August Wilson Fences

“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the gun down.” This quote was said by Malcolm X, who was an African American Minister and a human rights activist. It means that sometimes you have to fight in order to achieve peace. I agree with what he said because in order to get what you want you have to fight for it. Two literary works that reflect this quote are Fences, a play about the struggles of African American before and during the Civil Rights Era in the 1950s and 60s, by August Wilson and “The Yellow Wallpaper” a short story that shows the difference between women and men during that time, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ‘Fences’ shows the revolution the characters face, their actions and what is the result of those choices. Whereas, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is about how the wife struggles to speak against her husband. She shows revolution when her husband tells her not to write but she secretly writes in her journal. Both literary pieces, Fences, by Wilson and The Yellow Wallpaper by Perkins Gilman, shows how the lack of communication, the lack of acknowledgment and the demand for changes shows how the characters fight for what they want.

The play Fences is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1950 and ‘60s by August Wilson. August Wilson was named Frederick August Kittel when he was born to a German father and an African American mother in 1945. When Wilson was sixteen, he was accused of plagiarism at school when he wrote a sophisticated paper that the administration didn’t believe he could write. The principal suspended him and later ignored his attempts to come back to school. Wilson soon dropped out of school and educated himself at the local library. Wilson got involved himself in the black power movement while he worked on his poetry and short stories. The characters Wilson includes in his play Fences are Troy,the main character, where he struggles to carry his family; Rose,Troy’s wife who is a typical 1950s house wife; Cory, who is the son