Both August Wilson and Neil Simon made their female characters Rose Maxson and Kate Jerome domestic goddesses devoted to their families and focused on the well-being of every member. Both women do everything possible for uniting their families and protecting them from the rest of the world by building visible or invisible fences and lavishing care upon their dear and near.
Rose and Kate are in their forties and their life experience makes them worldly-wise. Simon’s character Kate Jerome takes most responsibility in her home. Her maternal instinct makes her act as a mother to everyone. Her concentration on a home does not mean that her interests are limited somehow; it is explained with her life philosophy, not allowing strangers into the life of her family. I was impressed with Simon’s ability to make this character so mild and strong at the same time. Kate admits that she could stand anything “except when someone in the family is mad at me” (Simon 64). The same goes for Wilson’s Rose, whose life position is a position of a sophisticated woman. Like Kate, she manages to act as a mother to everyone. Rose treats her husband’s extramarital child like her own. She manages to be above all prejudices, sacrificing her feelings for the well-being of her family. Her statement “you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child” (Wilson 79) sounds sincere and demonstrates the broadness of her views. Rose and Kate believe in a better tomorrow and consciously or not do everything possible for protecting their homes from the rest of the world. Rose asks Troy and Cory to build a fence, and this request represents her desire to keep her dear and near close to her. Kate speaking about strangers insists that everyone should stay on one’s side of the street as well.
The complexity of these female characters, their inner strength, and their attempts to protect their families impressed me greatly.
Fences are one of the central symbols of August Wilson’s work of the same name. The author emphasizes the dual character offenses, which depending upon the people’s attitude to them might either “not let people out or not let people in” (Wilson 106). Love, responsibility, and wisdom are the things that Rose would like to fence inside of her home being aimed at uniting her family by all means, while death and social injustice are the things that her husband would like not to let in.
Wilson demonstrates the changes in the main characters’ lives during building the fence. It is possible that the fence itself was not of crucial importance for the small and dirty backyard, but the project itself united the members of the family and revealed the differences in their life views and attitude to universal values. Rose’s concentration on the positive side of life makes her concentrate on good instead of thinking about preventing bad events. Fencing love in her home and becoming a domestic goddess, she shares her positive energy with everyone. There are no limits to her love for her family and her commitment to family and ability to sacrifice her feelings and interests are admirable. Fencing duty and responsibility in the house, the author demonstrates the significant role of these values in family life. Rose’s wisdom based on her life experience allows her to find happiness and meaning in her family life. As opposed to his wife, Troy concentrates his efforts on the struggle against things that he is unable to prevent. Thus, he describes his struggle and victory over death. He compares death to a “fastball in the outside corner” (Wilson 146). However, completing the fence, he is threatened by it and, naturally, appears to be helpless to prevent it. The same goes for Troy’s concentration on social injustice and recollections of his happy past.
Wilson’s effort to demonstrate the impact of the person’s perception on reality impressed me greatly and influenced my views.
Works Cited
Simon, Neil. Brighton Beach Memoirs. New York: Plume, 1995. Print.
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Penguin, 1988. Print.