Blog Question #5, Second Half

August Wilson gives the reader of Fences a heads-up on the protagonist of the play in the "Setting" and "Play" that he provides before the play begins.  This protagonist lives "set back off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood."  The protagonist lives in a poor community on the outskirts of a big-city neighborhood, which probably itself is a poor (but with more prestige) community.  He lives in the alley off of it.  His house is not a wooden shack, however, it is a two-story brick abode.  But, either the protagonist or a previous owner has tried to make it more endowed with prestige by adding a large porch which while "sturdy...with a flat roof"  unfortunately is not a proud structure, but "lacks congruence."  Leading up to it are two or three steps "badly in need of paint."  The house sits in a "small dirt yard" and has only one entrance. We see that protagonist wants to be elevated in station and show that he's prosperous, but he comes short of that goal.

The "Play" section gives us a clue why this is so.  The protagonist is black and it's 1957.  While white immigrants have been welcomed by the United States and allowed to prosper, black ex-slaves have been rejected by the white population and kept from prospering.  Jobs for the immigrants are shown to be professional, while black jobs are blue-color menial ones.  Thus, the protagonist is seen in conflict with his dreams of higher status because of his heritage, race, and "role" in life.

But the "Play" section also gives us a picture that this discrimination may be changing and that the protagonist may be able to change with it.  There begins the conflict even before the play has begun.  The protagonist is set in a time of discrimination, but can he change with the time and pursue his dreams, or will he be "stuck?"  These two sections allow us a window into the protagonist so before he enters the stage, we seem to know him.