Fences By August Wilson

Information Technology High School
Steffy Zambrano
December 31,2007
English E5 Honors
Fences

Fences By August Wilson

Characters & Characterization: Protagonist
Protagonist: Rose Maxson
Rose Maxson is the protagonist of the book. She is a very caring and loyal women. She is 43 years-old, ten years younger then Troy. She was the one who told Troy and Cory to build a fence. She believe that the fence would keep the ones she loved close to her. Rose was a tender women she took in Raynell, Troys love child. She always supported her son Cory Maxson into pursuing his dream in becoming a baseball player. Rose and Troy were married for 18 years. She has strength throughout the whole book, when Cory didn't want to forgive his father for not letting him purse his dream “Whatever was between you and your daddy… the time has come to put it aside..." In other words she meant that in order to"Forget you have to be able to Forgive"

Antagonist: Troy Maxson
Troy Maxson, is the antagonist in the play. He is 53 years old and is married to Rose Maxson. Troy is the antagonist because he cheated on his wife Rose. He is a very opinionated man, who speaks his mind and theres times in the book where he hurts the ones he loves. He played baseball in the Negro Leagues but his dream was to play in the Major Leagues. Troy loved baseball but in the Major League he was never accepted because of his color. He made his Son Cory Maxson quit playing football. Lyon and Raynell are also his kids and Gabriel Maxson is his brother. Jim Bono also known as Bono in the play was his best friend the one that listen to Troys stories ever Friday night.

Setting:
Importance of Setting: The importance of the setting is that most of the events occurred in the Maxson families house. For example ever Friday night Jim and Troy would drink ,watch the game and troy would tell his stories.
Setting Time: 1957 -1965
Setting Place: Maxson Family House, In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Vocabulary:
vigilance Page 77 - state or quality of being vigilant; watchfulness: Vigilance is required in the event of treachery.
rubbish Page 17 - worthless, unwanted material that is rejected or thrown out; debris; litter; trash.
tarred Page 32 - the weight of the wrapping, receptacle, or conveyance containing goods.
hauling Page 35 - To pull or drag forcibly; tug.
uppity Page 43 - affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem; haughty; snobbish.

Plot:
Fences is a play in which Rose wants to built a fence around her home symbolizing that she would keep the ones she loves close to her. Throughout the play Rose, Troy, and Cory go through conflicts that give a turning point to the play. Cory tells Troy that he is being recruited for football, Troy tells Cory that he can't play football and he wants him to stop playing football and to go back to working at A&C because he thinks that what happened to him in the past is gonna happen to cory. Later on Troy confesses to Rose that he had been having an affair with Albert and he will be a father.According to him he has been living his entire life in "1st base" and for the first time in his life he had moved to "2ND base." When Alberta was giving birth she passed away and Rose takes Raynell as her daughter because she knows that a child without a mother is hard.

Rising Action: Troy is having an affair with Alberta, still being married to Rose. Troy discovers that Cory has not quit playing football and said

Climax: Troy Confess to Rose that he had been having an affair with Alberta and that shes having a baby. Rose is angry that after being married for 18 years he betrays there love. Troy finds out that Cory lied to him and that he isn't working at A&C. He tells him to get his job back at A&C.

2"Quotes": With Explanation
"See this woman, Bono? I love this woman. I love this woman so much it hurts. I love her so much...I done run out of ways of loving her."

This quote is when Troy is telling Jim Bono how much he loves Rose and how much he cares about her. He is describing his love for Rose. He quotes that his love for her is so strong at times it hurts him.


“Okay, Troy… you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for you… cause like you say… she’s innocent… and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time. From right now… this child got a Mother But you are a womanless man.”

Rose is speaking in the above quote. She is saying that Raynell is innocent and that she is going to take care of her because its not her fault that Troy Maxson cheated on her and the sins he commits are not her fault. Rose is also saying that as if now Raynell as a mother because she knows that a child with no mother is hard.

Themes:

Forgiveness: Throughout the book Cory and his Father had a lot of conflicts because Troy never approved of any of Cory’s dream because he got rejected when he wanted to play in the Major Leagues and he thought that he would go through the same. Troy never signed the papers for him to get recruited and made him try and get his job back at A&C. Cory held a grudge against his father because he was never able to become a football player and he’s in the US Marines. Towards the end of the novel Cory comes to his dads funeral but doesn’t plan on staying Rose tells him that what happened between him and his father is to be stayed in the past and he has to put it all behind him because disrespecting his father is not going to make him a better person.

Strength : Rose had so much Strength throughout the play. She finds out that her husband was having an affair after being married to him for 18years and that his going to be a dad and that she has to take in Raynell because her mother passes away. She doesn’t say No im not going to take her in as my daughter. She accepts her and says that her fathers sins are not something she needs to be blames for.


Literary Elements:
"Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you. "
Dramatic Irony- Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters.

"Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner."
Metaphor- a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity.

"You got to take the crookeds with the straights."
Imagery-the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream.

Annotate Biography:
Wilson, August. Fences. Penguin USA. August Wilson in the play Fences, is telling a story about a woman who wants to built a Fence so that she keeps the people she loves close to her. Rose is a hard working, caring and loved woman in the play she takes in Troy's illegitimate daughter Raynell because she said that her fathers sins are not her fault. The story takes place in the year 1957 -1965 were Black men are not accepted to play in the Major Leagues and he destroys Corys dream in becoming a football player.