The Themes of Racism in August Wilson's Fences
...ch…you can bet your last dollar he can’t play! The colored man guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports.” Essentially Troy won’t let his son play sports because of racism; he does not want his son to go threw the same disappointments he did. Troy also shows signs of anger and resentment. Troy talks about his baseball days and how he had more talent than the white players now playing. It is a great injustice that black players have to be twice as good as any of the white ones just to get on the team. At one point Troy talks about how his batting average use to be better than some of the big name pros. “Man [Selkirk] batting .269, understand? .269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting .432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man [Selkirk] batting .269 and playing right field for the Yankees!” It’s clear where Troy’s anger and resentment come from. He knows first hand what its like not being given a chance because of the color of his skin. Baseball isn’t the only place where racism is a dominant theme. In the play, Troy works as a garbage man and as the story starts, he and his best friend Bono are discussing a complaint Troy made to the upper management. Troy had asked why there were no “colored” drivers at work. “I went to Mr. Rand and asked him, “why?” Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?” after the complaint Troy ends up being promoted to a driver when he doesn’t even have a license. This in many ways represents a break through for Troy and what he is able to accomplish. He is slowly gaining some recognition but at the same time it makes the reader wonder if it would have been such a challenge to be a driver if Troy were white. The time period in which the play takes place is a period that leads to an enormous change in civil rights in America. It is in this time when Martin Luther King Jr. takes center stage as a civil rights advocate...