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Fences Baseball

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Fences Baseball
BaseballKristy McInnis
Mr. Krantz
English 3
5\16\2013
The Symbolism of Baseball Fences by August Wilson is a play full of baseball imagery, which is key to understanding the writing. Being a play the reader must interpret the scenes from emotions, setting, tone, and interpretation. This gives them insight to how August Wilson wants to portray the book. Being a white man writing from the perspective of a poor black man he sends the reader back into a time where blacks were inferior. They were pushed into a life where they could never climb the social ladder in sports or work. Troy being a former baseball player holds resentment towards the world and becomes bitter over the years. He has experienced injustice for many years and this has had a toll on him. Troy has the power to future to look at the situation differently but falls into the victim roll. Foreshadowing from the first scene of the play Troy's has arrogance toward death leads to his death in the last scene with a baseball bat in his hand. The play is based around Troy's love for baseball and how characters compare it to life situations. "Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner"(1.1.82). Troy seeing his life as a baseball game compares a fastball to death. During Troy's life he encounters an experience that supposedly brings him close to death. This may not actually be the case due to Troy's practice at telling stories, but its importance is from the idea of a perfect pitch. Troy's sees this perfect pitch as a homerun, showing the reader that Troy likes to bring drama to any situation. Troy being a former baseball player reverts to old ways when he was playing, he never made it to the big leagues and holds resentment. By never growing from his baseball years, he approaches every situation as if he is in a game. Troy introduces his tale early in the play giving the reader a chance to understand his character. "You got to take the crookeds with the straights. That's what Papa used

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