My favorite play from this course’s reading is Fences by the playwright August Wilson. The drama relates the story of Troy Maxson, a former player in the Negro basketball league trying to provide for his family. Because of his race and the color barriers in sports, he was prevented from playing professionally and could only find blue-collar jobs to support his wife and son due to his criminal history. As a believer in hard work and perseverance, he sets goals for himself, including becoming a truck driver, a job reserved for white men, and building a fence around his property.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play as it earnestly depicts the experiences of the African American community in the 1950s United States. Although the main character, Troy, is portrayed as a harsh man who crushes his son’s dreams of a musical career and cheats on his wife, I sympathize with his struggles with discrimination and racial issues. The play inspired me to be kind-hearted to all people, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or social status.
In addition, it prompted me to think about how different people express their frustration with their circumstances and allow their experiences to impact their relationships with others. For example, due to being discriminated against in his sporting career, Troy was willing to prevent his son, Cory, from pursuing an excellent opportunity in football. Although he wanted to protect Cory from racial abuse, Troy was focused on his own experiences and the cruel and repressive past and could not see a possibility of a brighter future. Echoing the title of the play, Troy builds a fence around himself and his family in hopes of protecting them but simultaneously fences them off from a possible better life.
Overall, the play urged me to think about how the experiences of generations of oppressed people impact their offspring and how even the slightest events change our view of our present and future. I cannot say I was happy about the way the play ended, but I am content with the ending. Troy’s death and Cory’s unwillingness to forgive his father were realistic, while the mother’s insight into Troy’s motivation was heartfelt.