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Essay / The in-depth analysis of relationships in “Fences”
In the play Fences, by August Wilson, a fence represents protection and incomplete or broken relationships. Through the fence, Wilson tries to show that even things that were once perfect and went wrong can still be rebuilt. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Wilson uses the fence to represent protection and love. A fence generally keeps the things people want and separates them from the things they don't want. A fence is also a separation between two or more objects or events. At the beginning of the play, the fence is broken, meaning that the family is having problems in their relationships with each other. Troy and Cory have different points of view. Cory wants to play football and so he can play for his school he decides to stop working every day and only work on weekends. Troy disagrees and says that Cory is "a bigger fool" than he thought and that he needs to get his job back at A&P (36). If Cory cannot both work and play football, he is told he will have to quit the football team. Troy said this to Cory because he doesn't want Cory to become a garbage collector like him or end up unemployed. Troy uses the word "fool" because he tried to do the same thing when he was young. Troy tries to help Cory understand that he doesn't want him to live the way he had to. He does this for Cory's sake, but Cory doesn't realize it. Cory feels like his dad is just trying to ruin his life and not let him have fun. This concerns the fence, because even if Troy wants to repair it and keep it in good shape, it will always break again. This means that even though Troy wants something to happen a certain way, it doesn't always happen that way. At this point in the play, the fence is bent and broken, as is the relationship between Troy and Cory. Wilson also uses closure to represent incomplete relationships. Troy cheated on Rose and made their relationship incomplete. Meanwhile, the fence is broken and bent just like their relationship. Troy ignored Rose and didn't tell her he was seeing someone else until he got the other person pregnant. Overall, Troy made his relationship with Rose bend and break. Rose believes that the only real person who cares about her and would “be a fence around her” every day is Jesus (21). She thinks that because Troy is not good to her, the only person who can be an obstacle to all bad things is Jesus. Troy's relationship with Cory is also broken because he also ignores Cory and is not there when he needs him. Not only does closure represent broken relationships, but it also represents the regrowth of relationships. Rose and Troy have a broken relationship because Troy cheated on her and had a baby with someone else. When Troy cheats on Rose, he tries to hide it from her, but when he finds out he's having a baby with the other person, he tells her. Rose, however, does not divorce Troy because if she did, she would most likely be living on the streets. She would live on the streets because she would have no one to support her and she would have no income. Additionally, she believes that if she hadn't married Troy, she might have been in an abusive relationship. Rose says she's known people who married someone abusive and while Troy isn't the best husband, she realizes he's not the worst either. When the baby, Raynell, is born, his mother dies in childbirth. Troy then asks Rose if she would raise the child with him. When Rose agrees, she tells Troy, “