Fences

       

      Baseball acts as an important motif in the story, fences, on the other hand, serve as an important symbol in the play and assume various meanings as they relate to the different characters. Only one actual fence exists in the play, the fence that Rose has Troy fixed. This literal presence of the fence and the versatile nature of the meaning of fences are perhaps the reason why the play is titled. “Fences” relate to Troy in the sense that it reflects his relationship with the rest of the family broken and in disarray. Throughout the play, Troy expresses reluctance in finishing the task just as he exhibits inefficiency in dealing with the other family members. Apart from being unfaithful to Rose, Troy is also inconsiderate of his son and negligent towards his brother. Rose in contrast sees the fence as something positive. She is the primary advocate for the fence’s completion and this preoccupation is explained by Bono as “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” (2.1.32). It may even be said that the fence represents Jesus for Rose since it is her constant prayer that “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day” (1.2.2). In the end, Jesus does separate her from others by keeping her safe, strong, and optimistic.The fence also acts as a symbol for the barrier between Troy and Cory. Cory’s desire to play football infuriates Troy as he wants his son seek proper employment instead of play. This alienates Cory and the father and son have a falling out. The fence also separates Troy and Lyons because Troy believes that his son’s pursuit of a career in music is worthless like Cory’s desire to play football. Finally, I believe that fences have a definition that is dual in nature. Whereas it can keep together the things that must stay together such as family and protect these things, it also prevents others from achieving their dreams. Perhaps the most important of the examples of how some things are represented by a fence in the play is Troy’s failure to enter the Major League. Troy’s disillusioned state and the many conflicts portrayed in the play are all inherently connected to his failure. Like tall fence the racial issues of the time have prevented Troy from achieving his dream. He may see the policy as a barrier against the fulfillment of his career and thus symbolically resents fences by being reluctant in his chore.