August Wilson Fences Literary Analysis

In August Wilson’s Fences the audience is given an in depth look at the Maxson family and their struggle to live as an African American family in the 1950’s. Troy Maxson, the father and story protagonist, tries to lead his family to survival in a world where the color of their skin is their biggest hindrance. The previous summary is an extremely superficial take-away from Fences, and Wilson used this prejudice to drive the real theme to the audience. Fellow playwright and drama critic Suzan Lori-Parks asks “Does Black life consist of issues other than race issues?” (Lori-Parks), and the family centric theme of Fences answers the question elegantly.

Some, even Troy Maxson himself, would argue that most the strife in Fences endured by the Maxson family stems from the racism of the time. Troy told Cory “The white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that football noway.” (Wilson) while speaking of Cory’s prospective future in sports. This establishes Troy’s disdain towards the racial pressure of the era and it’s imposed limits. This is the same character that is portrayed as a crass and stuck-in-his-ways old man as seen when he speaks of his sexual prowess with
Wilson does a clever job of showing the racial issue present in the setting in a way that it does not make his storyline or theme crippled, but ironically enhanced. Wilson’s tactic resonates with Lori-Parks overall message in her essay of using a different equation to produce black drama. If the characters in Fences were all a opposite race the parent centric theme would still hold true, albeit not as strongly. Wilson seems to have structured Fences in order to switch the audience to think that it will be a story of racial disparities and oppression as Lori-Parks despises, when in actuality it is a commentary and call to action on how to build and maintain a successful African-American