August Wilson’s Fences raises several essential questions regarding both the lives of African American people living in the United States in the 20th century and the family life in general. The topics elucidated in the play include racial inequality and striving to overcome it, substance abuse, conjugal infidelity, war traumatism, generation gap, disappointment, and mortality. Although each of these issues is highly significant, it is possible to single out two most pronounced reasons for Wilson’s phenomenal success in Fences. The first one is the genuine portrayal of African Americans’ position in US society in the 20th century. The second aspect that makes the play remarkable is the allegory of the fence, which, as it turns out, the main character is trying to build both physically and indirectly.
The depiction of African Americans’ position in the 20th-century USA is rather candid and straightforward. The two characters that are first presented to the audience – Troy and Bono – are Negro men working hard to earn their living. Both of them are married, and their spouses are housewives. Each of the family strives to make ends meet, and even Troy’s younger son, Cory, has to work to help his family survive. The first indication of the main character’s straightforwardness, which is the main factor of the play’s success, is Troy’s argument with the company boss concerning the division of labor. The two friends are employed as trash collectors, and Troy has asked the manager, “Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?” (Wilson 1.1.5). The man continues with his own conclusion, “You think only white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck” (Wilson 1.1.5). The question expressed by Troy is so much more than merely an inquiry about the company rules. This question embodies many other issues related to the division of society into “black” and “white.”
The author prompts the audience to think why some jobs or positions are fit for White Americans, and others are given to African Americans only. Despite the abolition of slavery and seemingly equal rights granted to every citizen, America had long been the place of prejudiced treatment toward racial minorities. The same skeptical tone can be felt in Troy’s opinion about his son’s chances to succeed in football. Having had a sad experience in the baseball league, Troy is utterly disappointed with the system that leaves no prospects to Negro boys. He says that a “colored guy got to be twice as good” as a White one to be able to get on the team (Wilson 1.3.37). Troy seems to be generally disappointed with the division of society into Whites and non-Whites. Such discouragement is revealed in the man’s opinion on a person’s ability to provide for his family, to participate in recreational or professional sports activities, and even to fulfill any of the dreams one has. If a person is African American, according to the main character, he or she can only sustain a living but not be happy.
The illumination of the problems of African Americans is the first notion leading to the play’s phenomenal success. The second one, not less important, is the allegory of the fence in the play. The first time the audience comes across this concept is already in the title, where it is used in the plural form. Later, one realizes that plurality refers not to the number of structures surrounding a piece of land but to a variety of defensive mechanisms and emotional barriers existing between the characters and their personal fears. This symbolization of the fence is what makes the play’s essence so deep and multi-faceted. For Rose, the fence symbolizes the division between her family and the outer world: the woman wants to protect her family from affairs and unfriendly strangers (though unsuccessfully). For Troy, the fence means feigned protection from death, which he is afraid of despite boasting to have met it and “wrassled” with it (Wilson 1.1.13). For Gabe, the fence represents an opportunity to live in his own little world, where he imagines himself to be an angel that is helping Saint Peter to perform his duties.
Throughout the play, a keen reader can notice indications of the peculiarities that led to its phenomenal success. The characters are in a constant process of building fences around them. Whether successfully or not, each of them is trying to receive protection from the calamities of society in which they are forced to exist. One of the most evident reasons for self-preservation is being Black in a predominantly white community. These two aspects – the depiction of African Americans’ hardships on the way to gaining equality and the multi-functionalism of the fence allegory – make Wilson’s play so phenomenologically successful. The literary piece is righteously considered as an exceptionally impressive one.
Work Cited
Wilson, August. Fences. 1985.