Research-Supported Essay on
Fences
Objective: This essay will be a thesis-driven,
research-supported essay on the play
Fences. Your purpose is to make an original argument and support it with evidence from the play as well as scholastic research sources.
I will send 3 files of my Research Process to show you some of the things I've done
My Essay instruction is the 4th file Fencess_Research_Paper
- Your final draft of the research-supported essay onFencesis dueon Dec. 9.No late work accepted. Make sure that you attach the correct file and that you have the two components of MLA present in your work---the parenthetical citations after any paraphrases or direct quotes from your research sources (as well as parenthetical citations after quoted lines from the play).
And--that you have attached your Works Cited page. These documentation components are required.
* You can only use my school's library for citations.
https://pgcc.libguides.com/library
username:atanawan6484
password: Kwagoko2
Anthea Tanawan Professor Hardy October 29,2018 STEP 1: 1- The essay will be a research based work following a thesis based on the play ‘Fences’. The essay aims at developing an argument and then using evidence and instances from the play to support it along with other scholastic resources. 2- Since the audience is going to be an academic one, my writing style has to be professional, informal and academic. 3- The essay is supposed to be five pages long. It can go beyond the specified length if more information needs to be added to the essay in order to make it wholesome and complete. 4- The due date for the essay is December 1. The weight of this assignment towards my final grade is 25% 5- Yes, topic ideas have been offered to students. The thesis statement has to be in my own words. Students can come up with their own topic/thesis but they have to get it approved from their professor first. 6- The thesis statement should be clear, implicitly or explicitly stated and should describe the main idea discussed in the essay. It must be 1 to 3 sentences long. We are instructed not to use the first person and announcement tone in the essay. 7- The body paragraphs will provide the elaboration on the thesis statement, supportive arguments, evidence from the play as well as scholarly articles to support the thesis statement 8- We are required to use at least three scholarly sources, two of which have to come from the PGCC’s library databases. More than three sources can also be used. Websites we should not use are Wikipedia, Schmoop, Sparknotes etc. 9- Research articles should consist of resources of literary criticism of August Wilson’s play Fences and his background in relation to the play. The resources must be relevant to the thesis topic and directly relate to it 10- Yes, MLA documentation---parenthetical citations after any paraphrases or direct quotes from research sources and a Works Cited page are required. Quoted lines from the play need to be documented as well. The Works Cited page should have the primary source i.e. play as well as a minimum of three research sources. STEP 2: I am interested in Troy’s character arc and the way his character changes in the play. Troy appears to be a complex character with lots of unfulfilled wishes and desires. Amidst all this, he tries to be a champion. He has great ambitions but finds himself incapable of living up to them. His life experiences have shaped him into an unrelenting figure but in the end, he doesn’t meaningfully wish to hurt anyone. He simple ends up making wrong choices due to the hard circumstances life has put him through. I would like to assess this kind of personality for what it is. Anthea Tanawan Professor Hardy November 7.2018 Step 3 Thesis statement After analysing and synthesising the characters of the play Fences by August Wilson, it can be established baseball has been shown as a metaphor for fences in Troy’s life who is the protagonist of the Play. The racial segregation is the major highlight of this play which showcases how Troy and his family have been addressed with injustice. Financial and family struggles are shown and dynamic of the aspirations of each character is given special place as well in this play by August Wilson. 1. What is the name of your article and where was it accessed? (i.e. database title) The name of this article is “An essay on Fences.”It has been accessed from the reading material provided by the course coordinator. 2. Who is the author(s) or sponsoring organization (if no author is given)? What can you determine about the credentials/credibility of this author? The author of this article is Sheri Metzger. She is considered to be a professional writer with a specialisation in Modern American drama. She has previously critiqued Shakespearian tragedies like King Lear and Tempest, and thus have an interesting take on the modern tragic character of Troy. 3. What is the article about? What is the quality of the information? You may consider the following when answering this question: What is the focus of the text and how thoughtful and research-based is it? This article presents a character graph of the main characters of the play while linking those characters with the main themes. The author has also determined multiple interpretations of the main theme, “fences” in relation to the characters. The author of the article determines baseball as a key theme of the play and highlights how the entire play is structured with reference to baseball. Baseball has played a significant role in the construction of the characters. The author of the article, furthermore, stresses that the time spent in prison by Troy has provided him with a purpose. It assured him of his talent and helped him determining his worth. According to the author, the theme of integration post the outlawing of the segregation has also contributed to the character shade of Troy. He has been witnessed to be oblivious to the joys of integration as it has come too late for his benefit. The author has successfully outlined the contradiction between the father and the son about the notion of integration. When the father, Troy has been distrustful of the white sports establishment even after the said integration of races, his son, Cory has been optimistic about the opportunities he got from the establishment. Regarding the father-son relationship, the author commented that fathers tend to realise their unfulfilled aspirations in their sons. However, she notices that Troy was apprehensive of Cory’s choice of pursuing dreams he could not achieve. In the act of the father-son backyard game, the author witnesses that the scene has deviated from the popular American image of a doting father-daughter duo. Instead, the scene metaphorically depicts the inherent contradiction between the two protagonists and their incessant battles. In this regard, the article also mentions a character pattern for Troy, where he thrives to acquire control over any situation, inherited from his father. This article presents an evaluative criticism of Troy’s relation with his wife. The theme, a fence has been proven prominent here as Troy feels the need for escaping the boundary of marriage by having an affair with Alberta. The article, moreover, discusses the character arc of women portrayed in the play. The time period of the play limited the choices of women by restraining them with traditional roles. In this aspect, the author comments that, the demarcation of the public and private life has been very prominent in this play. While Troy and Cory has been seen dealing with the public sphere; Rose and Alberta’s conflicts are private in nature. The character of Rose has been critiqued by the article in a light full of self-contradiction. The critique comments that, Rose’s choice of remaining in the marriage does not mean that she accepted Troy’s infidelity. It is the time’s limitation that Rose did not feel indignation by choosing to stay back in Troy’s house. However, her character rises to shine when she proclaims that she has abandoned her husband but she chooses to be a mother of her son. Women’s autonomy to exert partial or no right has been asserted by this statement. Thus, the critique asserts that Rose, in essence, was not oppressed. She exercised her agency over her choice to show emotions to whom she found worthy. However, the critique contradicts her when she says that Rose, even if liberated from the fence of marriage, finds another confinement in the role of the Church in her life. Overall, the critique has identified the characters’ personal fences within themselves. While Troy experienced fences both in literal (prison) and figurative ways; Cory battled with his father’s perception of the games which limited his career. Rose has been seen stuck in a failed marriage and found solace in another confinement of religion. This article has performed a close reading of the play and has a perception of the contemporary time period. The critique has invested evaluative thoughts in the character traits of the main protagonists. The critique has also performed an analysis of the major themes and their relations with the characters. In addition, she has presented a theme analysis of the title and established a metaphorical connection of the title in each character’s construction. 4. When was the article published and/or the website last updated? This article was published in 1998. 5. In a few sentences discuss how you feel this source and extracted direct quotes and/or paraphrases can help defend your thesis. The thesis presented in this article deals with the shades of the main protagonist, Troy. The thesis asserts that this character is both a reception and a contradiction of the Greek tragic heroes and the American heroism. The article supports the thesis as it sheds light on the different character traits in reference to the metaphorical application of the title. The article quotes the play, “the colored guy got to be twice as good [as the white player] before he get on the team.” With reference to the quote, the critique assesses Troy’s disregard in the integration system and is more concerned about the benefits it did not bring in his own life. This helps to support the thesis as it shows a clear contradiction to the larger than life, selfless character sketches of Greek tragedies. The article states, “Each man feels the other is blind to the truth, but both are centered in their own experience.” This statement contributes to the thesis in portraying the character shades along with how human experiences and flaws affect those characters. The character of Rose takes a significant turn with her proclamation, “this child got a mother. But you a womanless man”. This quote enhances the claim that the characters in this play are fallible while possessing great conviction. Rose, with this statement, transgresses the realm of a plain female character and emerges to be a hero which was an untimely occurrence for the play. Finally, Bono states in the play, “Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in.” This can be outlined as the whole play’s thematic expression. Troy struggled to get out of the boundaries imposed on him by racial discrimination or marital bond. However, in the end, he is seen building a fence to keep death and decay out as impacted by Alberta’s demise. ENGL 1020 Research-Supported Essay on Fences Objective: This essay will be a thesis-driven, research-supported essay on the play Fences. Your purpose is to make an original argument and support it with evidence from the play as well as scholastic research sources. Your intended audience is an academic one; therefore, tone, language and style should be appropriate for an