Fences by August Wilson Freewrite warm-ups Each entry needs to be at least a 6-8 sentence complete paragraph

April 4th Is it acceptable for a white person to repeat the n-word?  (Not use it, just repeat it, for example, reading aloud in class.)  When is it appropriate to use and when is it not? Support your answer.

April 5th Using specific imagery and detail, describe a fence from your life or childhood. It might be the one around your yard, one you remember from Grandma’s house, the one you and your friends always lost your ball over, the one you had to hop to get to the neighbor’s pool when they weren’t home, the one you fell off and broke your arm . . .

April 6th What are some of the ideas about walls (both literal and figurative) that Frost explores in “Mending Wall” Do you believe “good fences make good neighbors”? Explain.

April 7th: True or false Parents may not always do the best thing, but they do usually have their children’s best interests at heart. Children tend to end up like their parents – even if they rebel or try not to. The past can be more powerful than the present. The older you get, the harder it is to accept change. Choose 1 and reflect on it with examples in at least a paragraph.

April 8th Choose one of your responses from this week, then revise and rewrite it. Your final draft will be graded for depth of thought and grammar and mechanics.

April 11th In the aftermath of the “How come you ain’t never liked me scene, Rose tells Troy “The world’s changing around you and you can’t even see it” (1624). Using details from the play, explain how the world is changing. Then assert a theory on what prevents Troy from accepting this.

April 12th Bono comments, not unlike Robert Frost, that “Some people build fences to keep people out . . . And other people build fences to keep people in” (1636) Analyze the fence as a symbol thus far in Fences. Use specifics about the fence, like that Troy and Cory are supposed to work on it together or the fact that it’s unfinished until the final scene . . .

April 13th Rose comments “you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child,” (1646) and although she’s referring to Raynell, how does this quote apply to other relationships in the play and become one of its central themes?

April 14th Compare Langston Hughes’ “Dream Deferred” to Fences. How was Troy’s dream deferred and what happened as a result?

April 15th Choose one of your responses from this week, then revise and rewrite it. Your final draft will be graded for depth of thought and grammar and mechanics.