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Fences By August Wilson: Play Analysis

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The play Fences, by August Wilson, is a play that portrays the many roles of an average African American family. They lived during a strenuous time when segregation was just starting to lighten up. In the play, a housewife named Rose Maxson has a difficult time keeping her family in one piece. Rose always found herself battling between her husband, Troy Maxson’s decisions. Trying to deal with the rights and wrongs of life. This play has a deeper meaning to it that is shown through the characters.
The play Fences had a very deep meaning within the title itself. Troy Maxson, the main character was supposed to be building a fence around a house that his wife had asked for. The fence was being built to keep out all the negatives and to keep in …show more content…
For example, the relationship between Troy Maxson and Cory Maxson, Rose and Troy’s son. Cory always questioned his father about liking him because of the relationship they had. They would constantly argue about life decisions that would benefit Cory in the long run. Such as, Cory being offered a football scholarship for college. Troy had an option of doing the same during his baseball years but when the time was right, his age wasn’t. Furthermore, Troy wasn’t able to accomplish this dream of his and he wasn’t going to let his son get the opportunity. As a result, Cory held a grudge against his father because of this and never really forgave him fully. There was also another significant relationship that had to do with a major part of this play, and that’s between Rose and Troy. According to Rose, she gave up her life to be with Troy. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to live the life she dreamed of, but she had hoped that giving her life to Troy would at least be worth it. Unfortunately, she was wrong; after all he had put her through, their relationship ended when he admitted that he was having an affair. To make things worse the woman he was having an affair with was pregnant. Rose knew she couldn’t put up with him anymore, so she made a decision to leave him

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