Stereotypical Images and African Americans in Fences

The play opens up with a dialogue between two friends, Troy and Bono. (Conversation carried on between characters in a literary work.) In this conversation, we learn that the two men are garbage collectors. The two men talk about a co-worker, Brownie, who is embarrassed about eating a watermelon. The watermelon is a direct symbol to a racist stereotype of images of African Americans. (A person, place, or thing that is used to represent something else.) The two men also discuss how they think that is unfair that Blacks are unable to drive the trash truck and are only allowed to pick up the garbage. Wilson uses irony with the language that Troy and Bono use. ( The writer uses a word or phrases to mean the opposite of its literal or normal meaning.) Although Troy and Bono are very upset by the racism at their job; they use the racial slur nigger freely when referring to each other. Bono interrupts Troy’s conversation about racism to question him about a woman named Alberta. But, just when Bono is getting to the bottom of Troy’s relationship with Alberta, Rose, Troy’s wife, suddenly appears. Rose tells Troy that their son Cory is being recruited by college scouts for football. It is revealed to the audience that Troy use to play in the Negro Leagues but was too old when African Americans were being accepted into the major leagues. It is very clear to me that Troy is bitter over these turn of events so, he decides that he doesn’t want his son to play sports but learn a trade. This struggle between father and son could be one of the conflicts in the play. (The primary source of tension within a story.) I look forward to reading more!