The Analysis Of “ FENCES’’

By August Wilson

By :

Amanita fatimatuzzahro’

M. Arif Ramadhani

Fences presents a slice-of-life in a black tenement in Pittsburgh set in the late 1950s through 1965.

Fences is both unique to the plight of African Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition.

The father-son and husband-wife relationships cross both unique and universal boundaries.

The Biography of August Wilson

He was born in Pittsburgh, on 27 27 April 1945.

Son of German American Frederick August Kittel and African American Daisy Wilson

Grew up in a poor, racially mixed section of Pittsburgh called “the Hill”.

In his work, Wilson concentrated on the daily lives of average African Americans, but gave particularly poetic, lyrical voices to the lower class service workers who dominate the Hill District. His works are unique for consistently bringing out the angry, bitter stories of the poor and marginalized in a fashion that was accepted by the mainstream, while remaining politically and socially honest.

In 2005, Wilson died of liver cancer at the age of 60.

The Synopsis of ‘’Fences’’

The first act of the play is a swirling portrait of Troy Maxson's life. We meet all the main people surrounding Troy. There's his best friend, Bono, whom he met while in prison. Now the two work together as garbage collectors and sip gin every Friday night. Then there's Rose, Troy's loving and dutiful wife. Lyons, Troy's son from a previous relationship, stops by to borrow some money. We also meet Gabriel, Troy's brother, who suffers from a World War II head wound and now thinks he is the archangel Gabriel. Last, there's Cory, Troy's son by Rose.

Wilson plants all the major conflicts of the play in the first act. Troy is trying to break the racial barrier at work by becoming the first black garbage truck driver. This conflict is actually quickly resolved as Troy wins his battle. We also get strong hints in the first act that Troy is having an affair with a woman named Alberta.

Ultimately, however, it seems that the main conflict of the play will involve Troy's son Cory. Cory has the chance to go to college on a football scholarship, but Troy refuses to sign the permission paper. Troy says he doesn't want his son to suffer from the same racial discrimination that kept Troy from being a pro baseball player. This tension comes to a head when Troy tells Cory's high school football coach that Cory can't play football anymore, which destroys Cory's hopes of going to college.

Things start to go really bad for Troy in the play's second act. When Alberta becomes pregnant, he's forced to fess up to Rose about his affair. Making matters worse, Alberta dies in childbirth. Rose agrees to raise the baby girl, Raynell, but says she no longer considers herself Troy's woman.

Not only does Troy lose his mistress and his wife, he also loses his best friend, Bono. We learn that the two men no longer hang out. This is partly because ever since Troy got the promotion to driver, the two don't work together anymore. More than that, though, it seems like Bono is really disappointed in Troy for having the affair. We also learn that Troy has had Gabriel put away in a mental hospital. Rose accuses him of doing this just to get half of Gabriel's disability check.

The last scene of the play takes place years later on the day of Troy's funeral. We see Cory return home in a military uniform. He's gone out and made his own way in the world but is still struggling with the shadow of his father. He considers not going to the funeral, but is talked out of it by Rose. We're given hope that Cory is on the path to becoming his own man and forgiving his father when he and young Raynell sing a song together in honor of Troy.

Mimetic Approach

Literature is a form of imitation

It defines literature in relation to “life”

It sees literature as a way of reproducing or recreating of life in words, just as paintings reproduces or recreates certain figure or scenes of life in outline and color.

Historically, mimetic approach is the imitation of author’s life.

Related to the August Wilson’s biography, this drama discribes August Wilson’s life. Fences presents a slice-of-life in a black tenement in Pittsburgh set in the late 1950s through 1965, and Fences is both unique to the plight of African Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition.