Fences by August Wilson - Essay Example

Fences – Literature Essay Table of Contents Introduction 3 Backdrop and Historical Context 3 Plot Analysis 4 Critical Analysis of Plot Structure 6 Ending of the Play 6 Themes, Motifs and Symbols 7 Characters of the Play 7 Conclusion 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction Written in 1983 by August Wilson, an American playwright, ‘Fences’ is a “Pittsburgh Play”. Set in the backdrop of 1950’s, ‘Fences’ stands sixth in position among Wilson’s ten- part Pittsburgh Cycle. ‘Fences’ explores evolving African-American experience and is a strong document of America’s race relations among myriad themes which the play encapsulates. Wilson received Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987 for this brilliant work .It earned Tony Award for Best Actor for James Earl Jones too. Backdrop and Historical Context August Wilson was known by the name of August Kittel when he was born to a German father and an African-American mother in 1945 and was raised in Pittsburgh mostly by his mother and his step-father. Wilson witnessed the areas where blacks were highly discriminated and undermined. He himself became the victim of racism when he was accused of plagiarism in school for writing a sophisticated essay and was thrown out of the institute. Fences portray the condition of blacks in the 1950’s. The play begins in 1957 between the Korean and Vietnam wars and ends in 1965. But the themes of the play directly hits the consciousness in a pre-civil-rights-movement and pre-Vietnam –war-era-psyche. In the play, Maxson is the representative of an amalgamation of black men’s history of the south and the present life of the north. Wilson’s plays take place in his home town of Pittsburgh and Fences is no exception. Wilson draws a clear picture of the America in 1950’s. He portrays the time through his play as a new world of opportunity when the blacks began to open up, leaving those like Tory, who were raised in the first half of the century, only to feel like aliens in their own land. Plot Analysis The play Fences is divided into two acts, the Act I comprises of four scenes where as the Act II comprises of five scenes. The Play opens on Friday which is Bono and Tory’s pay day. Both the person goes to Tory’s house for their weekly ritual of drinking and chatting. Tory asked Mr. Rand, their boss about the discrimination done with the blacks and the reason for not allowing them to drive the garbage car and only engaging them to lift garbage. Act I also puts forward many other issues of the play like Bono thinking about Tory’s infidelity towards his wife and Cory (Tory and Rose’s son) recruited by a college football team. Tory moves back in time and start to narrate the story about his struggle in the July of 1943 with death. Lyons arrives at Tory’s house because he knows that it is Tory’s pay day. In the meantime, Rose insists Tory to finish building up the fence which she asked him to build around their house. Act I continues with all the crest and fall in Tory’s life along Cory’s decision to concentrate full time in football. Leaving his job annoyed his father as Tory strongly objects to it. The last scene of Act I i.e. scene four takes place again on Friday. Tory has won the case and has been assigned as the first black garbage truck driver. Tory and Bono recall the lives of their fathers and their wretched and miserable childhood days. They recall their experience of leaving south and moving towards north. The scene ends with the fighting between the father and the son. Cory Burges into the room enraged about his father’s activities. Tory informed the football coach that Cory might not play. This annoyed Cory but his father warns him that his insubordinance is “strike one” against him. Tory bails his brother Gabriel out of the jail. Both Bono and Tory start working on the fence. Tory admits to Bono that he is having an affair with Alberta. Bono bets Tory that if he manages to finish building the fence then he will buy his wife a refrigerator. Tory tells Rose about his affair. Tory and Cory indulge into a fight and again Tory wins. This time he calls it “strike two” on Cory. The next scene opens after six months as we find Tory is about to visit Alberta at the hospital, who was admitted for labor. Rose tells Tory in the meantime that his brother was again taken to the asylum as Tory was unable to read the papers and sign it. Alberta dies of childbirth and we find Tory challenging death to grab him only after he finishes building his fence. Tory brings her baby girl whom Alberta left behind and names her Raynell. Rose accepts the baby as her own daughter but becomes completely passive in her relation with Tory. On another of Tory’s payday, Bono once again turns up and they start recalling about their acknowledgement of finishing the fence and buying refrigerator respectively. Tory decides to throw out Cory out of the house and Cory points out Tory’s injustice with Rose and brings forth the point that the property from which his father is actually throwing him out belongs to the brothers of Tory as most of the mortgage checks are paid from Gabriel’s government checks. Tory throws out Cory out of the house. Eight years later, Raynell plays in her newly planted garden and Tory expires from a heart attack and Lyon and Bono joins Rose for the furenal.Cory refuse to perform any rituals but Rose makes him understand that non participation to his father’s last rite doesn’t make him a man. Cory and Raynell sing one of Toy’s father’s blue songs. Gabriel appears escaped or released from the asylum and blows his trumpet which doesn’t produce any music. Very disappointed and hurt, he dances and makes a loud cry which opens the doors of the heaven wide and Gabriel says, “That’s the way that goes”. With this note the play ends (Spark Notes, “Summary”). Critical Analysis of Plot Structure ‘Fences’ is a two-Act play. The combination of exposition and complication are found in the first act where the audience learns about the affair of Tory with another woman and the conflict between the father and the son and the role of sports in each mans life. The climax of the play is presented in the Act II of the play and consequently the audience also witnesses the falling action and the Catastrophe through Tory’s death and the reunion of the family. Ending of the Play The ending builds up the situational irony of the play. At the moment of reconciliation of the family when every body gathered to pay homage and respect to Tory, it was expected that Gabriel would have been able to blow his trumpet. Instead the mouthpiece breaks and the play ends with a note of Gabriel’s howling and dance which is very close to the reality and a true essence of situational irony. Themes, Motifs and Symbols If we give a close inspection to the play, we would find that the text is woven into a numerous themes, motifs and symbol. There are three major themes in the play namely coming of age within the cycle of damaged black manhood, interpreting and inheriting history and the choice between pragmatism and illusion with survival mechanisms. The three motifs which form a continuous pattern in the play are death and basketball, seeds and growth and blues. Trains, fences and the devil are major symbol in the text. Alberta is also a symbol in the play. She stands for the exotic dream of Tory which serves as his escapades from the real life problems and acts as a short-term refuge to the world of dreams and illusion. (Spark Notes, “Themes, Motifs, and Symbols”). Characters of the Play Wilson has large potentials to make his characters believable. In one of his reviews in Newsweek, Allan Wallach noted that Jones was at his best in the play and it is only men and the diversified colors of their characters that dominate the play. Very truly Allan marks “a rich portrait of a man who scaled down his dreams to fit inside his run-down yard”. Wilson decorates his play with the following characters making them so real that they seem to be the mouthpiece of the blacks of Pittsburgh and are so appealing that they can be easily accepted as an acquaintance next door: Tony Maxson: The protagonist of the play and a fifty-three year old African American man who was employed in the sanitation department and use to lift up garbages into the truck. He is also a retired baseball player and a star of the Negro league. Cory Maxson: Tory’s son and a teenage who was interested to play football and works at a local grocery store. Rose Maxson: Wife of Tory and mother of Cory. She is a forty-three year old American -African housewife, dedicated to her household and volunteers at the church regularly. Gabriel Maxson: Tory’s brother, a soldier at Second World War. He has a head injury as a result of which he suffers from mental misbalance. Bono: Tory’s best friend. His original name was Jim Bono and is known as Bono in the play. Tory and Bono met in jail. Lyson Maxson: Lyson is the first son of Tory and is an ambitious Jazz musician. Raynell Maxson: Illegitimate child, mothered by Alberta. Alberta: Tory’s illegitimate lover and mother of Raynell. Bonnie: Lyon’s girlfriend who works at the laundry of the Mercy hospital. Mr. Satwicki: Corry’s boss at A&P. Coach Zellman: Corry’s high school football coach who encourages recruiters to come and see Cory playing. Mr. Rand: Tory and Bono’s boss at the sanitation department. Miss Pearl: Gabe’s landlady of the new apartment. (Spark Notes, “Character List”) Conclusion Fences received great acclamation from both, the critics and the audience. The language and the style of the play were so close to the reality that the dialogues appeared to be the voice of a black American. As a consequence, a lot of people were able to relate themselves with the play as it appeared to be their real life reflection.”Few writers can capture dialect as dialogue in a manner as interesting and accurate as August’s” was stated by Jones when interviewed with Heather Henderson in theatre.Civil Barnes truly remarked while writing for the New York Post that Wilson provides” the strongest, most passionate American dramatic writing since Tennessee Williams” (Enotes, “Introduction”). References Enotes, “Introduction”. 14 November, 2009. Introduction. No Date.< http://www.enotes.com/fences> Spark Notes, “Character List” 14 November, 2009. Fences. No Date. Spark Notes, “Themes, Motifs, and Symbols”. 14 November, 2009. Fences. No Date. Spark Notes, “Summary”. 14 November, 2009. Femces. No Date. Bibliography Boston University, “Fences by August Wilson”. 14 November, 2009. Calender. No Date. Princeton University, “Students bring August Wilsons Fences to the stage”. 14 November, 2009. Featured Story. No Date. Read More