On a first analysis of the physical boundary that exists between father and son, Troy and Cory, we must look at their relationship. He constantly compared himself to the ball players that made it to the major leagues, such as Hank Aaron, saying “I can hit forty-three home runs right now” (1048) This not only represents the fence that restricts the achievements of blacks and their constant struggle in a white society, but also Troy’s psychological boundaries between himself and mainstream America.
(1) As we already know, in his prime, Troy was a great baseball player and he strongly believed that he was not given the opportunity to play in the major leagues because of the color of his skin.
Sheri Metzger, the author of An Essay on Fences, believes that “Baseball defines Troy Maxson’s life and provides the measure of his success. Troy Maxson, the protagonist of the play, spent many years learning and playing this game. (1024) In Wilson’s play, Fences, how does he use psychological and physical boundaries to show the emotional separations between his characters? Baseball becomes the most prominent image in Wilson’s play.
So much so, that he wrote quite a few plays concerning this major part of history. Wilson had strong views and opinions about the rights of African Americans. From that point on, he began educating himself by reading through the section of black authors in the local library. This incident pushed Wilson to drop out of high school and teach himself. When he was in the ninth grade he had a teacher that believed there was no way he could have written an intelligent, twenty page research paper on Napoleon Bonaparte, so she accused him of plagiarism. For a short period of time, before moving back to his old neighborhood, Wilson lived in a primarily white neighborhood where he experienced the feeling of being on the “outside. Wilson, an African American man, was raised by his mother and his ex-convict father. According to the book Approaching Literature, this time period became very familiar to August Wilson, the author of the play Fences. The Impact of Physical and Psychological Boundaries in August Wilson’s Fences The early 1950’s was a time of enormous importance because of the Civil Rights Movement which emphasized equal rights for blacks and whites.
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