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L. O. Payne

Professor Stephanie Stroud

Theatre 255 - Script Analysis

April 13, 2022

Critical Analysis of August Wilson’s Fences

Fences, written in 1985 is the sixth installation in August Wilson’s ten-part

Pittsburgh Cycle, a multifaceted investigation into the African American experience throughout

the 20th century. Fences follows the story of a father struggling to make ends meet as a

sanitation worker and the generational trauma that passes from father to son within a society

plagued with racism. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987, Whiting Award for Drama

in 1986, and the 2010 Tony for Best Revival of a Play, Fences leaves an undeniable mark within

the American Theatre canon. In this paper I will be analyzing the script of Fences through the

denominations of Given Circumstance, Action Analysis, Character, Theme, and Idea.

Given Circumstance

Given Circumstances are defined as the details that help create the space for the play to

take place, both inside the world of the play and in the world of the playwright, “Without the

given circumstances, characters would exist in an abstract never-never land without any

connection to life as we understand it” (Thomas 42). Part of the reason why Fences has become

such a staple in American theatre is the background for the story being told, “August Wilson’s
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Fences is set in 1957, a landmark year in the early Civil Rights Movement: it was the year that

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “Give Us the Ballot” speech during the Prayer

Pilgrimage for Freedom, and Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction”

(Marin Theatre Company 2022). In comparison to when Fences takes place, it was also written

within an exceptional point in history. The early 1980’s were a time of revolution for the voices

of African American artists. The Color Purple, written by African American author Alice

Walker won the Pulitzer prize for Fiction in 1983 and helped to set the stage for stories

surrounding African Americans to come to the stage and the screen. As the sixth instillation in

the Pittsburgh Cycle, Fences was approaching an audience that was already indulging in the

stories of August Wilson.

In addition to the circumstances of the world outside the play there are also given

circumstances for the characters and the world that they live in. Fences begins in 1957

Pittsburgh, the Maxon family lives in an aging two story family home in a working class

neighborhood. Troy and Rose have been in a long standing marriage and share one child, Cory.

Cory has a half brother, Lyons, who Troy shares with a woman he was involved with before he

married Rose. Troy’s relationship with both of his sons is deteriorating as he pushes life advise

filtered through the lens of a man having suffered decades of racial trauma. Troy was a

promising up and coming player in American Negro League baseball and was unfortunately

never able to play professionally due to segregation. Because of this loss of choice and dream

Troy raises his sons with the idea that non-traditional career fields are a waste of time for men of

color. Troy’s only interactions with Lyons are transactional, merely consisting of Lyons visiting

on Troy’s payday to ask for money. Gabriel, Troy’s brother is mentally disabled from an injury
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suffered during his service in World War II. The injury caused the implant of a metal plate in his

skull leaving Gabriel with permanent mental deficits. Troy has been using Gabriel’s government

benefit checks to pay the mortgage on his own house, information which he attempts to keep a

secret. Troy is one of many colored men working in the sanitation department for the city of

Pittsburgh but he is one of the only men willing to step forward in the name of racial equality.

Action Analysis

Action analysis is the practice of following the connection between the events of a play in

order to find the throughline from beginning to end, “An action is comprised of two events: a

trigger and a heap. Each heap becomes the next action’s trigger, so that actions are like dominos

toppling one into the next” (Ball, 14). Entering into Fences we observe a stasis or, “a condition

of balance among various forces; a standing still; an unchanging stability” (Ball 19), that consists

of Troy being an authoritative father and husband, Rose taking on the role of a stay at home wife

and mother, and Cory aspiring for his future. Troy is at constant conflict in his world, causing

tension between him and his family, friends, and coworkers.The first inciting incident to change

the flow of stasis within Troy’s world is his request with his employer for equal opportunity for

workers of color.

TROY. I ain’t worried about them firing me. They gonna fire me cause I aksed a question?

That’s all I did. I went to Mr. Rand and asked him, “Why? Why you got the white mens

driving and the colored lifting?” (Wilson 1.1.24-27)

After years of working the same job, Troy has finally pushed himself to step forward and

advocate for himself and his fellow colored workers.

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In Act 1 Scene 3 we see another rising climax as Cory tells his father that he has left his

job at the local store in order to focus on football as a recruiter is coming to see him soon. Troy

replies to this information with anger and demands that Cory finds himself a trade rather than

playing sports.

TROY. That way you have something can’t nobody take away from you. You go on and

learn how to put your hands to some good use. Besides hauling people’s garbage.

(Wilson 1.3.161-164).

This interaction is the first of many to build a staggering tension between Troy and Cory. The

next domino to fall in sequence happens off stage and script. We enter Act 2 to discover that

Gabriel has been arrested for disturbing the peace and when Troy arrives to bail him out, he is

given a date for a hearing meant to determine if Gabriel should be placed in state facilitated care.

This will later lead to other conflicts within Troy’s world and relationships.

Perhaps one of the most climatic events in the play happens in Act 2 Scene 1 as we see

Troy admit to Rose that he has been unfaithful and his mistress is carrying his child. This

dialogue between Troy and Rose is a pivotal changing point for the relationships in this play

TROY. It’s not easy for me to admit that I been standing in the same place for eighteen

years.

ROSE. I been right here with you, Troy. I got a life too. I gave eighteen years of my life

to stand in the same spot with you. Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t you

think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me?” (Wilson 2.1.302-

306)
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This exchange bleeds into the other relationships in Troy’s life as his friends and sons begin to

lose the image of an honest man they once related to Troy. This is also the point where Troy

begins to lose his patience, diligence, and attention.

In the following scene we witness an exchange between Rose and Troy, Rose informs

Troy that the government came and took Gabe away to a care facility after Troy signed his

permission. Troy immediately responds with defense insisting that he never signed any such

paperwork and Rose replies with no patience for excuses.

ROSE. I said send him to the hospital… you said let him be free… now you done went

down there and signed him to the hospital for half his money. You went back on yourself,

Troy. You gonna have to answer for that. (Wilson 2.2.60-64).

In this moment we see Troy beginning to fall apart, all of the strength and walls he has put up are

beginning to fall as he feels his life spiraling out of his control. Almost in the same instant Rose

informs Troy that his mistress, Alberta passed away giving birth to their daughter. This sends

Troy into a continuing spiral of anger at death and circumstance. We observe a change in Troy as

a person in this scene as he goes into a monologue addressing Death himself,

TROY. I’m gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to

stay on the other side. See? You stay over there until you’re ready for me. (Wilson

2.2.100-101).

This may have been Troy’s motivation to address what he has left fenced inside his mind and

what he has left unfenced in the physical world.

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The final climax of Fences is in Act 2 Scene 4, we enter the scene to see Lyons at the

Maxon house to pay Troy back for money he borrowed. An altercation begins when Cory refuses

to say ‘excuse me’ when passing Troy to enter the house. Troy abruptly demands respect from

his son and Cory refuses to give in.

CORY. You ain't never gave me nothing! You ain't never done nothing but hold me back.

Afraid I was gonna be better than you. All you ever did was try and make me scare of

you. I used to tremble every time you called my name (Wilson 2.4.159-162).

As the tension and anger building since the beginning of the play begins to boil over Cory

berates Troy and tells him that he doesn’t deserve Rose and that he has become a crazy, bitter,

old man. Troy responds to Cory’s disrespect with a final blow.

TROY. Nigger! That’s what you are. You just another nigger on the street to me!

(Wilson 2.4.175-176).

This breaks the two men into a physical altercation which ultimately ends with Troy kicking

Cory out of the house telling him his belongings will be on the other side of the fence.

All of these triggers and heaps that develop through the play lead us to the new stasis at

the end. Troy has passed away from a heart attack, Rose raises Troy and Alberta’s daughter,

Raynell herself. Cory comes home from the military after Troy’s passing and tries to tell Rose

that he won’t be attending the funeral. Rose gives Cory a final piece of advise that helps him to

see his father in a different light.

ROSE. Disrespecting your daddy ain't gonna make you a man, Cory. You got to find a

way to come to that on your own. Not going to your daddy’s funeral aint gonna make you

a man. (Wilson 2.5.148-151).

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After Rose makes this statement she leaves to speak with the Reverend and Cory talks to Raynell

about his father. The play ends after Raynell and Cory sing an old blues song that Troy loved and

Cory begins to mourn his father for the first time.

Character

Character, in relation to script analysis, is an abstract concept that attempts to recreate

human life through the medium of a two dimensional personification, ”In drama, character is not

a static object fixed forever in time, but rather a coherent pattern of actions associated with a

particular figure in a play” (Thomas 172). Fences is a play built around the effects of trauma on

the human experience, each of the characters has suffered at the hands of someone else or society

as a whole. While the play focuses on the main relationship between Troy and Cory and the

trauma they inflict onto each other, there are many other characters with beautifully holistic and

entangled lives. Rose will be the focus of my character analysis.

Complex written characters are often seen as real people, this however is never the case,

it is impossible to capture the entirety of a individual human experience within the confines of a

script, “The compact expressiveness of drama requires reduction to the essentials. And to portray

character, the whole array of ordinary human behavior is condensed into a few selected, pre-

programmed features, what Aristotle called habitual actions.” (Thomas 173). Rose Maxson is

what many thespians would refer to as a complex character, she has desires, opinions, and is not

defined within a structure of inherent goodness or villainy. Rose exists in the world of Fences for

the purpose of her superobjective; Rose needs to be a nurturing mother figure and build a safe

haven for her loved ones.

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Rose’s super objective is served throughout the play by her mini objectives and actions.

Rose spends the entirety of the play being a nurturing presence for the other characters, as a

mother to Cory, a wife to Troy, and eventually a mother to Raynell. To step up and raise the

child of her husband’s mistress is an extensive example of Rose’s need to be a mother figure.

She finds joy and purpose in taking care of someone.

ROSE. I took on to Raynell like she was all them babies I had wanted and never had.

Like I’d been blessed to relive a part of my life. (Wilson 2.5.204-206).

The super objective of creating a safe haven for her family is served by Rose’s persistence

towards Troy finishing the fence surrounding their home.

BONO. Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to

keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you. (Wilson 2.1.60-62).

As the play is given the name Fences, it is holistically representative of this ideation. Rose serves

as the parallel to Troy, as he wants to build a fence to keep things out, Rose wants to build a

fence to keep things in.

Characters are also built upon their values and the conflicts which push against their

values. “Values are the moral and ethical principles the characters stand for or against in the

world of the play, intangibles that form their opinions about good and bad, right and wrong”

(Thomas 187). Rose believes in the ideals of family, responsibility, and marriage, belief systems

which come in direct opposition with the conflicts in her storyline. As a woman who believes in

the sanctity of marriage, Rose is given a large obstacle when her husband is unfaithful, we see

Rose’s perspective on the responsibility of marriage in her reply to Troy’s infidelity. Even with
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her knowledge of Troy’s infidelity she believes it is her duty to stay by his side until he expresses

that he has no plans to stop seeing Alberta causing an internal conflict that Rose then has to fight

within herself.

This new internal conflict is the beginning of a change in who Rose is. In the end, rather

than blaming Troy for breaking their marriage she looks within herself and recognizes how she

set herself in a relationship that was never going to be about her.

ROSE. When your daddy walked through the house he was so big he filled it up. That

was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me. For my part in the

matter. But at the time I wanted that. I wanted a house I could sing in. And that’s what

your daddy gave me. I didn't know to keep up his strength I had to give up little pieces of

mine. I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pisces so that you couldn’t

hardly tell which was which anymore. It was my choice. It was my life and I didnt have

to live it like that. But that’s what life offered me in the way of being a woman and I took

it. (Wilson, 2.5.188-199).

It is perhaps Rose’s capability to look within herself and assume self responsibility for her life

outcome that makes her such a complex character. Overall Rose is a beautiful character that

gives a unique perspective as both a person of color and a woman. Rose exists in a world that

never made space for her voice or her experience.

Theme
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There are many detectable themes in Fences; race, masculinity, family, duty, and

mortality. As a play written to tell the story of the African American experience it is inevitable

for race to present as a dominant theme. Troy is plagued by racial trauma which continues onto

his sons. All of the Pittsburgh Cycle plays are meant to shine on the voices of African

Americans, they are all set apart by the accompanying themes. While much of Troy’s

relationship turmoil stems from his racial trauma it is filtered through the medium of toxic

masculinity. Troy is not only toxic with his view on the place of women as we see in the way he

speaks to Rose,

TROY. I just asked you a question women, What the matter…… cant I ask you a

question? (Wilson 2.4.37-38).

Troy is also toxically masculine towards other men. Troy is very easy to physical violence as a

reaction to conflict. We see this in his relationship with Cory as they both attempt to prove

physical dominance but we also see this in his relationship with Rose. In Act 2 Scene 1 we

observe Troy become physical with Rose after having admitted his infidelity, this also leads into

another physical altercation with Cory as he attempts to defend his mother.

Fences has a unique insight to the themes of family and duty as Troy sees the two as one.

While I believe that he does love his family, foundationally Troy sees his marriage to Rose and

his paternity to his sons as responsibility.

TROY. A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house…. sleep you behind

on my bedclothes… fill you belly up with my food… cause you my son. You my flesh

and blood. Not ‘cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take care of you. (Wilson

1.4.128-132).
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It is undeniable that this blurred conception of duty and family has caused much of the conflict in

the play. There is also a constant theme of mortality and death in Fences. Troy has multiple side

monologues where he teases back and forth with death. August Wilson gives the theme of death

two meanings, a final termination as well as a final peace and symbol of moving forward. It isn't

until Troy’s death that his family is finally able to move forward and begin to work through their

troublesome familial ties. There is a close relation between theme and idea, many times resulting

in the same image. Fences has a plethora of ideas emitted through images yet there is one that

sits on the surface waiting to be investigated further, the name of the play itself gives the

audience an idea. What does the word fence represent? Closure, protection, exclusion? An

exclusion that seems possible to pass, to climb over, or to dig under. Yet, a boundary all the

same.

Works Cited
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Ball, David. Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays.

Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1983.

Marin Theatre Company. “Pittsburgh, 1957: A Mecca of Black Culture and Business

Destroyed (from the Playbill).” Marin Theatre Company, 2022,

https://www.marintheatre.org/productions/fences/fences-pittsburgh-1957.

Wilson, August. Fences. New York, Samuel French, 2010.

Thomas, James. Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers. 5th ed., Burlington,

Focal, 2014.