Gender Roles : Gender Barriers In Fences, By August Wilson

In the 1950s, African American women had been framed in the role traditionally as good wives and mothers. They are more likely to openly express their difficulties in the role of a housewife and constantly being dominated by men. Rose in Fences was a typical example of the women’s roles at that time. In the soon display of the Act 1 scene 1 of, the reader can see Rose under Wilson’s description pen as

August Wilson’s Fences depicts life in the 1950s for a typical African American family. The play touches upon racism, shifting family dynamics, and the politics of war. While racism plays an important and vital role in the play, instead of lamenting the issue, Wilson uses the characters as a weapon against the rampant racism of the time. In the same fashion, the relationship between Troy, Rose, and Cory demonstrates the shifting cultural and family dynamics of the decade. Likewise, Wilson’s depiction of Gabriel as a wounded veteran who is not fully supported by the government that sent him off to war offers an enlightening commentary on the politics of the era. Wilson uses the

In 1939 World War II began. This war led to many men being drafted into the war, or volunteering to go to war. World War II ended in 1945, leaving six years where most capable, working men were off at war. This led the women in the United States to take over the jobs once held by men. This, however; becomes problematic when the men return home because all of them are now jobless and want their old jobs back. So, when the men came home they took back their jobs, which in turn, led many women to become stay at home mothers who look after the kids, cook, and clean. Fences takes place in 1957, and by this point in time most women have gotten used to being a domesticated housewife who always has dinner ready when their husband gets home from work and has a tidy house, which is how women are depicted in the play.

The role women play in Fences is that they had traditional roles and the distribution of private and public circle. Men functioned in the public circle; they left the home to go to jobs. Women primarily operate in the private circle of home and private chores. When Rose is an encounter with Troy sleeping with another woman, she may choose to stay in the marriage, but if she choices to stay in the marriage it might suggest that she is accepting or helpless. During her marriage, Rose has allowed Troy to fill her life with happiness, wooly, and more. She tells Troy, “I took all my feelings; my wants, and needs, my dreams ... and I buried them inside you” (Wilson). But Troy's deception forces Rose to reexamine her position. Rose replaces her church with her husband. Rose tells Troy that “This child got a mother. But you a womanless man” (Wilson), Rose has chosen to be the bigger person in marriage. She admits her collaboration, but the audience is reminded that her options were few. Yet she is not an abused woman, and when Rose takes the baby Raynell and speaks the lines that end this scene. Clearly, Rose is anticipated by black women as a firm female character and not an enslaved

Rose Maxson is a housewife in the play, Fences is written by August Wilson. Rose is Troy’s loyal wife. She is a mother that cares for all of her children. All in all, Rose Maxson would be one of the most compassionate characters in this play. Compassionate is a strong feeling of sympathy for the suffering or bad luck and having the will of helping those who are affected. In Fences, Rose states, “[...] Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t...and at the same time, he tried to make you into everything he was. I don’t know if he was right or wrong...but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm [...]” (Wilson, 97). In this quote, Rose demonstrated her concern for Cory, in terms of his hasty decision on not to attend

As the roles of an African American men begin to evolve during the post-slavery time period, women’s roles remained unchanged. In this case, in August Wilson’s play Fences, Wilson’s perspective on gender roles explains the traditions of both men and women, the oppression and objectification of women, and the social roles. For instance, “Indeed, Wilson’s perspective on responsibility might appear dubious to those unfamiliar with his decidedly male ethos, which he links to the history of black male-female relations in America” (Shannon 199). Conflict arises between Troy and his family because of his representation in gender roles that were traditionally meant to play. This is the view on how Troy communicates with his wife, Rose throughout the play. Furthermore, because of the strict gender roles, Troy has a narrow view as how African Americans are being treated in the society and a tunnel view on what he believes on how the world operates.

For example, Jenny Stringer states, “Wilson's plays focus on the alienation, frustration, and rage of black men and women in America, and present, in striking and articulate dramatic dialogue, the dispossessed black voices of the American past and present,” (The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English). The issue of alienation of black men and women and the suppressing of their voices remains a contemporary issue, as is demonstrated by the racial tensions regarding police officers and the Black Lives Matter movement, for instance. Fences manages to transcend time by way of its modern realism and focus on real-life issues and

Throughout their lives, humans tend to build fences around the things they care for both literally and metaphorically. A fence is designed for the purpose of either keeping the unwanted out or protecting loved ones. In August Wilson's 1983 play entitled Fences, fences are formed both literally and figuratively. In the opening of act I, scene 2 Rose, the wife of the play's protagonist Troy Maxson sings a song asking Jesus to “be a fence all around me every day”. Through her song, Rose is asking Jesus to conceal and protect her from the troubles of her present day society. However, Rose is not the only character hoping to build up a fence, throughout the play, many of Wilson's characters seek to build fences around themselves and the ones they love. Wilson's play is based around the theme of building up fences in order to both keep out and enclose certain things, ideas, and people.

August Wilson’s plays Fences depicting the 1950s and King Hedley II the 1980s, are two plays from his Ten Plays Project. The Ten Plays Project was Wilson’s way of capturing African American life during each decade of the 20th century. While the plays seem to be centered around the men of the households, the men’s supportive wives Rose and Tonya reduce their egos and play huge roles in both plays by being the glue and nurturers for their families. Although Rose and Tonya display different levels of maturity, and of the societal values in their decade, they both try to maintain stability in their households.

The play Fences by August Wilson sets in 1957 just before the civil rights movement. The playwright describes it as what we would infer present day to be Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The main character is Troy Maxwell and the play is written to emphasize in Troys life who he was as a person and what circumstances in his life made him who he is in the play. Important people in the play are Troy’s wife Rose, his young brother Gabriel. Troy’s children Lyons (Oldest), Cory (middle), and Raynell (youngest) and his best friend Bono. The play is coming-of-age: how Troy grows as a person and how he impacts those closest to him.

The reason why August Wilson chose to set his play Fences in 1957 is because it was a pivotal moment in United States history for equal rights. Throughout the story, the characters go through trials and tribulations because they are African Americans in the United States during this time. The main character, Troy, is an African American man who struggles the most from being a black man. The title “Fences” has many symbolic meanings and it has significance to the slavery period in America. August Wilson also created the time period with his language use as well.

In Fences, Wilson presents how men’s behavior toward women have been superior. Rose’s character has tolerated Troy's [Rose Husband] crucial behavior. When Rose found out that Troy had an affair with Alberta, she stated, "you ain't been home from work but time enough to change your clothes and run out...and you wanna call that the best you can do?"(Wilson 74). Even with Troy's affair, Rose has been patient with Troy because she still loved and wanted to be with him. Rose has invested so much in Troy that she hasn’t been thinking about herself and her happiness. She waited six months with hopes that they will still be together. Realizing her investment

In August Wilson’s “Fences” the playwright portrayed women in a feministic way through the way Troy acted. For example, when Troy is calling for Rose but she doesn’t come right away he says, “You supposed to come when I call you, woman.” (Wilson 1.4.21). This is his way of saying she supposed to be obedient and follow the directions given. Yet Wilson shows a womanistic way through Rose and how she responds. Rose says, “Man, hush your mouth. I ain’t no dog... talk about “come when you call me” (Wilson 1.4.22). Rose shows she is a strong woman and responds back to Troy’s feministic action. Another example of the attitude towards women in the play is when Rose is in the kitchen preparing supper while Troy is outside talking to his friend Bono. Rose asks, “What you all out here getting into?” Troy responds, “What you worried about what we getting into for this is Men talk, Women.” August Wilson wants the audience to recognize how women are excluded from things and how they should only worry about taking care of the home and children. Wilson shows his audience two ways he portrays women throughout the play and he stressed the significance of their roles in that time period.

In Fences by August Wilson, Rose is interpretive as the role every wife and mother should fulfil. August Wilson, was a son of a black woman and a white man. In the context of the time period, August grew up in his mother was more than likely unappreciated and additional disrespect for being black by her community and her husband. Women are characterized to have a distinctive role to contribute to their family. Society is not the only place that women are viewed through a feminist lens, it happens in their own home; Women are unappreciated by men, including their husbands, expected to do domesticated duties, and put their family before herself.

August Wilson has said that the creative process that led him to write Fences was set in motion not by an idea for a plot, or even for a character, but by an image: the image of a black man holding a baby. I believe he was trying to be the best dad he could and the best husband to fulfill the need of his family. Therefore, one very important theme is the family. Later in the play, is obvious how he did not succeed either as a husband or father. He cheated on his wife, a beautiful daughter was a result, but the stepmother took care of her. This is an example of how the wife was trying to keep this family