Fences Research Paper

Cassi “Basil” Smith.

Professor Weddle

English 1102

04/2X/2024

Drama essay

Symbolism is a cornerstone of good storytelling. When used properly, symbolism takes its media and enhances it by adding a secondary level of depth to the story told; it adds more to analyze and appreciate the characters, setting, or themes the author has chosen. Fences by August Wilson uses its namesake to enhance the character dynamics of the drama through subtle importance. While characters call attention to the physical fence Troy Maxson is asked to build, the audience is left to interpret the nature of the mundane conflict on their own. Compared to the extreme nature of the remaining conflicts in fences, calling attention to the physical fence, or lack thereof, …show more content…
The Maxson family’s back porch acts as the one and only set piece in the original stage play for both practical reasons outside of the play and to keep the story focused on the focus of the play: the Maxson family. While characters talk sitting on the porch, or fight in the yard, we also see characters listen and communicate while still inside the house. Rose Maxson, Troy’s wife, appears outside of the house but also spends time communicating with characters through the window. This window leads to the kitchen, a place when women in the 1950’s were expected to spend much of their time. The division of Rose being in the house while the other character, all men until the final scene, serves as a fence of its own; it is a dividing boundary between not only Rose and her husband, but Rose as a woman and her place in the …show more content…
Demonstrated by his dismissive and mentally abusive attitude towards his family and the people around him, Troy builds a fence of isolation around himself, mistaking it as a strong barrier of protection and dominance when the symbolic fence only serves to deter and even scare the people closest to him. This threatening fence of Troy’s motivates the other characters to build their own fences to cope with or protect themselves from Troy’s abuse. Cory, Troy’s youngest son and biggest adversary, bears the more evident brunt of his father’s abuse. In the stage play, Troy hits, torments Cory, denies his ambitions out of jealousy, and even physically threatens Cory’s life to show superiority and establish a sense of control over the boy. For this abuse, Cory is forced to build a defensive fence around himself. Through the play, he distances himself from his father emotionally and physically, eventually joining the Marines and refusing to attend his father’s funeral to regain the sense of control his father took from him. The distance Cory asserts is a symbolic fence, a protective barrier between Cory and his abusive father that acts not only as literal protection from his father, but also protection from the idea Cory may one day grow up to become like his

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