Story Map on Fences

Information Technology High School 1
Ms. Hyde
English E5H
12/30/07
Lourdes Vicuna

Fences by August Wilson


Characters & Characterization:
Troy Maxson-is known as the protagonist of the book. He is 53 years old African American and his occupation is a sanitation man. Troy is the husband of Rose, brother of Gabriel and father of Lyons, Cory and Raynell.
Jim Bono-He is Troy’s best friend.
Rose-She is the wife of Troy and has faithfully maintained herself on his side. Rose is the mother of Cory, stepmother of Lyons and raises Raynell.
Lyons-Troy’s son, who is a musician and comes to ask for money on Troy’s payday.
Gabriel-Troy’ brother who served as a soldier in WWII and now has a metal plate in his head because of an injury.
Cory-Son of Troy and Rose, great football player in High School and later serves in the Marines.
Raynell-Daughter of Alberta and Troy, innocent child raised by Rose after mother’s death.
Alberta-Mother of Raynell, she dies when she gives birth. This is the woman who Troy had an affair with.
Death-Death is the antagonist of the play because Troy fears it and it kills him too.

Setting:
This play takes place mostly in the backyard of a two-story brick house or the house itself in Pittsburgh, PA. The time during which this took place was 1957-1965 and this time period is very important because it was a time of Civil Rights Movement and a time of segregation. The reader was able to perceive a feeling of separation in this town because they were African American and thus were limited to certain rights.

Vocabulary: (from www.dictionary.com)
1. sickle(p.11)- an implement for cutting grain, grass, etc., consisting of a curved, hook like blade mounted in a short handle.
2. hauling(p.35)- To pull or drag forcibly; tug.
3. recruited(p.49)- To engage (persons) for military service.
4. penitentiary(p.70)- a place for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment, esp. a prison maintained in the U.S. by a state or the federal government for serious offenders.
5. maneuver(p.85)- a planned and regulated movement or evolution of troops, warships, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information Technology High School 2
Ms. Hyde
English E5H
12/30/07
Lourdes Vicuna

Plot: (Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Conclusion/Resolution):
This play begins with the fact that Troy and Bono are drinking on payday at Troy’s backyard. As they are talking Bono suspects that Troy is cheating on Rose. Lyons later appears asking for money and permission to play football at North Carolina, but is denied. Late into the play, after talking with his boss, Troy gets to drive the garbage truck. As Troy and Cory are working on the fence, Bono tells them that Rose wants to have a fence because she loves them and she wants to keep them all to herself. Troy confesses that he had an affair with Alberta to Bono and later more importantly to Rose. Months later he brings home the baby that belongs to Alberta and Troy and Rose in a feeling of love and emotion agrees to raise baby Raynell. Troy and Cory later have a physical fight and eight years later, Troy dies from a heart attack. By this time he had already build the fence that Rose had always wanted.

2 “Quotes”: (With explanation, 1 paragraph each)
“Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner”-Troy (p.10)
As quoted above, Troy’s antagonist was death. He knew that once it came, that was the end of him. That is why he compares it as a fastball, because it is something that occurs without giving warning, spontaneously, like as if he was waiting online for his turn to come. This quote was foreshadowing the future death of Troy because it would be fast and unexpected by the reader.

“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.”-Bono (p.61)
This quote is very important because it gives a sense of symbolism. This quote means that in this play Rose tried to keep her family protected, but little did she know that this would not happen. Here the fences symbolize protection for her family. It is also important to not forget how fences keep the evil away from Rose’s family because her family is her priority. This quote is very important because August Wilson tells the reader how the fences symbolize protection or put a stop to something and in this case it was keeping the family together despite the racial society that surrounds them.

Conflicts: (External, Internal)
Troy vs. Troy (Internal Conflict)-Tory has to battle within himself the fact that he always tries to give his family the best of him; attention, love and support. But when he tries to do so, it somehow fails, especially since he had an affair with Alberta. It’s like as if he wanted to give of himself more than what he has.

Troy vs. Cory (External Conflict)-Troy confronts his son because they had an argument, they physically interacted with each other. Mostly because Troy doesn’t approve Cory’s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information Technology High School 3
Ms. Hyde
English E5H
12/30/07
Lourdes Vicuna

desire to play professional football. This conflict leads to a rough relationship between father and son which later is seen in the end of the play because Cory refuses to go to his dad’s funeral. Rose makes him realize that not going to his dad’s funeral doesn’t make him a man so he decided to go.

Themes:
Family is Priority
Family is priority to Rose because she was always trying to find out ways to keep her family together. Like when Troy confessed that he was having an affair with another woman, she could of have left, but yet she chose to put her family first and make sacrifices for them by staying with them because her family was her priority.

Protection of Fences
Protection of Fences was a main topic in this play because it was constantly brought up to Troy that he had to build fences for Rose. What makes fences a theme is the fact that protection was necessary for everything. Fences served as a barrier to what was going around society.

Literary Elements:

Tone- a particular style or manner, as of writing or speech; mood.
p. all of the book
This play had a tranquil tone because it was very moderate; it was always kept at the same tone to let the reader know how there was barely any trouble.

Motif- a dominant theme or central idea.
p. all of the book
In this play, family is a motif because anything any character did affected the family. Like when Troy died, it devastated the entire family. Every character tried to do their best to keep the family together in peace and in harmony.

Symbolism- the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.
p. all of the book
Fences are a symbol of protection, protection shown by Rose’s struggle to keep her family together. Fences is also a symbol of barriers, barriers seen in life when Troy struggled to get a garbage truck position at his job because he was an African American.

Annotated Bibliography:
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information Technology High School 4
Ms. Hyde
English E5H
12/30/07
Lourdes Vicuna

Fences is an amazing work of art by August Wilson that tells about the life of an African American family in the 1950s and in the 1960s and their struggle to keep their family together. The Maxson family has difficulties like the other families, but what makes this family stand out is their desire to reunite themselves and be the best that they can. This family is made up of different ways of thinking and yet they all know what they should do to make their family go through difficult times. That is what makes a family so great, which is why August Wilson won many awards and among these Pulitzer Award. Clearly August Wilson wants to make it clear that when everyone turns their back on you, your family will be there for you.