August Wilson Sources for your Essay

Symbolism in Fences by August Wilson


Troy Maxson -- in his fifties at the time of the play -- is presented as having been a magnificent baseball player in his youth: Troy's friend Bono suggests only "two men ever played baseball as good as you. That's Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson." (Wilson 9)

Fences by August Wilson in


If you have an understanding of baseball and its history, however, there is more to the story than would otherwise be seen. Baseball came about through stick and ball games that were played throughout history in all sorts of different countries (Block, 2006)

Fences by August Wilson in


The most important thing about baseball that most people notice is that it seems to bring individuals together quite well. Most people enjoy it or can relate to it in some way, and this is part of the reason that Wilson incorporates it into his work - because it helps people in society to relate to what he is addressing and makes them feel as though their story is part of the human story (Sullivan, 1997)

Fences by August Wilson in


It likely came from Romania or another similar country. By the 1860s, baseball was being playing on a semi-professional level within the United States (Ward, 1994)

Fences by August Wilson in


For those who do not feel this way about baseball, however, the work can still be enjoyed because of the very real characters and the way that the individuals interact with one another. It is reminiscent of the lives of many people today and in the past, and that means that a lot of people can relate to it on various different levels, whether they like baseball or not (Wilson, 1986)

Fences August Wilson Breaking Out: Autonomous Independence


¶ … Fences" August Wilson Breaking Out: Autonomous Independence in Fences One of the principle characters of August Wilson's play entitled Fences is Cory Maxson, whose role as the son of the play's protagonist, Troy Maxson (Gilmour 2010), is fairly integral to the thematic issues that the author chooses to demonstrate within this dramatic work

Fences August Wilson Breaking Out: Autonomous Independence


Everywhere I looked, Troy Maxson was staring back at me…hiding under the bed…in the closet. I'm just saying I've got to find a way to get rid of that shadow, Mama (Wilson 1986)

Fences by August Wilson His


Therefore, he can portray the pain of his characters much more effectively. Yet another critic notes, "In all Wilson's plays, the men, especially, strive for dignity, despite the soul-crushing challenges they face and have faced for generations" (Alexander)

Fences by August Wilson His


Another clue to Wilson's thoughts on fatherhood in the play (and many of his plays), is the location. Another critic notes, "Wilson's African-American characters are, for the most part, working-class black men who live within the geographical location of the Hill District of Pittsburgh" (Perry)

Fences by August Wilson His


Critic Sandra G. Shannon notes, "The playwright's own turbulent passage into manhood with neither financial nor emotional support from his father is reflected in the escalating battle royal between the antagonistic Troy and his defiant son Cory" (Shannon 92)

Fences by August Wilson His


He usually comes around the Maxson house when he needs money, which is often, since he is a jazz musician who has difficulty making a decent living. He sums up his relationship with his father when he says, "You and me is two different people, Pop" (Wilson 18)

MA Rainey\'s Black Bottom by August Wilson


It has a characterization of musical characters with 8 males -5 white and 2 blacks- and 2 African-American females. This musical presentation presents the undying thematic concerns of racism, art, religion, self-hate and exploitation (Wilson 1985)

Fences August Wilson the Influence of Sports


His son, Cory Maxson, is a high school football player with promise who has the potential to play collegiate ball. Due to these facts and their effects upon the characterization of both of these individuals, Wilson utilizes the motif of sports to demonstrate a lot of the pertinent themes that Fences is based upon -- such as questions of race and justice (Burbank 118), the assertion of autonomy and manhood, and the pursuit of life and its ravager, death

Fences August Wilson the Influence of Sports


Therefore, this passage indicates that the growing sense of disillusionment which characterizes Troy's life largely hinges upon the motif of sports -- much like all other important themes in this play. Significantly, Troy's courtship of death is resolved in the final act of the play, in a scene in which many of the other acts all crescendo towards (Dobie 40)

Fences August Wilson the Influence of Sports


In many ways, Troy's attitude of defiance towards the football aspirations of his son characterizes his attitude of defiance towards life in general. Due to the fact that Troy was not able to play baseball professionally at the highest level, one of the major themes of Fences is his dissatisfaction of his own life (Gantt 10)

Fences August Wilson the Influence of Sports


That makes forty -- three. Troy: Hank Aaron ain't nobody. (Wilson 1986)

Ma Rainey\'s Black Bottom August Wilson. Plume


This fact goes to show how valuable this particular material item is to the forming of the identity of Levee. As one of the band members remarks, "If I had them shoes Levee got, I could buy me a whole suit of clothes" (Wilson)

Who Is the Protagonist of the Piano Lesson by August Wilson?


This was why he had been in Parchman Prison for three years, and from the start Berniece makes it clear that she does not want Willie in the house at all. She makes it clear immediately that she suspects Willie of murdering the white landowner James Sutter, saying that "somebody down there pushing them people in their wells" (Wilson 5)

Black Bottom August Wilson Introduces the Importance


Christianity is one of those standards. Levee recognizes that "praying to a white god is like praying to a white man," (Elkins 102)

August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand

Year : 2015