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Professor Gilbert Theatre Arts 300 Fences Reading Assignment The play Fences, by August Wilson is a well-known play. It has been performed at Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven on April 30, 1985 and also at 46th street on Broadway in March 26, 1987. Fences have been performed by many famous actors like James Earl Jones as Troy and Denned Washington. The play has also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama award and a Tony award in 1987. The playwright of Fences is August Wilson. August Wilson was born on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh and died on October 2, 2005.
This play fit into his body work a lot. What he usually writes in his play is about drama. His plays that he writes about mostly takes place Pittsburgh. What Wilson mostly writes is about people’s daily lives and struggles having African American descent. The play Fences style is dramatic yet comedic. The genre of this play is comedy. Why I say it is a Tragedy is because of what the protagonist did. Because of what he did, there were a lot of consequences. Some unusual elements of this story that I found that was interesting were the story or plot and how the characters chain up soother.
Because of one person it changed the whole story of the play. Without one person it would really make a big change to the play. The story offences is about Troy of how what he did made a lot of consequences to his life and also his family. The setting of this story is in the sass’s in Pittsburgh. Troy is living in the past and reluctantly tries to “move on”. Because of how he was raised and the time, it affected him on how he raised his kids and family. He and his best friend Bono always drink and socialize every Friday talking and catching up.
Bono tries talking to Troy about owe he’s doing and hinting to Troy about Alberta that if he is trying anything or having an affair with her or not but Troy would always digress and never respond to the answer. Troy has 2 sons, Cord Macon and Lyon Macon. Cord is getting requited to go to college to play football but will need Troy to sign his papers to go. Because of Troy wanting Cord to work instead and how he wants Cord to not go to play and go college, he didn’t sign it. He also thinks that it is still the old way where Blacks are still treated unfairly.
His wife Rose Manson wants Troy to build a fence for their house. Time after time it would not be built. She wants it to be built to represent it as to hold on to their family tightly and others keep away. As 2 weeks passed while helping Troy out with the fence, Bono confronted to Troy about the affair and then Troy finally revealed that he was. Gabriel, Troy’s brother, who is mentally injured went to Jail for disturbing the peace. Troy later then confessed to Rose about having an affair with Alberta and is having another baby from another woman. As time passes, Troy lost all his respect towards his family.
He accidental signed a paper that he couldn’t read that made Gabriel go into a mental institute instead of having him released from Jail. Hearing the news and then later hearing another one Rose felt that the baby had no bidding to this issue and takes her in as her own daughter. Later on, Troy has a fight with Cord one last time and kicks him out of the house. Years go by and Troy dies from having a heart attack. All the family goes to the funeral but Cord doesn’t want to go because Cord feels that Troy always has to be with him wherever he goes. After talking to Rose and Randall, Troy’s daughter to
Alberta, Cord then changed his mind and decided to go. Their language of how they speak has little slang. An example of having little slang was when Troy said, “l anti but two seconds off you anyway. The garbage sitting in there overflowing… You anti done none of your chores… ” (31). Having the characters speak like that, I felt more emotion imagining them talking. The time setting of the play made me felt like I was actually in their daily life and knew what and how they felt during every moment of it. I enjoyed the play a lot. The story of this play was very deep and emotional.
Having read this play, it really connected to me because I felt almost like in Cowry’s position. Cord couldn’t go to college and play Just like how my parents wouldn’t want me to go play a sport. In Act One Scene 4 when they were talking about their childhood, I could relate on how they felt and said through my experiences of hearing people talk about their parents. Having to understand the history of how what was passed down from their parents and how they treat them I could see how Troy acts like that. Because of Troy’s past, it affected on how he love and care for his kids.