Fatherhood and Socio-Economic Responsibilities towards Children as Seen through FENCES by August Wilson

Abstract

In the making of the United States of America, rights related to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness hits blocs prejudices and society-based realities. Unlike whites, blacks witness cases of highly-ranked socio-economic hardships in settling families, providing the minimum possible for stable households and assuring well-mannered children from one generation to another. Failure to pass on a legacy of well-indicated morals, mores, attitudes and patterns is abundantly highlighted in Fences by August Wilson, with Troy Maxson the main character who definitely misses the point the same way his own father does with consequences on kids, wives and the whole living society. Psychoanalysis and Marxist literary theories help to denote and decode how generations of fathers as bread-winners pass on to extended families, principles for living which members of the same family accept or reject through manners in which they choose to live their own lives: unfulfilled responsibilities and generation gaps at stake.