Fences


 * LTitle: Fences**
 * Author: August Wilson**
 * Date of Publication: 1986**
 * Literary Period:**
 * Genre: drama, and comedy**


 * Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting.**
 * It takes place in a neighborhood in Pittsburg
 * Ancient old house
 * Takes place in 1957
 * The fact that it takes place in 1957 explains the segregation that has been going on during this time period.Blacks were not given an chances or any value.
 * His house is just empty just as his family really is.
 * The yard of the Maxon's house.


 * Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)**
 * Equality is important.
 * The struggle a person has to endure because of the color of his skin can determine ones entire life.
 * The failed dreams of one can influence the life of someone else near and dear to one.
 * Although love is important, but responsibility of providing one with a healthy life is what counts more. (or the other way around for most of us lol)


 * Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here.**
 * The first scene introduces Troy, Rose, and Bono, but the comes in Lyons, Troys son and Rose's step son. The way Troy rejects Lyons indirectly shows how he treats his children.
 * Troy and Bono work for a garbage company and Troy constantly complains how the prejudice in the company is not okay for the blacks that work there.
 * Alberta is introduced but her true relations with Troy are not yet revealed.
 * Troy refuses to sign Cory's paper because of his own crushed dreams of being a baseball player. He never exactlye explains to Cory either.
 * Alberta is pregnat with Troy's baby and Alberta dies during childbirth.
 * Rose refuses to have any relations with Troy but does still live with him and cares for her step daughter as her own.
 * Well Troy is now just useless and dumb. He stops hanging out with Bono. He sends Gabe to a mental institute.
 * Troy and Cory get into this major argument that involves fighting. Troy kicks Cory out of the house but really Cory does not want to be here anyways. (Climax of the play)
 * Troy dies. (8 years later) Cory comes back home from the army.
 * Cory Refuses to attend the funeral, but then Rose talks him into it saying you dont want to be like your father.
 * Cory and Raynell finally meet and talk about Troy which Cory knows so much about and Raynell knows nothing about.
 * Gabe tries to open the gates of heaven by blowing his horn but no matter how hard he tries the horn will not make a sound.
 * Then he realizes. He does a little African dance which opens the gates for Troy.


 * Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.**
 * I thought you was gonna work on this fence" -Rosa
 * Troy never really works on his family. A fence is meant to keep a private property protected but in reality the boundries are never built for his family and hence is family breaks every time.
 * "If my brother didn't have the metal plate in his head I wouldn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. And I'm fifty-three years old" -Troy
 * This is Troy venting and understanding that even being in his mid fifties when most people are settled he still does not have anything that is his own. Everthing that is his, is in reality his brothers only because of the injury his brother went through in war.
 * "This way I'll be going to college. I'll get a chance..." -Cory
 * Cory is trying to explain to his father that with Football he will have a chance to be educated and pursue his passion, but what Troy is trying to explain is that education will not get a black man anywhere.
 * "How come you ain't never liked me?" -Cory
 * Cory feels like his father never actually liked him and cared about him. Troy is always too busy trying to provide for the people that live with him but he forgets that love is really what is important for all.
 * "Not 'cause I like you? 'Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibilty to you!"
 * To be a man was to be able to provide a house to live in, food to eat, and a bed to sleep in, and that is what was important to Troy; to love his family was just a bonus.
 * "I ain't never wanted no half nothing in my family. My whole family is half" -Rose
 * Poor Rose never had a family that was just her own. Her maternal home was mixed up with different families and even after she got married she had half kids and half a husbnad in reality.
 * "i took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldnt hardly tell which was which anyore" -Rose
 * Rose realizes that she made a huge mistake in becoming apart of her husband. She left her identity behind and followed her husband in all footsteps and forgot that it is importnat to be true to your personality.


 * Describe the significance of the opening scene.**
 * The opening scene basically sets the entire play perfectly. It shows his behaviour towards Rose, his relationship with Lyons, his anger towards society, and his own feelings towards his failure in life. It also shows how is family is so half. Troys own feelings towards himself and his family and his world are extremely clear in this story. It summarizes it all.


 * Describe the significance of the closing scene.**
 * Eight years later, Troy dies. Raynell is eight. Everyone gathers up at Troy's funeral but basically everyone has a broken relationship with Troy. Everyoe struggles to honor him in a benevelent way, but Raynell. Raynell does not know her father in good or bad, and indirectly symbolizes all the innocence in the world and the power of forgiving and forgetting.


 * List importance characters and their significance.**
 * **Troy Maxson: A black man of the 60s who is suffering through mid life crisis. He realizes that he has nothing of his own and is suffering for that. He believes responsibility to provide has more power than love. Very stubborn in nature and ever since he was little his dreams were broken. He never had a relationship with his father. He is not the father he shoudl be for his children.**
 * **Rose Maxson: Although she probably has the best husband of the time, she is deprived of a complete family that is full of love. She has more than any other women of the time, so Troy is really a blessing. She is a selflless women for all her close ones. She is a powerful mother who strives to help her and the other children achieve their dreams.**
 * **Cory Maxson: Cory is just a stubborn as his father but he wants to follow his dreams. He does not understand reality and when his father tries to explain to him, he does it in a negative manner.**
 * **Bono: He is the best friend who tells the truth. He met Troy in Jail and always tells Troy how lucky he is to have Rose in his life and that he should be faithful to her just as he is to his girlfriend.**
 * **Lyons Maxson: Well he is basically a failure and if Cory were to follow his "promising" dreams he probably would have ended up like Lyons. He is always asking his dad for money while he is busy following his dream of havning a career in music.**
 * **Alberta: uhhh...well she is the other women. But when i think more about it, it really isnt her fault. She may not have known...who knows.**
 * **Gabe: He is Troy's brother who was injured in the head during the war. Because of the compensation the governemtn is providing him with, Troy is living a safe life. He indirectly is a burden on his brother.**
 * **Raynell: The illegimate child of Troy who Rose cares for with her all because she is great.**