Fences:
Please submit your play analysis for Fences to the Google Classroom.
Let's take the first 10-15 minutes of today's class please take a look at these scenes from Fences. In the first clip, we'll see two different versions played first by James Earl Jones and then by Denzel Washington. Compare/contrast the two versions. Note the reaction by the audience as well as the performance.
Please submit your play analysis for Fences to the Google Classroom.
Let's take the first 10-15 minutes of today's class please take a look at these scenes from Fences. In the first clip, we'll see two different versions played first by James Earl Jones and then by Denzel Washington. Compare/contrast the two versions. Note the reaction by the audience as well as the performance.
- Act One, Scene Three (different performances...); film
- Fighting Death (Act One)
- Act Two, Scene One (from the Broadway production)--this is drama...view and evaluate the performance.
- This is My House! What does film do for a story that plays don't or vice versa? What's special about a theatrical performance?
- What a character says or thinks about him/herself
- What another character says or thinks about the character
- What the character does (the actions the character does and the choices he/she makes)
- The details or physical description the author or narrator gives us. In this case, what is revealed in the STAGE DIRECTIONS of the playscript.
Read out loud: Act 2: Scenes 4-5 (pg. 85-101).
Examine the characterization on these pages. What do we learn about the characters?
After examining the characterization from these scenes, let's hold a discussion about the play:
1. Fences is both unique to the plight of African Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition. What universal human condition(s) does Wilson’s play exhibit?
2. Note the realistic and metaphorical use of the fence in the play. Troy and Cory are building a realistic fence around the house. What is the metaphorical fence being built?
3. The father and son relationship between Troy and Cory is explored as a central part of the drama. Their relationship becomes complicated by strong feelings of pride and independence on both sides. What are some of the primary conflicts between Troy and his sons? Examine the relationship between Troy and his own father. What did Troy admire about his father? What did he despise? How has Troy’s experience as a child affected his relationship with Cory?
4. Troy is not a flawless protagonist, what are Troy’s most obvious flaws? Is Troy Maxon a tragic hero? How is Troy a morally ambiguous character?
5. What admirable characteristics does Troy possess?
6. How is Troy’s behavior an instrument for others suffering?
7. By the end of Fences, every character except Raynell is institutionalized--Rose in the church, Lyons in the penitentiary, Gabriel in the mental hospital, and Cory in the U.S. Marines. The only free person is Raynell, Troy’s daughter. What might the institutionalization of his family members represent? What might be represented by the fact that Raynell is the sole remaining Maxson to exist outside of an institution?
8. Explore some of the generational differences that exist between Troy and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. What are they and why is it generational?
9. Describe the relationship between Troy and his job/money? How does money create conflict in the play or contribute to the plot or characterization?
10. Discuss how the diction of Wilson’s play adds or detracts from the play as a whole?
Fences Writing Prompt:
Examine the characterization on these pages. What do we learn about the characters?
After examining the characterization from these scenes, let's hold a discussion about the play:
1. Fences is both unique to the plight of African Americans and universal in its depiction of the human condition. What universal human condition(s) does Wilson’s play exhibit?
2. Note the realistic and metaphorical use of the fence in the play. Troy and Cory are building a realistic fence around the house. What is the metaphorical fence being built?
3. The father and son relationship between Troy and Cory is explored as a central part of the drama. Their relationship becomes complicated by strong feelings of pride and independence on both sides. What are some of the primary conflicts between Troy and his sons? Examine the relationship between Troy and his own father. What did Troy admire about his father? What did he despise? How has Troy’s experience as a child affected his relationship with Cory?
4. Troy is not a flawless protagonist, what are Troy’s most obvious flaws? Is Troy Maxon a tragic hero? How is Troy a morally ambiguous character?
5. What admirable characteristics does Troy possess?
6. How is Troy’s behavior an instrument for others suffering?
7. By the end of Fences, every character except Raynell is institutionalized--Rose in the church, Lyons in the penitentiary, Gabriel in the mental hospital, and Cory in the U.S. Marines. The only free person is Raynell, Troy’s daughter. What might the institutionalization of his family members represent? What might be represented by the fact that Raynell is the sole remaining Maxson to exist outside of an institution?
8. Explore some of the generational differences that exist between Troy and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. What are they and why is it generational?
9. Describe the relationship between Troy and his job/money? How does money create conflict in the play or contribute to the plot or characterization?
10. Discuss how the diction of Wilson’s play adds or detracts from the play as a whole?
Fences Writing Prompt:
- Option #1: Choose a character from Fences (Rose, Troy, Gabe, Lyons, Cory, Bono, Raynelle, etc.); write a poem (or monologue) from that character's perspective.
- Try a poem starter: "When I..." followed by what that character did and how that affected his/her family. "When I married you, Troy, I swore I'd be true..." or "When I played ball with those white boys, I aimed every ounce of my being toward the fence..." or "When I built that fence..." or "When I blow my horn God will open the clouds of heaven above..." etc.
- Option #2: Fences keep things safe from the outside world or protect a family, but also trap a person from obtaining or getting what they want. Pick an inanimate object like a fence or wall or barrier of some sort that represents a human shortcoming or human flaw or restriction or boundary keeping the speaker from what he/she wishes to get or achieve. A problem with grades or money, for example, can be a barrier. It might also be a broken window or a stalled car or some other object. Use the object to explain how the speaker of the poem interprets their situation--what's keeping them back? Write about this conflict. See the following poems as examples:
- Mending Wall by Robert Frost
- Fences by Pat Mora
- Border by Gillian Clarke
- The Boundary by Bei Dao
- Other fence poems
- Option #3: Choose a character or consider the plot of the play. Choose Rose, Troy, Gabe, Lyons, Cory, Bono, Raynelle, etc.; write a play scene taking into account the plot or character. You might write a scene that doesn't appear in the play or a scene that happened before or after the events of the play.
HOMEWORK: Work on your writing project.
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