August Wilson's Fences

The English language is malleable, and tracing and studying its history is fascinating. Only those who are truly experts can precisely replicate and reproduce certain dialects when necessary and is a required skill when aiming to write a historical work, an example of these works being Fences. August Wilson was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh. He was born to an African-American mother and German father, the latter of which was usually absent in his life. In the story, we follow Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old, and his trials and experiences as a father to Cory, husband to Rose, and friend to Bono. Every decade has distinct characteristics that no other can completely emulate. Thus, if one were to keep everything in the play but only change the time …show more content…
Bono and Troy have been best friends for over a decade. They are comfortable speaking their minds with each other, and once discussed how an African-American tried to hide a watermelon. Troy concludes his recollection of the event by stating that Mr. Rand, the employer, “[figured] if the nigger too dumb to know he was carrying a watermelon, he wasn’t gonna get much sense out of him…[hiding it because he was] afraid to let the white man see him carry it home” (Wilson, 2). Many instances of Wilson’s precise use of diction appear in this quote from the play. White man and the N-word are two terms intertwined with the history and can only pertain to certain eras. For example, from the 17th century until after Jim Crow laws, only white Americans would use the N-word as a derogatory term in the era of slavery, and later to refer to African-Americans. Likewise, African-Americans would not be so bold as to refer to these slaveholders as “the white man” since it would be viewed as disrespectful. Furthermore, nowadays both of these terms would come under scrutiny and censored if used in daily conversation. If the play’s setting became the modern era, the play would be condemned due to its regressive …show more content…
Segregation and discrimination was legal and widespread in the 1950s. Due to these obstacles, the lifestyles of every individual was not fundamentally equal: everything people of color owned was of lower quality. The aforementioned racial issues serve as a type of conflict within the play. For example, Troy Maxson does not want Cory to meet a football recruiter because “the white man ain’t gonna let him anywhere get nowhere with that football” (Wilson, 8). Additionally, at his job, he indignantly notes that Mr. Rand, his employer, only has the “white mens driving and the colored lifting” (Wilson, 2). Many of the struggles in the story would not exist today. Racism, while still present, is typically more nuanced and influenced by nurturing and ignorance that can easily be resolvable. However, to Troy Maxson and every other African-American during his time, racism was real and mean and hard, limiting their opportunities and prosperity. Notwithstanding, their situation was unique to its time: they were considered citizens, whereas previously they were oppressed even further by laws, but not equal to whites and had only recently begun to find true success, unlike during the Civil Rights Movement, where African-Americans had higher self-esteem and expectations for

Show More