August Wilson's play, Fences is part of a ten play cycle that each represent the a decade during the twentieth century and how African American's lives changed throughout. Fences is placed in the 50s and he shows a masterful use of symbolism in many ways throughout his play. One of the most obvious appears in the theme of baseball. Troy continually strikes, and by the end he has stricken out. When he tells Rose about his affair and described his life as sitting on first with Rose for 18 years and was ready to steal second. He is also constantly telling Cory that he is striking out and after "strike three" he kicks Cory out of the house to live on his own. Another, less obvious symbol is the idea of a garden. Rose describes her love for Troy as a seed that will never blossom. Troy's building of the fence around the garden seems to reflect him keeping love gated inside, not able to spread. Rose's name itself even suggests a reference to fertility. Other examples come with the refrigerator that Bono buys for his wife which could symbolize him preserving his relationship with his wife whereas Troy is fencing out his own relationship.
What do you think? Are these good interpretations of different symbols in the book. Are there more?
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