The title of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is apt, because the symbol of the fence represents three major concepts: the white picket fence representing the American Dream denied to the Maxson’s due to racism and Tory, the fencing-in of the Maxson’s into their state of poverty because of their race, as well as poverty itself limiting their social mobility.
I will frame all three of these fences within the American Dream to show the upset that it has caused both by existing and because it is out of their reach due to their race and poverty.
The American Dream is an ideal that consists of several archetypal images: an owned house, well-manicured lawn, a car or two, the nuclear family nestled in a decent suburban neighborhood, and the aforementioned white picket fence surrounding these possessions.
The Maxson’s are also black in the USA, specifically the 1950’s USA, which means that their race very negatively effects their chances of rising out of poverty to create a better life for themselves and possibly others.
Troy is especially in-tune with this fact, preventing Cory from playing football, a profession he might be successful with, simply because Troy experienced discrimination when trying to play Major League baseball.
The poverty they are trapped within is itself yet another fence for them to try to clamber over, as their lack of wealth means less education, and less services able to be rendered on their behalf, thus limiting their social mobility as individuals, as a family unit, and thus as a community.
The American Dream is an essential idea in Wilson’s “Fences”, as can be seen in Troy and Cory’s longing for jobs in which their truest skills and passions can be utilized.
Troy, though now a garbage collector, once attempted to play Major League baseball, but was stopped short by segregation and age. Troy craved the American dream, the dream of more money and more opportunity, and felt trapped by the past racist policies that pervaded America at this time.
This can be seen in Troy’s extreme effort to provide for his family and to pay for his house. He wishes Cory to achieve the American Dream, “I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get”.
Troy uses his knowledge to ban Cory from being a football player, because he feels that, even with desegregation, racism from higher-ups will cause him to face the same harsh fate that Troy did.
Cory argues that there are now black players and, because they had already paved the way to prove segregation a worthless policy, he had a chance, unlike Troy. The American Dream is snatched from Troy by segregation, and Troy, fearing his son becoming a victim as well due to his experiences, stops Cory from trying to achieve the American Dream.
But the American Dream and the picket fence are themselves limiting. As Baharvand argues, “[The American Dream] serves as a vehicle to control colored people… It persuades them to do what the ruling class and factory owners want”.
But Baharvand neglects to consider the idea of the American Dream. It is a hypothetical ideal, that one should be able to “get wealthy”. This ideal of the white picket fence, the American Dream, the chance to become wealthy and build a better life, is blocked by another fence: race.
