Unit 4

Unit 4

[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Unit 4

August Wilson is an American playwright who is known for his tremendous expertise in plays and theater. His literary taste is one of the kinds which is impeccable and classy in its way. August Wilson is a highly revered playwright among his contemporaries. His works are widely acclaimed and applauded in the world. His series of ten play- The Pittsburg cycle- received much recognition in the literary circle. With this much recognition, August Wilson received two Pulitzer awards for his plays. His collection and the series of plays were classy that they depicted a different period in history individually. Each of the play had a peculiar sense of humor, which amused readers and viewers altogether. Along with humor, the tragic aspects of American-African living patterns were also highlighted by August Wilson ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"WfU8P2fg","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gantt, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Gantt, 2009)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":667,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/6I4ZHBMW"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/6I4ZHBMW"],"itemData":{"id":667,"type":"article-journal","title":"Putting black culture on stage: August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle","container-title":"College Literature","page":"1–25","source":"Google Scholar","title-short":"Putting black culture on stage","author":[{"family":"Gantt","given":"Patricia M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Gantt, 2009). He was from an immigrant family, and this is the reason that he highlighted contrasting experiences of his own life. August Wilson is the most celebrated dramatist in America for its century cycle collection. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that he remained a vocal element in creating harmony and promoting diversity in the land of the United States of America.

To begin with, Gem of the Ocean is the play that starts from the first ship of African slaves to the New World and then transcends to the passage of emancipation proclamation. It depicts the difficulty of being an African in American society. King Hedley II is again about the difficult livelihood experience for black men. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, 2010-11 illuminated the tussles in the arts and music industry in 1927. The one famous quote of this play is, “White folks don't understand about the blues. They hear it come out, but they don't know how it got there. They don't understand that's life's way of talking. You don't sing to feel better. You sing 'cause that's a way of understanding life. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"eTQIggZW","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Wilson, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Wilson, 2007)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":669,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/H3C6AX29"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/H3C6AX29"],"itemData":{"id":669,"type":"book","title":"Ma Rainey's black bottom","publisher":"Theatre Communications Group","volume":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Wilson","given":"August"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Wilson, 2007)”Seven Guitars explains the exuberance of the prisoner and then his life afterward. The Piano Lesson is all about the Great Depression and the miseries associated with this period. Two Trains Running shows the hardships of Africans in running businesses as they face harsh circumstances. The Radio Golf portrays the old era of the 1990s and those living patterns. Jitney discusses the evil nature of society in the 1970s that harms family life for African -Americans. Joe Turner's Come and Gone is the play that illustrates the struggle on the part of Africans to live effectively. Lastly, the play Fences is the depiction of the same racial tensions in American society, which is too obvious.

The play Fences is the representation of broken dreams. August Wilson discusses his main character, Troy Maxson, with big dreams and inborn potential. He was a baseball league player, but that was his past. The play reflects his present as a garbageman who has bitter relationships with his family due to his repressed desires. The quote, "Don't you think I ever wanted other things? “ ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"GwLZTGti","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Nadel, 1993)","plainCitation":"(Nadel, 1993)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":665,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QB5URXIY"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/QB5URXIY"],"itemData":{"id":665,"type":"book","title":"May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essyas on the Drama of August Wilson","publisher":"University of Iowa Press","number-of-pages":"284","source":"Google Books","abstract":"This stimulating collection of essays, the first comprehensive critical examination of the work of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, deals individually with his five major plays and also addresses issues crucial to Wilson's canon: the role of history, the relationship of African ritual to African American drama, gender relations in the African American community, music and cultural identity, the influence of Romare Bearden's collages, and the politics of drama. The collection includes essays by virtually all the scholars who have currently published on Wilson along with many established and newer scholars of drama and/or African American literature.","ISBN":"978-1-58729-164-7","title-short":"May All Your Fences Have Gates","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Nadel","given":"Alan"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1993",11,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Nadel, 1993). Fences show the trends of the early twentieth century where there were so much inequality and discrimination in American society. 1957 is the time where so much tension was evident among different sections of society. There was no feeling of social solidarity and no uniformity among people. Several protests were launched, and it was the time of the movements related to racial justice and nonviolence (King Jr, 1957). Hence, August Wilson and his play Fence shows those invisible but potent fences in life that hinder one's potential and limit one's bright prospects. Finally, Wilson wishes everyone that may everyone's fence has a gate; this shows his struggle throughout his life.

References:

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Gantt, P. M. (2009). Putting black culture on stage: August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle. College Literature, 1–25.

King Jr, M. L. (1957). Nonviolence and racial justice. Christian Century, 6, 165–167.

Nadel, A. (1993). May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson. University of Iowa Press.

Wilson, A. (2007). Ma Rainey’s black bottom (Vol. 3). Theatre Communications Group.