Introduction
Fences is one of the great American plays of the 1950’s and as in most of Wilson’s plays it explores the theme of race relations. Most of the time, the play focuses on the main character which is Troy and his experiences in baseball in the segregated society which was prevalent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Fences continues to harp on the main theme which is race relations during the extensive discussion Troy has with his workmates and friends especially in the aftermath of his career in sport. Due to the fact that Troy was poorly piad, he saves up very little money and thus he has to live a pretty boring and uneventful life in his later years without much hope.
The play then turns into a monologue in the final act with Troy building a fence around his property to keep out the spectre of death. This is obviously a very powerful part of the play and the monologue is searing in its intensity. In it, Troy continues to reflect on his bad lot where he is now close to death and without much hope in life.
He laments the unfortunate situation in which African Americans find themselves when they try to go across the colour line which is barred to them. He also attempts to instil values of hard work and thrift in his son stating that death can now claim him even if it is close by. These powerful statements bring the play to a close in a very emotional and beautiful fashion.
The play is comparable to ‘The Things they Carried’ in that it deals with contemporary American society and the unhappiness and consternation that racism causes. However the theme that is explored here is the one of loneliness in employment, in the former case, a menial job, in the latter joining the army.
There are some interesting real life parallels with ‘Fences’ especially in an interesting article about Ray Dandrige, a former baseball player which was published in 1987 (Vecsey, 1987). Here Dandrige tells his son to get a job in very similar vein to Rory who knows that without proper employment, the life of African Americans is very hard and difficult.
Staging
Wilson used some rather bare staging for this work which includes the usual props and some intriguing home grown devices such as planks and a normal set. His lighting techniques focus on the main character Rory who receives the lion’s share of proceedings and in some cases he is also very much in the mix.
Wilson sticks to conventional scripting in his play although there are several reflections on African American jargon especially in the final monologue. The final scene is also poignant where Troy’s son seems to be continuing in his father’s footsteps and a sense of continuity is created too (Kennedy 2011).
Wilson also infuses the other characters such as Troy’s wife, Rose with intrinsic humanity. Rose is made to accept that Troy has had an affair with another woman called Alberta although we never see this woman in the play. She also had a son who died in childbirth and the whole episode revolves around these intrinsic moments of sadness and despondency. Wilson is extremely powerful in depicting such scenes which can be said to form the kernel of the whole play.
Allusions to African-American troubles
The leitmotif which consistently runs throughout the play is the dire situation in which African American people find themselves in the United states of the 1950’s. The play consistenly refers to the segregation in sport, particularly baseball where coloured persons could not play alongside white persons with the end result that these became completely marginalized.
The play is also infused in social commentary especially where housing situations are concerned. The tight dialogues between family are infused with considearble nervous tension as the Troy affair comes to light and his son is also given a pretty hard time when faced with certain situations. /here we have constant fights between father and son as these are attempting to wrest control over each other with the mother obviously siding more with the son than with the father.
Work issues are also dwelled over and the camaraderie between African Americans at their place of work is also explored at length. Consequentially we have situations where innate racism is overcome by heroic stoic resistance and Troy is also a figure to whom colleagues look up to. The play explores these issues with innate sensitivity to the situation of the time.
Conclusion:
‘Fences’ remains an important play in the African American contribution to literature in the 1950’s. It was the recipient of several prizes including the Pulitzer prize and had over 500 performances at Broadway. It is surely one of the finest examples of the age in the art of monologue and as such is a highly recommended play for viewing and an eventual revival.
A personal reflection on ‘The Things they Carried’
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was sitting alone in the corner reading his letters from Martha as usual. He couldn’t really settle down to understand what was actually going on but in all the mayhem and haphazard happenings of the last day were still fresh in his mind. He couldn’t forget the way Michael’s brains were blown out just in front of him as the shell which landed from the Vietcong slammed into his platoon. Luckily enough there were only a few injuries but the situation could have been much worse couldn’t it?
The latest letter from Martha contained some touching parts; ‘Hey Jimmy, hope you’re doing fine. I really miss you and your love is still very strong in my heart. I don’t really know what’s going on out there where you are but I’m always thinking about you and what you are actually doing. I just hope you will be safe and one day perhaps we can be together forever”.
A tear crept into the corner of Jimmy’s eye as he read those beautiful words. He couldn’t help but feel emotional about all those letters and his situation especially when he was faced with such problems to take care of his platoon who also had their own complex characters and worries to deal with. He looked at Jason who was lost deep in thought as he seemed to be reflecting upon something.
Hey Jason, how are you mate?, Jimmy asked.
‘Im fine, brother, just having a deep thought as usual. Do you think the Vietcong will attack again tonight?’
‘It’s a possibility although I don’t think they will, they took a bit of a beating last night so they will feel slightly hesitant now’.
Night was creeping in slowly but surely and Jimmy was feeling despondent again. He moved along in the undergrowth to gain some peace and to reflect on the letter he received. He prayed for some stability in his life, something which appeared to be completely absent at present, mostly due to the fact that he was packed away here in Vietnam with not much hope for the future and with daily dangers confronting him constantly.
The sun was setting in the distance over the river and the scene was utterly beautiful. Jimmy laid himself out on the grass and closed his eyes with the sound of the buzzing insects in his ear. He drifted off to sleep fortified by his thoughts of Martha and her beauty as well as dread with anticipating of another attack.
A huge bang rent the air just a few minutes after Jimmy had dozed off. The shell landed only a few metres away from the main compound and practically terrorized everyone in the platoon, most of whom had dozed off too. Jimmy called all his men together and asked if there were any casualties at all. When it didn’t seem likely, the whole platoon moved into defensive positions and began scouring the area for possible Vietcong. After a long wait of about three hours, Jimmy decided to call it a day and sent the platoon back to sleep.
Morning came and Jimmy decided to go for a long walk into the jungle although he was not exactly sure where he wanted to end up. He just couldn’t focus on the job in hand with the problems he had with Martha and her letters were constantly consuming him. He could not continue living this life, torn inside of him with all the pain and unhappiness of loneliness yet having to keep a solid espousal on life in the war torn zone. He fingered his gun with aplomb and decided to read another of Martha’s letters.
“Hey Jimmy, you look so sweet in those combat fatigues in the photo you sent me. Sometimes I just want you next to me and the world wouldn’t matter anymore. I really think we are made for each other sometimes. School was okay today, we had some interesting lectures about philosophy but I just sat there thinking of you almost all the time without much care in the world. Sometimes I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you Jimmy, you are so dear to me”.
Another tear crept into the corner of Jimmy’s eye as he read those heartfelt words. Once again he felt his heart being tugged into a million directions and he really couldn’t continue going on like this although at some stage he knew all this might end really abruptly.
He walked back to his platoon colleagues and saw them moping about with the fear of last night’s attack still imprinted on their faces. Young boys almost all of them, some barely 20 and they had seen all sorts of hell already. Life isn’t fair, Jimmy said to himself and he sat down trying to get something to eat from his mess tin in the process.
Works Cited:
Literature and the Writing Process, Backpack Edition by Elizabeth McMahan, Susan Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman (ISBN: 10: 0-205-73072-8 or 13: 978-0-205-73072-8)
Vecsey G (1987) Sports of The Times; Ray Dandridge and ‘Fences’; The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/10/sports/sports-of-the-times-ray-dandridge-the-hall-of-fame-and-fences.html
