Fences by August Wilson

How hard is Fences to read?

Fences scores 64 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 40 out of 100

The play employs naturalistic, colloquial language, including African American Vernacular English, which is generally accessible. While some idiomatic expressions and the specific dialect may require slight adjustment for unfamiliar readers, the vocabulary is not archaic, specialized, or invented.

Sentence structure: 38 out of 100

Sentences are predominantly direct and declarative, reflecting conversational speech patterns. Even in longer monologues, the grammatical structures remain straightforward, avoiding deeply nested clauses or convoluted constructions, making the dialogue highly navigable.

Abstraction: 70 out of 100

Fences is deeply rooted in a concrete, realistic narrative, yet it consistently explores profound philosophical and emotional abstractions. Troy's allegorical stories and baseball metaphors for life and death, alongside Rose's poignant reflections on buried dreams, elevate the play beyond mere social observation.

Information density: 58 out of 100

The play's information is primarily conveyed through character dialogue and interaction, revealing backstories and thematic layers at a conversational pace. While rich in character detail and underlying meaning, the narrative avoids overwhelming the reader with external historical references or complex, non-linear structures.

Narrative indirection: 68 out of 100

Readers must infer the psychological truth behind Troy's embellished narratives, such as his stories of wrestling Death or encountering the Devil, which are often contradicted or questioned by Rose and Bono. The audience must discern the underlying motivations and bitterness driving Troy's actions and his complex relationship with his family. This requires reading against Troy's self-mythologizing, similar to how Nick's bias shapes The Great Gatsby (65), but with more direct counterpoints.

Symbolic density: 80 out of 100

The play is rich with pervasive symbolism, most notably the literal and metaphorical fence being built throughout, representing protection, confinement, and racial barriers. Baseball serves as a continuous metaphor for Troy's life, his unfulfilled dreams, and his battles with injustice, while Gabriel's trumpet and his 'Archangel' persona carry profound spiritual and psychological weight. This density is higher than The Great Gatsby (75) but not as all-encompassing as Moby-Dick (90).

Ironic distance: 70 out of 100

Ironic distance is created through the gap between Troy's self-perception and the audience's understanding of his tragic flaws and self-deception. His grand pronouncements and justifications for his actions (e.g., denying Cory football while lamenting his own past) are often undercut by the reality of his impact on his family, a dynamic similar to the simultaneous sympathy and critique in The Great Gatsby (70). Rose's direct challenges to Troy's narratives further highlight this ironic gap.

Resolution withholding: 72 out of 100

While the plot resolves major conflicts like Troy's death and Cory's departure, the play withholds definitive emotional or spiritual closure. Gabriel's final, silent attempt to blow his trumpet, followed by his slow, strange dance and the gates of heaven standing open as wide as God's closet, leaves the ultimate meaning of Troy's passing and Gabriel's role ambiguous. This open-endedness regarding deeper meaning is more pronounced than Beloved (40) but less absolute than The Crying of Lot 49 (75).

Structural complexity: 58 out of 100

The play primarily follows a linear chronology, but incorporates significant time jumps, most notably the eight-year leap to Troy's funeral in the final scene. Troy's extensive monologues, recounting past events and mythologizing his life, function as internal narratives that add layers to the present action. While not as formally experimental as Ulysses (98), the non-linear elements and the dramatic shifts in time create more complexity than a straightforward narrative like War and Peace (40).

How Fences is regarded

Fences holds a literary regard score of 85 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

About the author

August Wilson