Fences Research Paper
There are many things in life that are hard to explain within themselves, which is why people often use metaphors to expand on their speech. Whether it is a poet comparing their love to a rose or a woman comparing a man to a dog, almost everyone uses metaphors in their everyday language. Many good examples of metaphors in everyday writing are found in August Wilson's play, Fences. In this play there are also many ways that the characters use "fences" as both figurative and literal terms. All these forms of writing really expand on the story and help people to understand the characters much better.
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In the play Fences the biggest thing that is used as a metaphor, mostly by the main character Troy, who used to play for the Negro Leagues. Troy is a man that has been in trouble in the past and gone to jail, but is a simple character that is relatively old fashioned. He uses baseball to relate to a lot of things because he is certain about his knowledge of the sport, and therefore feels confident about what he says. The first time he used baseball as a metaphor he was talking about death, and used it to better explain himself.
"Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist high, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?" (Pg 10)
Troy uses baseball as a metaphor in this paragraph to show that he is not scared of death, and that if it came for him "you can kiss it goodbye." This shows that he is a very courageous man, and that he is unflinching to death.
He also uses baseball as a metaphor with his kids, in a way of warning them। When his son Cory did something wrong he told him,"I'm gonna tell you what your mistake was see you swung at the ball and didn't hit it. That's strike one. Don't you strike out!" (pg 58)
Troy talks this way because it is the only way how, and takes it to the extent of raising his kids with it. This shows that if you do something enough, like play baseball, it becomes a part of your everyday speech and life, like Troy. He does this again later in the book when he tells Cory, "Alright. That's strike two. You stay away from around me, boy. Don't you strike out. You living with a full count. Don't you strike out."(pg 72) He really came accustomed to using baseball language and therefore started using it for everything, which shows in the way he talks.
The last time Troy used baseball as a metaphor was when he was having a conversation with his wife Rose and was talking about his life.
"Maybe I come into the world backwards, I don't know. But you born with two strikes on you before you come to the plate. You got to guard it closely always looking for the curve-ball on the inside corner. You can't afford to let none get past you. You can't afford a call strike. If you going down you going down swinging. Everything lined up against you. What you gonna do. I fooled them, Rose. I bunted. When I found you and Cory and a halfway decent job I was safe." (pg 69-70)
Troy was a simple man and didn't have many ways to explain himself, so he used baseball, something that he knew. He was basically saying that he was born with the world already against it and didn't want to go out without a fight, so he took his chances and swung for the fences.
In this play fences are used as well, both figuratively and literally। This was used as an agent to give deeper meaning to the play, and make the reader think more about the statements। The first time it came up when Cory asked his dad why Rose even wanted them to build a fence anyway. Bono, Troys best friend, responded by saying,"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." (pg 61)
Bono said this to explain that Fences are not only built to keep bad people out, but also to keep the good people you love in। Troy talks about using the fence to keep bad things out later in the play when he says,"Alright Mr. Death. See now I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? 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. Then you come on. Bring your army. Bring your sickle. Bring your wrestling clothes." (Pg 77)
Troy was obviously very enraged at this point, and he wanted to build the fence to keep "death" out of what he owned. This shows character of Troy in a whole new perspective, because he doesn't use baseball as a way to threaten death, but still uses the idea of the fence.
The play Fences really shows the talent of August Wilson because of all the deep meanings he put in. It is also obvious that a lot of time was taken into creating the characters, because they are all different in many ways, and their personalities are shown through what they say. August Wilson used the ideas of fences and baseball to really expand the story and make it more three dimensional, which made it much more interesting.
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In the play Fences the biggest thing that is used as a metaphor, mostly by the main character Troy, who used to play for the Negro Leagues. Troy is a man that has been in trouble in the past and gone to jail, but is a simple character that is relatively old fashioned. He uses baseball to relate to a lot of things because he is certain about his knowledge of the sport, and therefore feels confident about what he says. The first time he used baseball as a metaphor he was talking about death, and used it to better explain himself.
"Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist high, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?" (Pg 10)
Troy uses baseball as a metaphor in this paragraph to show that he is not scared of death, and that if it came for him "you can kiss it goodbye." This shows that he is a very courageous man, and that he is unflinching to death.
He also uses baseball as a metaphor with his kids, in a way of warning them। When his son Cory did something wrong he told him,"I'm gonna tell you what your mistake was see you swung at the ball and didn't hit it. That's strike one. Don't you strike out!" (pg 58)
Troy talks this way because it is the only way how, and takes it to the extent of raising his kids with it. This shows that if you do something enough, like play baseball, it becomes a part of your everyday speech and life, like Troy. He does this again later in the book when he tells Cory, "Alright. That's strike two. You stay away from around me, boy. Don't you strike out. You living with a full count. Don't you strike out."(pg 72) He really came accustomed to using baseball language and therefore started using it for everything, which shows in the way he talks.
The last time Troy used baseball as a metaphor was when he was having a conversation with his wife Rose and was talking about his life.
"Maybe I come into the world backwards, I don't know. But you born with two strikes on you before you come to the plate. You got to guard it closely always looking for the curve-ball on the inside corner. You can't afford to let none get past you. You can't afford a call strike. If you going down you going down swinging. Everything lined up against you. What you gonna do. I fooled them, Rose. I bunted. When I found you and Cory and a halfway decent job I was safe." (pg 69-70)
Troy was a simple man and didn't have many ways to explain himself, so he used baseball, something that he knew. He was basically saying that he was born with the world already against it and didn't want to go out without a fight, so he took his chances and swung for the fences.
In this play fences are used as well, both figuratively and literally। This was used as an agent to give deeper meaning to the play, and make the reader think more about the statements। The first time it came up when Cory asked his dad why Rose even wanted them to build a fence anyway. Bono, Troys best friend, responded by saying,"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." (pg 61)
Bono said this to explain that Fences are not only built to keep bad people out, but also to keep the good people you love in। Troy talks about using the fence to keep bad things out later in the play when he says,"Alright Mr. Death. See now I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? 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. Then you come on. Bring your army. Bring your sickle. Bring your wrestling clothes." (Pg 77)
Troy was obviously very enraged at this point, and he wanted to build the fence to keep "death" out of what he owned. This shows character of Troy in a whole new perspective, because he doesn't use baseball as a way to threaten death, but still uses the idea of the fence.
The play Fences really shows the talent of August Wilson because of all the deep meanings he put in. It is also obvious that a lot of time was taken into creating the characters, because they are all different in many ways, and their personalities are shown through what they say. August Wilson used the ideas of fences and baseball to really expand the story and make it more three dimensional, which made it much more interesting.
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