troy had nothing to go on but the harsh example set by his father. In Fences, Troy has felt like he has been fenced in all of his life, which causes him to fence others in.

The fence Rose asks Troy to build for her is a representation of the walls that arise between characters throughout the plot of the play. One example of this is the wall that comes between Troy and Cory when Troy does not allow Cory to play football. In Act 1 Scene 3, Troy and Cory’s relationship experiences a complication when Troy refuses to let Cory play football:

The fence becomes a representation of the barrier that Troy tries to create between him and mortality. Troy has a fixation on Death. He talks about how Death is an easy “fastball on the outside corner” (I. i). Troy always speaks about how he could easily knock a baseball out of the park. Comparing Death to a fastball shows how Troy thinks that he can continue to always keep Death on the other side of the fence because like a

In today 's society people have to deal with several issues that we can 't explain. For some of us we built fences to isolate ourselves from others or in some cases to protect ourselves. No matter what the issue is we, all have to struggle to be able to provide for our families. As a child I built fences when it came to my feelings. For example, growing up I was in the chunky side. Since I wasnt so skinny like the pretty girls in my class. I kinda isolated my self from the other students. That way my feelings wouldn 't get hurt. My fence was to protect me from what I thought was going to hurt me. Well the same thing happened to Troy Maxson. In the play, "Fences" written by the well-known playwright, August Wilson, is the story of Troy Maxson and his beloved family. Throughout the whole entire play, a fence is being built around the Maxson household. As the story unfolds to the viewers, the word fences may look like a simple title, but the truth is it has different symbolic meaning. The real definition of the word fence is revealed along with the personalities of the characters in the play. In "Fences", August Wilson uses different types of fences as a metaphor to explain how these people live.

As with most works of literature, the title Fences is more than just a title. It could be initially noted that there is only one physical fence being built by the characters onstage, but what are more important are the ideas that are being kept inside and outside of the fences that are being built by Troy and some of the other characters in Fences. The fence building becomes quite figurative, as Troy tries to fence in his own desires and infidelities. Through this act of trying to contain his desires and hypocrisies one might say, Troy finds himself fenced in, caught between his pragmatic and illusory ideals. On the one side of the fence, Troy creates illusions and embellishments on the truth, talking about how he wrestled with death, his

Through Troy’s perspective, he sees the fence as a barrier between his enemy known as; death. If death gets through the fence, it would have to come through Troy himself, since he believes that instead of loving his family; protecting them has more worth. It is clear Troy starts to build the fence to keep those who are mistreating his family out; although he himself grows distant. We can infer that Rose and Troy’s perspective of the fence had started to collide. Rose had viewed the fence to keep those she values and cherishes within the fence; while after Troy confesses he is cheating on her with Alberta a division with his family is shown. Division with their family occured due to Troy mistreating Rose and not realizing his mistake sooner. This is to show that Troy’s trait of responsibility reinforces the main symbol. Troy had acknowledged his mistakes resulting in a mental and emotional separation between the couple. “[...] A motherless child had got a hard time…. From right now this child got a mother. But you a womanless man. [...]” (Wilson,122) This confirms that even with the presence of Raynell; Rose will not acknowledge Troy for what he used to mean to her. Further into the play it is revealed that even with this rift, Rose continues to communicate with him to keep order within the house, although emotionally her ties have been severed with Troy.

In the play when Cory and Troy fight, Troy kicks Cory out of the house saying, “Cory: Tell Mama I'll be back for my things. Troy: They'll be on the other side of that fence." (Henderson) It is in this particular passage that Troy uses the fence physically to represent the dividing line between Cory and him, but more specifically the emotional barrier he’s put between him and his family. Troy grew up with an abusive father which makes his complete emotional disregard towards his family logical. If the man that raised you taught you keep your emotional guard up even with your family, you would probably treat your family the same way that Troy treated his; with complete emotional neglect and disregard. The fence working as barrier could also symbolize Troy trying to protect himself from feeling too deeply towards things which could end up disappointing him or already have. For instance, when Troy became passionate about becoming a Major League Baseball player he suffered extreme disappointment when he was rejected because of his race. It was this life lesson that reinforced Troy’s upbringing of emotional disregard towards things he could grow to either want, love, or feel passionate about like his family and friends. Troy’s philosophy in building the fence was that if you don’t grow an emotional attachment to something then it cannot hurt you, and he stayed by philosophy till his death. The fence also became symbolic of the barrier Troy wanted to

Consequently, Troy appears to be endlessly building a fence and this fence became a view of protection, a barrier. This fence became a barrier between Troy and death, where his life and his family needs to be protected. In another interview with Wilson, Bonnie Lyons states "By looking at Troy's life, white people find out that the content of this black garbage man's life is very similar to their own, that he is affected by the same things-love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty." Wilson created "Fences" to demonstrate Troy's life and make the connection to present. Although, protection is one out of many characteristics that enable people to avoid facing individual faults. Research shows that people are given reminders of their own mortality and

In Fences, Troy Maxon builds a fence around his property that contains metaphorical reasons as well as the literal meaning. During a conversation with Troy and Cory, Bono mentions the fence Troy is building for his wife Rose and says “Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you” (61). Bono explains this to Troy because Cory was unable to comprehend why Rose wanted the fence up in the first place. This opens the reader up to the symbolization of the fence itself. The fence allows Rose to keep Troy with her because she has loved him for so many years and does not want to let him go or leave her for another woman. Later, in Act two, Troy, after speaking to Rose about his new baby who he had with his mistress Alberta,

Troy looks back on his life and says nothing worked for him because of the color of his skin, and while during that time that may have been true, Troy only believes it because everything seems to work out best for everyone besides him. This feeling is what surrounds the premise of Troy building the fence around his home, to signify his self-righteous nature that he is only on his own and him constructing the fence is to symbolize his anger and suspicion preventing him from following his dreams (Edgar V.

In baseball, Fences is the slang term for the outfield wall that must be cleared for a home run (Zirin). During troy’s younger years he was a great baseball player but due to the color barrier in the major leagues, he was unable to finish his dreams. Although Troy knows he could go the distance in baseball, he sees the fences in his real life as a confinement. The fences are not only his confinement from his dreams but he is confined to dealing with his guilt. Troy says “I stood on first base for eighteen years and I thought…well, goddamn it…go on for it!” (Wilson 1609). Troy has built up guilt due to his infidelities with another woman. He cheats on his wife because he despises the idea that Rose is the best he can do. The building of the fence is something that Troy is trying to delay because he feels like in a sense having the fence up with take away his dreams and keep him in which is inevitably the reason for his adultery.

The combination of Rose as well as Troy is a more appropriate symbol for the fence; it is the combination of the two characters that creates a stronger representation of a fence. Rose is the driving force that forces Troy build the fence, so in reality it is Rose’s strength that carries the power that Troy needs to create a protective barrier around their home, life, and weaknesses from the outside forces of the world. Rose feels the need for a protective barrier, a fence, which can be built around her home for the protection of her family and her household. Her idea involved keeping the things and people who are important to her inside rather than keeping things and people outside. Troy is the opposite and wants to keep everything out. Interestingly, both Rose and Troy want the fence to protect their lives it is just a matter of perception. The title "Fences" symbolizes the figurative fences that the characters are wrapping around themselves either to keep people from departure or to prevent them from entering.

One of these metaphorical fences that was shown throughout the play was the fence that Troy built between himself and his wife, family, and friends. Bono points out that Troy builds this fence between his wife because he is cheating on her. Troy pushes his wife farther and farther from him by cheating on her. Rose finds out that Troy had been cheating on her when Troy tells her that the other woman is pregnant. The other woman dies during childbirth forcing Rose and Troy to take care of the child. During the play he does not have the motivation to finish the physical fence that he is building, which is similar to the motivation he is to stay committed to his wife. Troy is unable to open himself and communicate his emotions and his own affection. This effects Rose because she is unaware that he is cheating the entire time, and she has to find out when he tells her he got Alberta pregnant. This leaves Rose in disappointment of her husband.