Research analyzing family dynamics and conflicts in august wilson's fences

This paper analyzes family dynamics and conflicts in August Wilson’s play, Fences. Family dynamics refer to the patterns that guide how family members interact with each other. They are usually defined by the way family members communicate and relate with each other, their roles within the family and how they manage conflicts in the family. Family dynamics model the behaviors of the family members. On the other hand, conflicts refer to the disagreements or arguments that usually go on for a long time. Therefore, family conflicts are the arguments or disagreements that take place in a family. All families are bound to experience family dynamics and conflicts and because of this, August Wilson wrote Fences to explain these conflicts and dynamics through a literary lens and how they affect real-life familial bonds. Fences is a play written by August Wilson on a set-up portraying the blooming black rights movements between 1954 and 1968. Fences was written in 1985, but it depicted the 1950s lifestyle. The play has black characters who show how limited opportunities were to the people of color and how oppression against the blacks was the major problem in the United States of America during these times. Guided by postcolonial theory, Wilson has used the play Fences to bring to light various themes like racism, manhood and masculinity, marriage and faithfulness, and practicality and idealism through his characters and their various life experiences. The play consists of two generations that contradict each other's beliefs, and they are all unified by one factor: racism and black man oppression. Major characters like Troy Maxson illustrate oppression and its impact on the black family. They portray life in the black neighborhood during the Black Urban Realism literary period, between 1954 and 1968. There are conflicts in the Maxson family which show family dynamics in that home. Wilson has used the fence throughout his play as a symbol that represents the imaginary barriers that the main characters, Troy’s family members, build to keep themselves safe. The fences throughout the play show the conflicting desires of Troy Maxson’s family members and the dynamics between them. Therefore, an examination of Wilson’s Fences through Troy’s family relationships will illustrate the reasons for the conflicts and differences. This study will help the writer explain how August Wilson has used the family unit to explore broader themes of race, class and gender and to identify the underlying factors that shape family dynamics and perpetuate or resolve conflicts within the Maxson family through a qualitative analysis of the dialogue in Fences.