Fences is a 2016 American period drama film starring, produced and directed by Denzel Washington and written by August Wilson, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. In addition to Washington, the film also stars Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson and Saniyya Sidney.

Principal photography on the film began on April 25, 2016, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Hill District, and wrapped in mid-June 2016.[3] Fences was released in the United States on December 16, 2016, by Paramount Pictures, received positive reviews and grossed $64 million. The film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2016,[4] and was nominated for numerous awards, including four Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Washington), Best Supporting Actress (Davis) and Best Adapted Screenplay, with Davis winning for her performance. It also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for Washington and a Best Supporting Actress win for Davis.[5]

In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson lives with his wife Rose and their son Cory, and works as a garbage collector alongside his best friend, Jim Bono. Troy's younger brother, Gabriel, sustained a head injury in World War II that left him mentally impaired, for which he received a $3,000 government payout that Troy subsequently uses as a down payment on a home for his family. Gabriel has since moved out to live across the street at "Miss Pearl's" house, so Troy no longer gets rent money from Gabe, which places the family under financial strain. Gabe sometimes gets in trouble with the law for his erratic behavior. Rose suggests to Troy that Gabe might be better off residing in a hospital.

Troy left home at 14 after beating up his abusive father, and became a robber to sustain himself. While serving prison time for killing a man during a robbery, he met Bono and revealed himself to be a talented baseball player. He then played in the professional Negro Leagues; but he never made it to Major League Baseball, which had no black players in the years before 1947. Troy claims to have survived a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in his youth by defeating Death in a wrestling match, upon which Death vowed to return for a rematch.

Lyons, Troy's son from a previous relationship, visits him on Troy's payday to borrow money; this upsets Troy, who believes a man has a responsibility to find his own way and provide for his family. Rose later tells Troy that Cory is being scouted by a college football team, but Troy is dismissive of Cory's chances of playing professional football and refuses to sign the permission slip, saying he does not want Cory to fail in athletics as he did.

Rose asks Troy to build a fence around their house, and Troy asks that Cory help him on Saturdays. On learning that Cory is not working at his after-school job at the A&P because it interferes with football practice, Troy demands that he return to the job, despite Cory's attempts to convince him that he will work weekends instead of during the week.

After complaining about his company's racist employment practices, Troy is promoted to driving the garbage truck, becoming the first African-American to do so in Pittsburgh. Bono finds out that Troy is cheating on Rose with Alberta, a woman he sees at Taylor's (a bar) and encourages him to break it off. Troy later finds out that Cory did not return to his job, and so tells the coach that Cory is no longer allowed to play. Troy also refuses to sign papers that would allow Cory to be recruited for college football. Cory lashes out and throws his helmet at Troy, who warns his son not to disrespect him again. Troy (who is illiterate) signs papers rerouting half of Gabriel's pension to a psychiatric hospital, forcing Gabriel to be institutionalized. The other half of Gabe's pension is to be sent monthly to Troy.

After Troy impregnates Alberta, he is forced to reveal his affair to Rose, which leads to an argument in which Troy aggressively grabs Rose's arm. Cory intervenes and knocks Troy into the fence. Months later, Alberta dies in childbirth. Troy angrily challenges "Mr. Death" to another fight.

Troy brings his baby daughter, Raynell, home, and Rose agrees to raise her as her own, but refuses to accept Troy back into her life. Cory is considering enlisting in the United States Marine Corps, having missed his opportunity to attend college with a football scholarship. One day, when Cory returns home, an intoxicated and bitter Troy blocks his path and instigates a fight in which Cory swings at Troy with a baseball bat. Troy grabs the bat from Cory and drives him out of the yard. Disoriented, Troy once again challenges Death to come for him.

Six years later, Troy has died of a heart attack, and Cory, now a USMC corporal, returns home, but informs Rose he will not attend Troy's funeral. Rose admits to loving Troy despite his many flaws and pleads that Troy is still a part of Cory. Cory reconsiders after sharing memories of Troy with Raynell. Lyons is serving three years in prison for forgery, and gets a furlough to attend the funeral. Similarly, Gabriel is released from the hospital to attend and reunites with his family as they all bid farewell to Troy. Gabriel plays his trumpet and succeeds on the third try for St. Peter to open the gates of heaven for Troy, and the sun glistens over them.

The film was adapted from August Wilson's play Fences. Production culminated in the 2016 release of the film, over a decade after Wilson's death.

Previous attempts to adapt Fences for the screen had been fruitless, partly due to Wilson's insistence on an African-American director.[6] In a 2013 interview with Empire, Denzel Washington expressed his intention to star in and direct an adaptation of Fences, reprising his role from the 2010 Broadway revival of the play, which like the film, was produced by Scott Rudin.[7]

On January 28, 2016, it was reported that Rudin, Washington and Todd Black would produce a film adaptation of the play, directed by Washington and starring Washington and Viola Davis, reprising their roles from the 2010 revival that earned both actors Tony Awards.[8] Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner came aboard to build on a draft written by Wilson before his death in 2005.[9] However, Wilson is the only credited screenwriter for the film,[10] while Kushner received a co-producer credit. Black explained that Washington insisted that they remain faithful to Wilson's work, saying, "The star of the movie is the screenplay and August Wilson's words. What Denzel said to me, to Scott, to all the actors, the cinematographer, and the production designer was, 'Don't make any decision without August Wilson's words leading you to make that decision.' Whatever you do, let the words inform your decision first. That's what we all had to abide by."[11]

On April 4, 2016, Mykelti Williamson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Saniyya Sidney joined the cast, with Williamson, Hornsby and Henderson also reprising their roles from the 2010 production.[12]

On April 25, 2016, it was reported that Fences had begun filming in Pittsburgh.[13] On June 14, 2016, principal photography was completed.[14] Post-production was completed in mid-November.[15] Charlotte Bruus Christensen was the director of photography,[16] David Gropman was the production designer,[17] Sharen Davis was the costume designer,[18] Hughes Winborne edited the film,[19] Sean Devereaux was the visual effects supervisor,[20] and Marcelo Zarvos composed the film's score.[21]

Fences grossed $57.7 million in the United States and Canada and $6.7 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $64.4 million, against a production budget of $24 million.[2]

Fences opened in two theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 16, and was expected to gross $5075,000 per theater in its limited opening weekend. It ended up making a total of $128,000, good for a per-theater average of $32,000.[27] The film went into wide release (2,223 theaters) on Christmas Day and grossed $6.7 million; over its first two days it made $11.5 million.[28] In its first full weekend the following week, the film made $10 million, finishing 6th at the box office.[29]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 249 reviews, with an average rating of 7.65/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "From its reunited Broadway stars to its screenplay, the solidly crafted Fences finds its Pulitzer-winning source material fundamentally unchanged and still just as powerful."[30] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[31] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[32]

Ty Burr of the Boston Globe wrote, "You don't get groundbreaking cinema from Fences, but what you do get two titanic performances and an immeasurable American drama makes up for that."[33]

In a negative review, David Edelstein of New York wrote, "It's not cinematic enough to make you forget you're watching something conceived for another, more spatially constricted medium, but it's too cinematic to capture the intensity, the concentration, of a great theatrical event."[34]

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Fences (film) - Wikipedia

Recent Job Requests for Fences Contractors in Salem, NH

Project: Install or Replace a Vinyl or PVC Fence

Date: 09/23/2019

Nature of Project: Replace existing fence

What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Fencing material: Vinyl or PVC

Request Stage: Ready to Hire

Desired Completion Date: Timing is flexible

Project: Install or Replace a Driveway or Security Gate

Date: 09/21/2019

Project Type: Replacing gate as part of existing fence

Desired Material: Would like recommendation

Request Stage: Planning & Budgeting

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Date: 09/17/2019

Nature of Project: Replace existing fence

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What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Comment: Install new fencing and repair any existing fencing.

Project: Install a Wood Fence

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Nature of Project: Install a new fence

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What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

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Comment: We need some new wood fencing installed as well as some to be repaired

Project: Install a Wood Fence

Date: 08/2019

Nature of Project: Install a new fence

What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Fencing material: Wood

Length of Fence: Less than 100 feet

Request Stage: Ready to Hire

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Project: Install a Wood Fence

Date: 08/2019

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Project: Install or Replace a Vinyl or PVC Fence

Date: 08/2019

Nature of Project: Install a new fence

What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Fencing material: Vinyl or PVC

Length of Fence: Less than 100 feet

Request Stage: Ready to Hire

Desired Completion Date: Within 1 week

Property Owner: Yes

Comment: install fencing about 40-50 ft in Salem NH

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Fence Contractors in Salem, NH - HomeAdvisor.com

Presented by the Resident Ensemble Players, Delaware's resident professional acting company, performing at the University of Delaware.

universal enough to touch a chord in every human heart. The New York Times

This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning masterpiece is one of August Wilsons most popular and affecting plays about the African American experience in the 20th century. Set in 1957 Pittsburgh, Fences is a powerful family drama of fathers and sons, dreams and disillusions, and the stark reality of attaining the American Dream. Once a home run king of the Negro baseball league, Troy Maxson now spends his days working as a garbage collector. At home he builds both literal and emotionalfences around his wife and son, while harboring a secret that will have life-changing effects on the entire family. At a time when our national conversation is full of racial, social, and economic walls, Fences is universal and timeless.

Fences runs approximately two hours and thirty minutes, including one fifteen minute intermission.

SPECIAL SCHOOL MATINEES:

Wednesday, May 1 @ 9:30 AM

Wednesday, May 8 @ 9:30 AM

Watch a brief interview withFencesdirector Cameron Knight as he discusses his first impression of the play.

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Fences - rep.udel.edu

Project: Install a Wood Fence

Date: 05/24/2019

Nature of Project: Replace existing fence

What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Fencing material: Wood

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Project: Install a Wood Fence

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What kind of location is this?: Home/Residence

Project: Install or Replace a Vinyl or PVC Fence

Location: South Boston, MA

Date: 05/22/2019

Nature of Project: Replace existing fence

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Comment: Take out an existing chain link fence and put up a vinyl fence

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Project: Repair or Alter a Chain Link Fence

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Purpose of Fence:

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Project: Repair or Partially Replace a PVC or Plastic Fence

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Comment: Straighten posts

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Nature of Project: Install a new fence

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Comment: Roughly 30' privacy fence with gate

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Fence Contractors in Boston, MA - HomeAdvisor.com

The old Robert Frost poem Mending Wall goes Good fences make good neighbors. But a neighbor can quickly turn from good to bad when a they maliciously construct a spite fence on the property line. And that includes Sarah Palin who installed this 14 feet monstrous fence at her Wasilla, Alaska home.

What Is An Illegal Spite Fence?

Spite fencesare those which neighbors put up extremely close to the other neighbors property for the purpose of annoying or inconveniencing the neighbor, and not for any legitimate other reason. In certain circumstances in Massachusetts, courts can rule that certain types of fences are illegal spite fences, and order that they be taken down, decreased in height or award damages to the complaining neighbor.

Under the Massachusetts Spite Fence Law (Gen. Laws ch. 49, 21) ((Interestingly, Massachusetts was one of the first states to enact a spite fence law in 1887)) a fence is an illegal spite fence if:

A fence or other structure in the nature of a fence which unnecessarily exceeds six feet in height and is maliciously erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property.

Whether a fence is an illegal spite fence depends on the circumstances. Usually spite fences are erected where neighbors have been fighting or in a legal dispute of some kind, and the fence is installed as a form of revenge or pay-back. In the vast majority of towns and cities, fences are allowed to be up to 6 feet tall. If the fence in question is over 6 feet tall, and there is evidence that it was installed maliciously, it may be an illegal spite fence.

In a recent dispute on Concord Street in Wilmington (see photo right), a neighbor has installed a very ugly make-shift plywood spite fence with a blue tarp attached. This precipitated a proposal to pass a new fence by-law in Wilmington. Im not sure of the circumstances surrounding this particular fence, but it is certainly borders on a classic spite fence. In another reported case, the Land Court ordered a neighbor to take down a makeshift fence with spray painted signs and no trespass warnings.

Most folks who erect spite fences will claim the fence is for privacy, but if the home faces an entirely different direction, you can debunk that as a cover for maliciousness. Neighbors may also try to get around the Spite Fence Law by installing a row of trees over 6 feet tall behind the fence. These, too, may be considered illegal.

What Can I Do If My Neighbor Puts Up A Spite Fence?

Under the Spite Fence Law cited above, you can sue your neighbor and ask the court to take down the fence and also seek damages. Under this law and upon a showing of irreparable harm the court has the power to impose an injunction ordering that the fence be taken down or reduced to 6 feet tall. Alternatively, the court can award damages.

The difficulty with these cases is that you need to prove you neighbor acted maliciously in installing the fence. You will need to marshal evidence to prove that, and thats where an experienced Massachusetts real estate litigation attorney would add tremendous value. These cases are complex and judges will often require evidentiary hearings before imposing an order taking down a fence. Its not a do it yourself type of situation!

If you are struggling with a boundary line issue or a potential spite fence, dont hesitate to contact me at info@vetsteinlawgroup.com. I have successfully litigated quite a lot of these cases.

___________________________________________________

Richard D. Vetstein, Esq. is an experienced Massachusetts real estate litigation attorney. Mr. Vetstein frequently represents Massachusetts residents in contentious boundary line, fence, and adverse possession cases.

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Massachusetts fence law | Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog

Mid Atlantic Deck and Fence Co. Inc. is a Maryland based deck and fence established in 1987. However, do not let the name fool you we have one of the largest selections of decking and fencing material options and design capabilities available in Maryland.

Mid Atlantic Deck and Fence Co. Inc. is one of the only deck and fence companies in Maryland that custom designs, builds and installs all of our own decks, fences, pergolas, pagodas and gazebos. Because we are a manufacturer/installer of fine vinyl products, it gives us unlimited design capabilities to create unique ideas for vinyl fencing, vinyl pergolas, vinyl railings etc. Many of our designs are used in our low maintenance decking and fencing projects, as well as our other outdoor living solutions. These are just a few of the design ideas we use to make your deck and fence the talk of Maryland.

Wood fences and wood decks have been a favorite of Marylanders for many, many years. The availability of pressure treated Southern yellow pine, Western red cedar, IPE (Brazilian hardwood) and Mahogany, to name a few, give you the opportunity to make an educated decision about what product would best suit your needs, fit your budget and compliment your home. As you go through the site, we will also be discussing other services we offer including ornamental aluminum and steel fences and their benefits. We also offer a section on proper maintenance of your decks and fences including cleaning, sealing, and general care and maintenance of your outdoor environment. Mid Atlantic Deck and Fence Co. Inc., looks forward to helping you any way we can to help you make your dream a reality.

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Mid-Atlantic Deck & Fence - Fence & Deck Company - Anne ...

Fences Unlimiteds reputation for fine workmanship at a reasonable price is well known. Whether youre looking for Vinyl Fence, Wooden, Screen, or Picket Fencing, custom styling, Post & Rail, Chain Link (galvanized & vinyl coated), Ornamental, or Aluminum we have it. And if youre not sure what your fence needs may be, we can help you with advice based on long years of experience. FREE ESTIMATES one of our Fence Specialist will visit your home and help you select and customize a fence to meet your exact specifications. Call today to set up an appointment (800-892-0456).

We have been installing commercial grade fencing systems throughout New England since 1969. Whether your project is a simple gate installation to block vehicle access or 2,000 feet of chain link fence with barb wire, security gates, access controls and guard rails for the perimeter of your commercial property, we will provide you with the very best installation in the shortest time frame possible to help keep your project on time and within budget.

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NH Fencing, Windham Fence, Nashua Fence, Concord Fence, MA ...

Project: Install a Wood Fence

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Project: Install a Chain Link Fence

Date: 03/11/2019

Nature of Project: Install a new fence

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Comment: Installing a fence and gate on the side of my house

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Project: Repair or Partially Replace a Wood Fence

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Project: Install or Replace a Vinyl or PVC Fence

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Project: Install or Replace a Driveway or Security Gate

Date: 03/06/2019

Project Type: Replacing gate as part of existing fence

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Comment: I have a metal sliding fence for my driveway I don't want it I want a double open to open six thing is 6 feet on each side I want to be able to get a new one to open just need a price and if you could do it this week is

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Fence Contractors in Newark, NJ - HomeAdvisor.com

Wilson's screenplay, based on his own award-winning play, is a potent brew that warms your stomach upon the first swig and then simmers to a boil. It's intense, exhausting, and worth it. Washington directs as well as stars, and he takes great care to stay faithful to the source material, keeping things clear and pared down, so that the language and story's inherent drama can do the talking.

Though the action doesn't literally stay in one spot, the film's stage roots are evident in the way that almost everything takes place in one house. But this serves the story, echoing the constriction that Troy, Rose, and their sons feel. All the actors are superb, particularly Davis, who plays Rose with empathy, understanding, and texture. When she finally utters a fateful sentence toward the end of the film, you feel it slice through your heart. Fences willtake some discipline and effort to stick with it in its cinematic form, stripped of the electricity of live theater, but it's still masterful.

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Fences - Movie Review - Common Sense Media

Coming of Age Within the Cycle of Damaged Black Manhood

Both Troy and Bono relate stories of their childhood in the south and tales of their relationships with difficult fathers to Lyons in Act One, scene four. Their often-painful memories provide a context for understanding the similarities and differences of the generations separating Troy and Bono from Lyons and Cory. Troy's father, like many blacks after the abolishment of slavery was a failed sharecropper. Troy claims that his father was so evil that no woman stayed with him for very long, so Troy grew up mostly motherless. When Troy was fourteen, his father noticed that the mule Troy was supposedly taking care of had wandered off. Troy's father found Troy with a girl Troy had a crush on and severely beat Troy with leather reins. Troy thought his father was just angry at Troy for his disobedience, but proving Troy's father was even more despicable, his father then raped the girl. Troy was afraid of his father until that moment.

At that moment, however, Troy believes he became a man. He could no longer live under the roof with a man that would commit these unacceptable acts, so he left home to be on his own, though he was homeless and broke, with no ties or family elsewhere. Manhood, to Troy, meant separating from his father because of conflict and abuse. The one attribute Troy respected and proudly inherited was a sense of responsibility. Troy's father provided for eleven children, and Troy too became the sole breadwinner for his family.

Bono however, remembers a different type of father. Bono's father was equally depressed about life as Troy's father, but unlike Troy's father, Bono's dad never provided a fathering or providing role to Bono and his family. Bono describes his father as having, "The Walking Blues," a condition that prevented his father from staying in one place for long and moving frequently from one woman to the next. Bono could barely recognize his father and knew little about him. Bono says his father, like many other African Americans of his father's generation, were "searching out The New Land." As blacks were freed from slavery and wanted to escape the often slavery-like conditions of sharecropping, many walked north in what history calls The Great Migration, to pursue a better life in the north, particularly in urban centers. Because of Bono's father's unreliable personality, Bono chose not to father children, to insure he would not abandon a child like his father. But, contrary to Bono's fears, his father's personality was not a family trait, but a choice he made to cope with his particular circumstances. Bono has been loyal to his wife, Lucille for almost eighteen years.

Lyons and Cory had very different upbringings, though their development into men does not fall too far from the tree of their father's experience. Lyons spent his entire childhood growing up with only one parent, his mother, while Troy was in jail. Lyons feels he has the right to make his own life decisions and pursue his own dreams in music because he had more familial support and fewer hardships than Troy. Troy was not around to mold him into a responsible person, so Lyons tends to need to borrow money, though he does pay Troy back respectfully. Cory ends up leaving home in a similar conflict with Troy that Troy had with Cory's paternal grandfather. To Troy and Cory, becoming a man comes to mean leaving the man that raised you because of a violent conflict. This painful process of coming of age is confusing. For both Troy and Cory, the creation of their own identity when their role model is a creature of dualitypart responsible and loyal, the other side, hurtful, selfish and abusive, proves a difficult model with which to mold their own identity as grown men with a more promising future than the father who threatens their livelihood.

Much of the conflict in Wilson's plays, including Fences, arises because the characters are at odds with the way they see the past and what they want to do with the future. For example, Troy Maxson and his son, Cory see Cory's future differently because of the way they interpret history. Troy does not want Cory to experience the hardship and disappointment Troy felt trying to become a professional sports player, so he demands that Cory work after school instead of practicing with the football team. Cory, however, sees that times changed since baseball rejected a player as talented as Troy because of the color of his skin. Cory knows the possibility exists that the professional sports world will include, not exclude him. In Act One, Scene Three, Cory provides examples of successful African American athletes to Troy. Cory says, "The Braves got Hank Aaron and Wes Covington. Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes forty-three." Troy responds, "Hank Aaron ain't nobody." Cory's sport, football, integrated its players years before baseball. For Troy to accept this change in the world would cause Troy to accept the death of his own dreams. Troy refuses to see Cory's potential because it would mean accepting his own misfortune. Troy and Cory see history in a way that benefits their worldview. Unfortunately this conflict pushes father and son away from each other. Troy, who learned a responsible work ethic from his otherwise abusive father, means well when he insists that Cory return to work at the A&P because he sees the job as fair, honest work that isn't at the mercy of powerful whites' sometimes arbitrary decisions, as in Major League baseball. But by attempting to insure Cory of a harmless future, Troy stifles his son's potential and prevents Cory from having a promising future.

Troy's perception of what is right and what is wrong for Cory, based on Troy's refusal to perceive a historical change in the acceptance of blacks, tragically causes Cory to experience a disappointing fate similar to Troy's. Troy passes his personal history on to his family in other ways throughout the play with sayings that represent his philosophies of life like, "You gotta take the crookeds with the straights." His children also inherit Troy's past by learning songs he sings like, "Hear It Ring! Hear It Ring!" a song Troy's own father taught him. Cory tells Rose in Act Two, scene five, "Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere." Troy's songs and sayings link his family to the difficult life in the south that his generation was free to run away from, though penniless and without roots in the north. Troy's purposefully and inadvertently passes on his life experience to his children and family, for better and for worse.

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SparkNotes: Fences: Themes