Fences
Act One, Scene One
Hyejin Roh
Wini Henson
Rachel Zhang
Stage Directions
• "He indicates with his hands“ (pg.1)
- dramatic
• “Rose enters from the house…are under way” (pg. 5)
- Characterizes Rose as a compassionate woman as well
as having fair judgment in others’ character because
she is able to look past Troy’s faults, even though he is
characterized at first as loud and rude, and because
she doesn’t drink. She is also compassionate because
she is characterized as an integral part of Troy and
Bono’s Friday night rituals.
• “Troy takes a long drink from the bottle” (pg. 10)
-he is frustrated
• “pause” (pg. 10)
-hesitation, he is not sure about death
Topics of Conversations
• Talks about racial segregation (pg. 2)
-”how come you got all whites driving and the colored lifting?”
• Bono’s suspicion that Troy is cheating on Rose (pg. 4)
-”I see you be walking up around Alberta’s house
• How Rose and Troy met (pg. 6)
-”saw Rose and latched on to her…”
• Cory is recruited by a college football team (pg. 8)
– “Cory done went and got recruited by a college football team”
• Argument on number of blacks players in baseball team (pg. 9)
-”they got lots of colored boys playing ball now…”
• Death (pg. 10)
- “death ain’t nothing. I done seen him”
Significant Lines of Dialogue
• "Troy, you aught to stop that lying!“ (pg. 1)
• "I ain't worried about them firing me. They gonna fire me
cause i asked a question? That's all I did. I went to Mr. Rand
and asked him, "why?" WHy you got the white mens
driving and the coloured lifting?“ (pg. 2)
• “I told him if he wasn’t the marrying kind, then move out
the way so the marrying kind could find me.” (pg. 6)
• That’s what she told me. “Nigger, you in my way. You
blocking the view! Move out the way so I can find me a
husband.” I thought it over two or three days. Come back—
(pg. 6)
• “I spends my money where I’m treated right” (pg. 7)
• “ain’t nothing wrong with talking about death. That’s part
of life” (pg. 10)
Information revealed about Troy
• He is a trash collector.
• He is black
• When Bono asks him about the woman
namedAlberta,Troy’s responses foreshadow that he
will later reveal his secret and therefore show that
he is not that covert at sneaking around. While he is
characterized as slightly sexist and drunk, it is also
revealed that he has a caring and soft side, when he
talks about how his meeting and marriage to Rose
changed him as a man.
• used to be a good baseball player, but didn’t get to
play much in the team
• wants to be treated equally as whites are
References to Whites
• “I went to Mr. Rand and asked him…” (pg.
2)
• “I thought only white folks had inside
toilets and things” (pg. 7)
• “The white man ain’t gonna let him get
nowhere with that football” (pg. 8)
References to Truth or Lying
• "Troy, you ought to stop lying ’ (pg. 1)
• Troy’s entire conversation with Bono about
the woman named Alberta. The reader gets
the feeling that he is lying, but because he
insists that he is telling the truth, we can’t
really be sure. (pg. 4)
• “Troy ain’t doing nothing but telling a lie”
(pg. 7)
• “now, am I lying? If I’m lying…that 450 feet
worth of lying” (pg. 10)
Tone of Voice
• Playful tone
• Troy sounds slightly drunk when he talks. This
illustrates the close friendship between Troy and
Bono as they get together every Friday to talk
and drink. Rose always sounds grounded and
realistic and always reminds Troy of realities. This
foreshadows that later in the play, she will be a
trustworthy and understanding character.
• Troy and Rose are mostly in arguing tone. Troy
sounds bold, self-righteous, and negative.
Bono attempts to settle down the quarrel,
remain netral.
Relationships
• Troy and Bono are good friends
• Troy and Rose are loving couple (pg. 6)
• Rose is protective of Troy (pg. 10)
Incorporation of Song Lyrics/
Stories
• Troy and Rose tell the story of how they
first met (pg. 6)
References to Baseball
• Rose and Bono tells Troy that more
blacks are now in baseball teams, but
Troy does not accept this
• Troy describes death as a “fastball on the
outside corner”
- death is sudden, hard to predict when
it is going to come