Fences - by August Wilson

Author: August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel in 1945, in Pittsburgh, PA. He was the son of Frederick August (a baker) and Daisy (a cleaning woman. He cofounded andwas the director of Black Horizons on the Hill, theatre company in Pittsburgh, PA.

Basic Passage: "I ain't got no extra money. Gabe done moved over to Miss Pearl's paying her the rent and things done got tight around here. I can't afford to give you every payday," says Troy. Lyons, "I ain't asked you to give me nothing. I asked you to loan me ten dollars. I know you got te dollars." Troy says, "Yeah I got it. You know why I got it? Cause I don't throw my money away out there in the streets. You living the fast life...wanna be a musician...running around in them clubs and things...then, you learn to take care of yourself. You ain't gonna find me going and asking nobody for nothing. I done spent too many years without."

Correlate: This is a pattern for Lyons as he continually begs for money throughout the play. He always manages to get it somehow. This pattern will not easily be broken. His dad tries to discourage him from begging for money and wants him to not be a musician but get a job and succeed in life.

Difficulties: I did not have any.

Tragedy: The tragedy is thatTroy feels that society is not fair and struggles with this idea.

1. Answered in comment.

2. Cory has become a Marine Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corp. At Troy's funeral Lyon's ends up being just like his father and is put in jail for cashing other people's checks. He has become what his father warned him he would be.
But Cory has made a better life by joining the Marines.

3. Troy believes that times have changed dramatically and society has become poorer and more people have become homeless. What he doesn't understand is that society is really changing for the better and trying to eliminate poverty.

4. Troy begs for money from Lyons after his payday loans and normally gets ten dollars. Troy is a user and is deceiving himself. He makes a liar of himself. This is wrong by most people's standards today, unless you are willing to pay someone back.

5. Cory is singing about the dog named Blue because he reminisces about a time when his papa, Troy, sang the song to him. Gabriel sings this song as a reminder of Troy after his death and wishes him farewell.