Analysis of its Symbolism.
August Wilson, the author of the profound drama, "Fences", goes to extraordinary heights when creating a symbolic idea behind the fence built in this drama. The characters mentioned in this drama create a type of emotional fence. Their emotional fences were created by previous events or surroundings and used as a sort of defense mechanism. Wilson depicts one main character, Troy Marxson as having "fence like" attributes towards family and friends.
Troy, although a man of pride, was also a man of insecurities. Racism, self un fulfillment, and past troubles were major elements in shaping the self identity of Troy. As a man of color during the 1950's many odds were against him. The fact that he was a black man meant that his placement in society, in particular the workforce, would cause him to get the lower end of the barrel. This is definitely the case when he speaks to Bono, a close friend, about his trouble at work. "I ain't worried about them firing me. They gonna fire me cause I asked 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?" Told him, "what's the matter, don't I count? You think only the white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck. That ain't no paper job! Hell, anybody can drive a truck. How come you got all whites driving and the colored lifting? He told me "take it to the union." Well, hell, that's what I done! Now they wanna come up with a bunch of lies."(Wilson 2-3) Clearly Troy said this because of the racial barriers created against him. To look closer would be to find the statement "this ain't no paper job". Apparently society of that time created a mental blockage in him allowing him to believe that "paper jobs" or more prestigious jobs were jobs that African Americans were incapable of comprehending. Another instance was when speaking to his son Cory saying "I don't care where he coming from.