Humanities May 6, 2013

1. HumanitiesMay 6, 2013 Valeria Marin by August Wilson

2. Characters • Rose Maxson • Female protagonist • 43 year old African American housewife • Troy’s wife • Jim Bono • Troy’s friend • He is married to a woman named Lucille, who is friends with Rose Troy Maxson • Male protagonist • 53 year old African American man • A former baseball star in the Negro Leagues • Hard-working & strong • Cory Maxson • Troy’s & Rose’s son • A senior in High School • College recruiters come to see him play football • Lyon Maxson • Troy’s oldest son by previous marriage • 34 years old • Jazz musician • He goes to Troy for money constantly James Earl Jones in Fences on Broadway, 1987

3. Characters • Gabriel • Troy’s brother • He received a head injury during his time in WWII • Lives in a world that is half imaginary and half real • Raynell • Troy and Alberta’s daughter • Alberta • Troy’s lover • Raynell’s mother Troy (Denzel Washington) and Rose Maxson (Viola Davis) during the revival of Fences

4. BRIEF SUMMARY FIRST ACT: All of the major conflicts are introduced. One conflict is Troy trying to break the racial barrier at work by becoming the first black garbage truck driver. This conflict is resolved when Troy wins his battle. Hints that Troy is having an affair with a woman named Alberta is given in this scene. Another major conflict in the play is Cory and Troy’s relationship. Cory has the chance to go to college on a football scholarship, but Troy refuses to sign the permission slip. Troy says he doesn't want his son to suffer from the same racial discrimination that kept Troy from being a pro baseball player. SECOND ACT: Alberta becomes pregnant, and Troy is forced to confess to Rose about his affair. Making matters worse, Alberta dies in childbirth. Rose agrees to raise the baby girl, Raynell, but says she no longer considers herself Troy's woman. Troy loses his mistress, his wife, and his best friend. Troy and Bono no longer hang out because ever since Troy got the promotion to driver, the two don't work together anymore. Troy has also had Gabriel put away in a mental hospital. Rose thinks he did this to get half of Gabriel's disability check.

5. CLIMAX: Tensions explode between Troy and Cory and the two fight each other with a baseball bat. Though Troy wins the fight, he loses his son forever. LAST SCENE: This scene takes place years later on the day of Troy's funeral. Cory returns home from the military. He considers not going to the funeral, but is talked out of it by Rose. There’s hope that Cory is on the path to forgiving his father when he and Raynell sing a song together in honor of Troy.CONCLUSION: Gabriel returns. He tries to blow his trumpet to open the gates of heaven for Troy. When no sound comes out, he does a ritualistic dance. In the play's final moment, it is said the gates of heaven are wide open. BRIEF SUMMARY continued Troy (Wendell Wright) in Fences

6. “Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?” (Wilson 2). UOTE #1 Q • An issue made known at the beginning of this play is the discrimination in Troy’s job. He is bothered by the fact that black employees are not allowed to drive garbage trucks. This shows his determination to stand up for what he believes in, no matter the consequence. Realistic values are present in this part because Troy realizes the racial discrimination taken place at his job.

7. “It’s time to tell St. Peter to open the gates” (Wilson 100). UOTE #2 Q • Gabriel’s condition gives the story a Romantic value. After losing part of his brain during the war, he has moved into a world that is half imaginary and half real. Gabriel believes he has seen St. Peter's book for Judgment Day with Troy's and Rose's name in it. He has hallucinations of hellhounds. When Troy passes away, Gabriel prepares to open the gates for him. He blows into his trumpet, but after three tries he comes to sudden realization of his illusions. He cannot understand the situation, and suddenly feels a flood of deception.

8. Troy tries to think realistically and believe that racial discrimination is still around as when he was younger. After having faced discrimination in the sport of baseball, Troy is convinced that Cory will receive the same unequal treatment with Football. “The white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that football noway” (Wilson 35). He wants Cory to work hard in car repairs or building houses. That way he will have a guaranteed shot at a successful future. Little does Troy know, things have positively changed. All of the characters speak in an African-American dialect. “Don’t nobody wanna hear..” (Wilson 44) and “You ain’t mad at me, is you?” (Wilson 25) are two examples of their everyday talk. Wilson portrays African American men and women in everyday life and their struggles with racial discrimination during the late 50’s and early 60’s in Pittsburgh, PA. REALISTIC VALUES

9. One romantic and gothic element of the play Fences is Troy's confrontation with death. In act one, scene one, Troy tells a story about a time when he wrestled with death for three days and three nights. He believes he came face to face with him and made it out, with death warning him that he will be back. Although Rose tries to snap Troy out of his lies, he is well convinced. “I ain’t making up nothing. I’m telling you the facts of what happened” (Wilson 12). Communication between the living world and the dead gives it a gothic element. You can watch this scene on YouTube starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. ROMANTIC VALUES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v4l36NTrsA

10. SOURCES • "FENCES CLIP: FIGHTING DEATH." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Apr. 2010. Web. • James Earl Jones in Fences on Broadway, 1987 - PHOTO ARCHIVE: Celebrating 50 Years of James Earl Jones Onstage." Playbill RSS. Web. • Photograph. Web. <http://amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/fences.jpg>. • Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Penguin Group, 1986. Print. • Clip Art Cory (Ashley Zhangazha) and Troy (Lenny Henry) in Fences