Fences -- blog # 7

This play speaks to trauma and overcoming hardships through forgiveness. The author August Wilson brings us into the life of a black family and their struggles. The time period for instance was tough and Troy's recalling his abusive childhood sheds light on his actions throughout the play. The fences referred to in this play are interesting metaphors. The first fence is clearly created to block out the beating Troy receives from his father this event was traumatic and life changing for him, he describes this by talking about his feelings when he was whipped with leather straps My dad was as evil as could be.... When he whipped on me, quite naturally I ran..." after the incident Troy at 14 left home and built the first fence to block out his trauma. Rose sang of a fence she hoped "Jesus would provide" to keep her and her sons safe, that is safe from her husband and his rage and safe from harm that often came to black men in that time and place.   Cory had a fence to keep out the fact that Troy never showed love and acceptance to him, in fact when Cory asks his dad Troy "why didn't you ever like me" Troy goes off on a rant about how a father owes his wife and children but he never agreed to like anyone. Cory builds a fence around himself to cope with the pain of this statement, we can see that one trauma in a persons life can effect many generations of people. Troy's time in prison and bond with his friend Bono proves to be a positive relationship, when Troy cheats on Rose and has a daughter with Alberta, Bono serves as Troy's conscience and asks him to tell Rose the truth.  Rose is aware that no fence can keep harm away and after Alberta dies during childbirth Rose takes the girl in and through forgiveness is able to raise her without hatred in her heart. At Troy's funeral many fences come down through Cory and Raynell interaction on the porch, they give each other hope and are able to allow the new family minus their abusive father a chance. They share a song their father use to sing about his dog and begin making new memories.Although much tradgedy occurs there are many life lessons in this play and much forgiveness and resolve.

Blog #6 Hamlet

Option 2
When the King speaks to his Queen Gertrude he is seemingly consoling her by saying that "sorrow comes in battalions" what he means by this is that bad news comes in multiples. At this point the King is still trying to clean up the mess made by Hamlet shooting Polonius he is trying to make everything seem okay by sending Hamlet away. Ophelia is going mad with grief and wants her brother to be by her side which will pose another problem because he has his own opinion about what should happen to Hamlet to avenge his own father's murder. Claudius has made many decisions that are not very smart. First,  he poisoned the King of Denmark, then he married the widow of the King on the day of the funeral, then he completely ignored and disrespected the requests of Fortinbras of Norway and that is not the proper practice of the King of Denmark. As a result these outcomes can be traced back to the King and completely rest on his shoulders. Hamlet on the other hand holds many responsibilities in this tragedy also, he shot Polonius and then left town,  he played with Ophelia's feelings and did not stay and man up to his responsibilities in the shooting of her father, he faked going mad because he needed to buy time to get enough courage to kill the King and he did this because his "ghost" father wanted revenge. Hamlet is just as mentally ill as Claudius each man wants what he wants and those types of egos can not be reasoned with and the outcome of everyone except Horacio dying is fitting for this whole mess. Norway is at the door, breaking it down and the focus of the court in Denmark is who did what to whom and this focus has nothing to do with the people of Denmark and protecting them against the army that is waging war. There is no one listening to counsel and when the King was getting counsel it was from Polonius who was a sneaky gossip that made matters worse from day one. Denmark is so much worse off than the beginning of the story. This is often the outcome when there are so many egos running around trying to get there way. This is not uncommon in politics to this day some things have changed but many things are the same. Most politicians care more about their ego than their public and so it goes....

Blog #5 Hamlet

Wow poor Hamlet. This is awful. I cannot imagine this happening to me. He is a scholar at college and his dad is the King of Denmark one day and the next day his dad has died and his mom is to marry his father's brother. His uncle is a person that he did not even like in the family to begin with. I feel that Hamlet's madness although staged is real in many ways, he is suppose to kill his uncle to set free his fathers ghost ! That is a lot of pressure ! He is not a murderer and he has no idea how to do this act. GHOST: revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET: Murder? GHOST: Murder most foul, as in the best it is... The serpent that did this thing now wears my crown! This revelation and the request of the ghost get revenge is overwhelming to a young college man. The feelings of anger and shame that he feels toward his mother coupled with the grief he is experiencing for his fathers passing is difficult and the reader is saddened for these events. This cannot end well... The Queen clearly married uncle Claudius to put on a front of stability for Denmark, but in doing so she hurt her son so badly.