Fences Group

Question:

mitts936
mitts936
Student
High School - 9th Grade

Do August Wilson and Arthur Miller, based on their respective plays, have the same vision of American Dream?

Does, one play represent more hope than the other? Is one more critical of America than the other, or are their messages similar? What larger meaning do the separate characters bring to given works?

Rate question:

Posted by mitts936 on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 3:10 PM and tagged with arthur miller, august wilson, based on summary, characterization, characters, criticism of america, death of a salesman, fences, miller, the american dream, vision, wilson, wily.

Answers:


  1. akannan Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    This is a phenomenal question.  Really, I had not thought about it until you brought it up.  Both discuss the reality and complications of the American Dream in different ways.  I think that both of them are discussing how painful dreams can be when there are social and economic barriers whose inertia cannot be overcome.  Troy and Wily are interesting characters because they both feel a certain animation of their dreams, but also present a certain level of pang about their accomplishment.  Both character present even more complexities when addressing the relationships with their sons.  Both artists might be suggesting that when one becomes so subsumed with their own conception of "the American Dream" so that little else, if anything, can be appreciated, there can be cataclysmic results to one's emotional state and connections.  I am not sure if one is more bleak than another.  They both are fairly dour in their depictions of reality, with both characters and families in tatters as a result of the convergence of poor personal decisions and social matrices that make dream accomplishment extremely challenging.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/death-of-a-salesman/themes
    http://www.enotes.com/fences/themes

    Rate answer:

    Posted by akannan on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 3:25 PM