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Literary Analysis Essay on Fences The sport of baseball is an extremely integral aspect of the book Fences. Troy Maxson, our protagonist in this play, was a baseball player. It is Troy’s belief that the only reason he never made the major leagues was because he has the wrong color skin. Throughout the play, it is noticeable that Troy is still bitter over this and continuously makes references to current players and how he is much better than them. Troy’s life is a difficult one, and the connection between baseball and Troy’s trying life leads me to my point. The use of baseball in Fences is to symbolize the American dream and it being unattainable to Troy Maxson. First, how is it that our American pastime can be directly related to and represented as the American dream? There are several connections between the sport and the American dream that lead me to my thesis. The article Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson’s Fences does a great job of connecting these two seemingly unrelated subjects. This article starts with a great quote by John Thorn saying, baseball has become “the great repository of national ideals, the symbol of all that [is] good in American life: fair play; the rule of law; equal opportunity; the brotherhood of man; and more.” Fair play shown through sportsmanship between the two teams, rule of law in “objective arbitration of disputes,” equal opportunity as each team is given a chance on both offensive and defensive sides each inning, and brotherhood as fans share the stands as they root on their team. The article goes on to make a very valid point about the baseball diamond itself. The playing field can be looked at as archetypal, being “a walled garden, an American Eden marked by youth and timelessness.” This ever-lasting battlefield for teams also plays well into the American ideals and American dream. As Bart

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