To begin this assignment, you first need to understand the nature of allegory. An allegory is a literary work that carries a hidden message, essentially a second story, beneath the literal story on the surface. I personally would not call Fences an allegory, for it does not actually have a complete second story working beneath the surface, but it is filled with symbols that other scholars might refer to as allegories in certain circumstances.
Let's examine some of those symbols (or allegories, if your instructor prefers). We might say that Rose is a symbol or perhaps even an allegory of self-giving, faithful love. She has stood beside Troy all eighteen years of their marriage, faithful to him even after he cheats on her. Look at what she says in act 2, scene 1 after Troy confesses and tries to justify his actions: “Don't you think I ever wanted others...
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things?” Rose asks him. “Don't you think I had dreams and hopes?” Yet she puts aside her dreams, hopes, and desires for Troy's sake. She holds onto him. She buries herself and all she has in him. That's true love.
Rose shows her love again when she agrees to raise Troy's baby daughter after Alberta dies. She wouldn't have to take that little girl in, but she knows that the child is not at fault for her parents' actions and that a child needs a mother. So she raises Raynell as her daughter, loving her just as much as if she really were her biological child and never holding Troy's sins against the girl. Again, that's true love.
You might also choose to write about Troy as a symbol or an allegory. Troy claims that he is another person when he is with Alberta. He can laugh and be himself. Yet he wants to remain with Rose as well and says that he loves her. He can't have it both ways. Troy, therefore, symbolizes the selfishness and the desire to have everything to the detriment of others. He is also positive that he knows what is best for his son, even if that means taking away the thing Cory loves the most: his football. Again, Troy fails to listen to and understand others yet demands that others listen to and understand him.
Gabriel is also a good candidate as a symbol or allegory, for he truly believes he is the archangel Gabriel who will blow his horn and open the gates of Heaven for his loved ones. As such, he might also symbolize innocence and even salvation. He works hard to chase the “hellhounds” away from his loved ones and to dance and sing Troy all the way into Heaven at the end of the play, even though his horn fails to blow.
Finally, although the fence is not a character, it is a symbol. It represents the divisions between the characters. Troy pushes away Rose and Cory through his domineering and unfaithful behavior, but he is also trying to protect himself from his past (recall how unloving and even abusive his father was) and from the hardships of the present and the fears of the future.
Now, to write your essay, you'll need to decide which allegories or symbols you want to focus on. Create your thesis statement by claiming that your chosen character or characters are symbols or allegories, and then state what they are symbols or allegories of. Be sure to include specific evidence and quotations from the text to support your thesis.