Fences

I really enjoyed this play. Although I guess I can't say from personal experience, I feel like August Wilson did a great job portraying some of the bitter realities African-Americans faced just before the Civil Rights Era. Troy experiences several of the same struggles as many African-Americans did during that time, like homelessness and incarceration, but what I thought was interesting was how Wilson juxtaposed the origins of Troy's greatest achievement with a place usually considered rock bottom. But then again, learning to play baseball may not have been so great for Troy after all because, in the end, it caused him so much more grief than success.
Wilson did a great job using Troy to embody many of the negative stereotypes of African-American males during post-Civil War Era, like infidelity and absentee fatherhood, while also keeping him human enough to still root for. Maybe not passionately cheer for, but I empathized with him over his struggles to cope with his Cory's potential athletic success. He was so hung up on the humiliating treatment of black athletes, and probably African-Americans in general, that he was reluctant to let his son go down the same path.
I liked the fence metaphor. It seems like it was probably pretty representative of how African-American mothers and wives felt about their families. The war had taken many of their husbands and sons, and lives of vice took some of what was left, so I can imagine black women were willing to do anything to keep their families together.