In the play Fences, written by August Wilson, the theater is full of symbolism that shows the meaning of growth and death; baseball and blues seeds. At the same time, Fences examines the African American experience and relationships. Troy, a former Negro Baseball League player, deals with his bitterness that affects his family. Fences is a strange man because he is an individual and everything centers around him. The backyard of an urban home becomes the scene of the Maxson family's problems. Furthermore, the protagonist Troy Maxson is represented as “the purest strain of the survival instinct of the African-American race” [Pereira, 1995]. Wilson did not name his play, Fences, simply because the dramatic action climaxes sharply with the construction of a fence in Maxson's backyard, but rather because the characters' lives change around the construction project of the fence. The fence serves as both a literal and figurative device, representing the relationships that bind and break in the backyard arena. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay As has been said, Fences is against the metaphor of property and its historical significance, particularly the connection between property rights and human rights, for Africans. Americans; it's full of symbolism. Baseball has long been seen as a metaphor for the American dream – an expression of hope, democratic values ​​and the drive for individual success. Baseball has become the great repository of national ideals, the symbol of all that is good in American life: fair play and sportsmanship; the rule of law – objective arbitration of disputes; equal opportunities – each team has its sleeves; the brotherhood of men - the harmony of the stands and more. Furthermore, in Fences, by situating Troy in three of baseball's mythical settings – the garden, the battlefield and the sacred space – Wilson contradicts the idea of ​​America as a "field of dreams", using baseball instead as a metaphor for a heroic challenge. Herrington, 2002: 73]. It is evident that in Fences, Wilson uses Troy's experience in the Negro Leagues to demonstrate that the American dream remained out of reach for people of African descent. When Troy's friend Jim Bono points out that Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson were the only players to hit more home runs than Troy, Troy responds, "What good did that do me?" I don't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it away. of » [Wilson, 1986: 9]. Troy's wife, Rose, and Bono both say that times have changed since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, that many black players are now involved in professional sports, and that Troy "arrived too soon” [9]. To this argument, Troy responds indignantly: “It should never have been decided too soon! . . .I've seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams that Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! What are you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was a nobody. I'm talking about the fact that if you could play ball, they should have let you play. It didn't matter what color you were. Come tell me I'm coming too early. If you could play. . . so they should have let you play” [Wilson, 1986: 9-10]. Oddly enough, in Fences, Troy aligns himself with "the house of Ruth" rather than "the house of Robinson," not only through his open criticism of Robinson, but through his self-proclaimed image as a bruiser. Like Babe Ruth (and his Negro League counterpart, Gibson), Troy took abaseball conservative, eschewing Robinson's running game or Mays' spectacular fielding, and instead focusing on hitting the ball out of the park. Troy said to Bono, "You take one of those fastballs, about waist deep, on the outside corner of the plate where you can put the meat of the bat on it...and dammit! You can say goodbye to him” [Wilson, 1986: 10]. By logging into "Ruth's House," Troy not only transcends certain racial stereotypes, but he asserts that he can beat the white man at his own game. Troy's metaphorical references to Robinson's baseball help capture the double consciousness [Du Bois 45] of the African American experience; for as a black slugger in a white-dominated world, Troy inevitably belongs simultaneously to “the house of Ruth” and “the house of Robinson.” He is both American and black – “two souls, two thoughts, two incongruous efforts; two ideals at war in a dark body, whose tenacious strength alone prevents it from being torn apart.” Driven to view himself and measure his success through the prism of white America, Troy embodies both the psychological fragmentation of the black American and the dualistic nature of black baseball - a cultural institution that describes itself as an ironically compressed expression of shame and pride, degradation and achievement. In addition to invoking the falsity of the American dream in Fences, Wilson uses the stew metaphor in Fences to illustrate the economic inequalities experienced by members of the black working class. Troy Maxson recalls the following incident he observed in a restaurant: “I saw a white man come in and order a bowl of stew. Pope took all the meat out of the pot for him. The man got nothing but a bowl of meat! The Negroes come behind him and have nothing but potatoes and carrots” [Wilson, 1986: 23]. Through the metaphor of cultural stew, Wilson therefore illustrates what Baker calls the "slave economy" – a master statement of American history that perpetuates the economic structure and patriarchal myths of the antebellum South [ Baker, 1984: 26-27]. In fact, in Fences, it is during his life in the Negro Leagues that Troy comes closest to participating in the American dream—and thus to inhabiting such a paradise. Wilson associates the American dream with Troy's youth as a baseball player. But for Troy, the American dream turned into a nightmare. Therefore, Troy Maxson is indeed considered a tragic hero and there is evidence throughout the aforementioned play that further proves this: instead of unlimited opportunities, he came to experience racial discrimination and poverty. At 53, this former Negro League hero is a garbage collector who leads a meager existence, working hard to provide for his family and living from day to day. “I’m doing my best,” he told Rose. “I come here every Friday. I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at the door, hands outstretched. I give you the stuffed animals from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood. I have no tears. I have already spent them” [Wilson, 1986: 40]. Troy says he wouldn't even have a roof over his head without the $3,000 the government gave his mentally disabled brother Gabriel following a severe head injury during World War II . We know that a tragic hero is a character who did good deeds in the light of others but who allows himself to be defeated by his faults or his inner struggles. Aristotle once said that a tragic hero is "one who does not fall into misfortune because of vice or depravity, but who falls because of an error." Consequently, this fall leads to the, 2002.