Introduction
Literacy works usually play a significant role as historical documents that portray and record the realities of the society; therefore, works of literature are essential to the community, and the study of literature should be encouraged. In the history of American literature, August Wilson, who is famous as an African American's play writer, usually writes about Black people's experiences in the United States. The writer portrays the efforts of Black people to reach their American dreams and complex issues such as racism, as shown in one of his plays entitled "Fences." The play tells about an African-American family in the 1950s who tries to survive in the middle of American urban industrial cities (Menson, 10-40). The black characters, for instance, Troy and Rose, project the quest of the African-American for authentic identity and self-realization. Therefore in the play, Wilson's primary concern is an attempt to encourage Black Americans to rediscover their identities and, accordingly, maintain self-authentication (Menson, 10-40). This research paper majors its discussions on how the African-American struggled to achieve their dreams; it discusses two significant characters (Troy and Rose) and how they strive to fulfill and realize their dreams.
Methodology
This paper is based on library research; it discusses and analyzes Fences, a play by August Wilson. The study followed various steps to attain detailed information about the play. The research interprets the literal meaning of Fences and then finds the importance of reaching dreams for African-American characters in the play. It uses the Liberal approach in analysis and supports the study by applying the use of secondary data, collected from articles and historical documents such as autobiographies and notes.
Discussion
Troy's Dreams and the Effort to Pursuit them
Due to racism, Troy Maxson is unable to achieve the dream of becoming an American baseball player; this result in Troy's extreme bitterness that negatively impacts the family relationship, thus making the character intensely aware of mortality. In the play, Troy experiences challenges of becoming a baseball player thus refuses to acknowledge that any racial progress has been made. Instead, Troy is continuously told to be old to play baseball. However, Troy's ability had nothing to do with age; thus, it can be seen that the single reason for Troy not to be in major leagues is because of racism; this oppression and discrimination was because Troy was a black American (Menson, 10-40). According to Wilson, Troy was not given the same opportunity as the white people were, thus revealing the hardship life, oppression, and discrimination of the Black Americans. Nevertheless, there is much effort by the government on the fight against discrimination and racism.
Troy feels stripped of a professional career in baseball, strictly because of racism. Troy then shifts from Negro League player to a garbage collector, revealing the terrible downfall of the profession. Since Troy could not join the national team, the character transforms into a garbage collector, a career reserved for Black America. The character's American dream of becoming a baseball player thus turned into a prolonged nightmare. At the age of 53, Troy, a former Negro League hero, is a garbage collector who ekes out a meager existence and working arduously to support the family and lives from hand to mouth (Nadel, 20- 30). The failure of Troy's American dream thus explains the strong feeling and definite refusal to allow the son to join or to embrace the career of a football player. Although there was some racial progress by the 1950s, there were not any significant breakthroughs until the civil rights movement. Wilson gives an example of discrimination where a Negro walks into a restaurant but cannot be served; however, when a white man walks in, everybody hurries to the aid of the white man. The painful experiences and the awareness of racial barriers, oppression, and discrimination justify Troy's opposition thus doesn't want Cory to join the college football team. Troy's life, as portrayed in the play, was always filled with much drama and painful experiences, born in an Africa American that was facing hardship associated with the social realities of that period. Troy was again let down and deceived with the same family that was supposed to nurture and protect him. As an outcome of being bared to failure when growing up, Troy seem to have adopted the idea that when things get complicated, it is easier to walk away.
Due to the failure in the baseball ambitions, Troy is shy to let Cory play in the college football team. Troy tells Cory that "the white man ain't gonna let you get nowhere with that football no way" (Wilson, 78).Troy believes the time and ambition to pursue a career in baseball was wasted and is trying to avoid Cory from going to through the same experience. Troy thus demands Cory to give up in the ambition of becoming a football player. From experience, Troy believes that to be successful; one has to work hard. However, every attempt to emulate Troy is met with disapproval (Nadel, 20- 30).
Troy left the family and escaped from the enslavement of the economic system during the time. However, Troy's liberation and departure from an overbearing father only led the character to prison. In prison, it is quite ironic that Troy finds baseball as an opportunity to attain a sense of meaning and self-realization. After prison, Troy now plays in Negro baseball leagues moving from one town to another through rootlessness lurk for a Black American as the only way to succeed in life. However, Troy could not be allowed in the national team despite having talent. Troy later refused to sign Cory's papers for an athletic scholarship, and Troy believes that when Black Americans go to universities on athletic scholarships, they were exploited and that very few get an education. Therefore, out of the bitter experience, Troy tries to protect Cory from racism (Wilson, 88). However, Rose tries to defend and support Cory in achieving the dream of becoming a successful football player.
Rose's Dreams and the Effort to Pursuit them
Troy's second wife (Rose) and the mother to Cory is portrayed as an African-American housewife who has been married for eighteen years and is seen to protect the family and also loves them. Before marrying Troy, Rose had already set some dreams; one of the dreams was to become a caring and loving mother to someone. Rose sees the fences as a symbol of protection and as something necessary (Wilson, 58). Therefore Rose's primary goal is to achieve and maintain the family's relationship from falling apart. As a faithful wife and a loving mother, Rose often defended Cory as a way to protect the family relationship from falling apart. Rose tries to convince Troy that football has no harm to Cory and believes that Troy has to support Cory to achieve the dream of becoming a successful football player in the future. Although Rose is not successful in pursuing a dream of having a happy marriage, Rose finds church as the way to escape and be able to find long lost-fulfillment (Zamunaro, 1-30). Rose thus realizes that a woman can also have another life outside the house and that marriage does not always bring happiness to people. Later, Rose realizes that there is no need to build the fences around the house to protect the family since the church leads the way to the most potent fence. Rose's accomplishment thus proves beyond the grasp that the African-Americans must work hard to ensure their family's survival. Rose takes the idea of reaching those dreams into a new way of life with less focus on financial gain. Rose then put more emphasis on what some people consider as living a simple and fulfilling life (Zamunaro, 1-30).
Conclusion
Because of racism and discrimination of Black Americans by the whites, the talented baseball player Troy Maxson ends up as a garbage collector. Again Troy does not have the privilege of driving the garbage truck since it was only the Whites who were supposed to drive such vehicles. This oppression makes Troy's life miserable and breaks the relationship between Troy, Rose, Cory, and other members of the family. Troy feels loneliness when was left alone in the house; Rose leaves for the church, Gabe is sent to a mental institute while Cory had already cut off from Troy. To summarize the analysis, It is clear that male standards and values much measure African-Americans' daily life. Troy's failure to achieve the dream of becoming a baseball national team player thus makes the character bitter. Due to bitterness and hopelessness, Troy put Rose in the injustice position and the patriarchal system; this situation makes Rose hardly have a chance to think about the dreams and leads to failure to reach the character's goals. Therefore the family relationship breaks, and this further ruins the life of Troy's family.
From the play, Wilson tries to encourage Black Americans to think of their goals and even to strive to attain those dreams, although those goals are still closely correlated to the ideas of accomplishing their roles as the essence of the family. Therefore, the fight against racism should be encouraged by both individuals and the government. Fighting discrimination of color will help and support many talented people to achieve their dreams and live a fulfilling life.
