Fences

* Troy and Corey show a father and son relationship, and show Troy's views on fatherhood (shaped by the relationship with his dad) and contributes with the decline of power in Troy's life. He is very "old school" of his values and thinks that everything he says should be upheld seeing as he his the man of the house. This is the most influential relationship in the story.
* Troy and Rose show the husband and wife relationship. Once Troy cheats on her with another woman and has her child, their relationship is practically over as Rose kicks him out. This relationship could possibly signifie death, as once Troy cheats, their relationship dies.
* Gabriel shows a theme of innocence and or purity and salvation and perhaps of death. A representation of a possible Angel?

Setting
Taking place in a poor black neighborhood in 1950s Pittsburgh, the setting shows how social injustice can cause pain in life. The fact that Troy was an ex-professional baseball player ads to a setting where his objective is to keep his family together and to make sure that he stays the patriarch, in a setting where there is little of nothing to really control and own. By making material wealth non apparent, more time can be spent showing the relationships between the characters. These relationships really allow the reader to see large themes and the bigger picture of the short story.

Major Themes
Two of the major themes in Fences are death and control. Death is the largest theme in the play, especially evident due to Troy's death is the end of the story. Yet death is not necessarily negative in this context. Death represents a renewal of life that shows the passing of control from one man of the family (Troy) to the next generation (Corey). The way the characters act at Troy's death after his life of over-control and anger, there is really no sadness, only acceptance. And the way Troy just keels over and dies, shows he was just ready to move on, his legacy ended.

Control is evident with the name fences: as Bono points out Troy has to build a fence around his house not to keep people out, but to make sure no one can leave literally and metaphorically. Troy and Rose want nobody to leave their house because they both want control over the people they live with and the only way Troy knows how to control people is with force.

Diction
to show the culture of Troy's life and family the specific African American dialect is used to portray a sincere depiction of life in the family, and make the story much more believable in tone. It also allows more emotion to be put into the characters through the actors.

Ambiguity / Complexity
The existential themes of Fences, mainly death and control, are visible directly as Troy controls those around him emotionally (Rose) and physically (Corey). Yet both themes are not specifically named in the book and must be figured out by the reader, showing a degree of Ambiguity that these themes can be applied to Black society in 1950's Pittsburgh and even society in general.