Fences by August Wilson Name: Introduction: The Play Vocabulary Destitute: (adj) a lacking food, clothing and shelter; poor (1) Tenacious: (adj) tough, persistant (1) Guile:(n) trickery in pursuit of a goal (1) Vengeful: (adj) wanting revenge (1) Eloquence: (adj) a way of speaking persuasively and effectively (1) Emulate: (v) to copy a try to equal another person (1) Vigilance: (n) watchfullness (12) Activity Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting white European immigrants and African American opportunities. Act I Scene I 1. What year is it? (1) 2. What is Troy s age?(1) 3. What trait(s) of Troy s does Bono want to emulate (copy)? (1) 4. What do Troy and Bono do for work? (1) 5. Why is Bono afraid Troy is going to get fired?(2) 6. What reasons are given for Rose s devotion to Troy? (5) 7. Why does Troy say he married Rose? (6)
8. What does Bono say he believed about houses with inside plumbing? (7) 9. What does Rose say people need to learn? (7) 10. What is Bella s, and why does Rose not like to go there, and why does Troy continue to go? (7) 11. Who is Cory, and what is he being recruited for? (8) 12. What is Troy s concern about the recruiting? (8) 13. What does Troy say Cory should focus on? (8) 14. What does Bono say about Troy s ability to play baseball? (8 9) 15. Explain what Troy means when he says, There ought never have been no time called to early. (9) 16. What does Troy compare death to? (10) 17. Why does he compare death to this? answer is not in the book 18. Where was Troy when he had his battle with Death? (11 12)
19. How is Lyons described, and who is he? (13) 20. Why does Troy say Lyons has dropped by on this particular day? (14) 21. Rose tells Troy that anything he does not understand he calls the. (14) 22. What doe Troy offer to do for Lyons, and what is Lyon s response? (17) 23. How does Troy describe Lyons lifestyle? (18) 24. How involved was Troy in the raising of Lyons? (18 19) 25. Who does Troy give his pay to? (19) Act I Scene II 1. In the song that Rose is singing at the start of the scene, what or who is the fence and what is it s purpose? (21) 2. What are the numbers Rose is talking about? (22) 3. What did Pope do with his winnings? (23)
4. How does Pope treat white and blacks differently in his restaurant? (23) 5. Who is Gabriel? What is he like? (24) 6. Why does Gabe think that Troy is mad at him? (25) 7. Who does Gabriel think he spends every morning with? (26) 8. Where does Rose think Gabriel should be, and does Troy agree? Why or why not? (27 8) 9. How much money was Gabe given for his injuries? What happened to the money? (28) 10. Why does Troy not want to buy a TV? (32) 11. When Cory and Troy are talking about baseball, what does Troy think it takes for a a person of color to get on a baseball team? (34) 12. What agreement does Troy have with Cory about playing football? (35) 13. Do you think it is possible or reasonable? ( answer not in book)
14. What does Troy believe about Cory s chances of being able to play football? (35) 15. How does Cory respond? (36) 16. What does Troy tell Cory he needs to do about his job? (35) 17. What question does Cory ask Troy? (37) 18. What is Troy s response? (37 8) 19. What reason does Troy give Rose for not wanting Cory to play football? (39) 20. What reason does Rose say is why Troy never played professional baseball? (39) 21. What does Troy say was the reason? (39) 22. What are Troy and Rose s differing beliefs about what Cory needs? (39 40) Rose: Troy: 23. What does Mr. Rand tell Troy about his job? (44) 24. What two things do Lyons and Bono say will get in the way of him taking the job? (45)
25. What is Troy s response? (45 6) 26. What is different about Lyon s visit to Troy and Rose? (46) 27. What does Troy find out about Cory and his job? (49) 28. How does Lyons explain Cory s behavior? (50) 29. How does Troy describe his father? (51) 30. What happened to Troy s mother when he was 8 years old? (51) 31. Explain the events that led to Troy leaving home at the age of 14? (52 3) 32. What does Troy mean when he says,...i got to the place where I could feel him kicking in my blood and I knew that the only thing that separated us was the matter of a few years.? (53) 33. Where did Troy go when he left home? Where did he live? How did he earn money? (54) 34. Who did Troy meet at this time? (54)
35. How did Troy end up in jail and for how long? (54 5) 36. Who did he meet in jail?(55) 37. What did Troy learn how to do in jail? (55) 38. What happened to Lyons and his mother when Troy was in jail? (55) 39. What does Lyons ask Troy to do? (55 6)