Fences

By now, you should have all read closely the play Fences and chosen a character on whom you are going to do a character analysis. I waited a couple days hoping my voice would sound better to record the intersectionality video, but it is still pretty scratchy. So, I am posting Kimberle Crenshaw’s video on intersectionality instead. Click here to watch the video. Submit to the dropbox a 500-word reflection. Specifically, devote about half the writing to the intersectionality TED Talk and half the response to applying intersectionality to the play Fences. This assignment is due Friday, June 11th by 11:59 pm to the dropbox. I would like you to consider how the characters in Fences have intersectional challenges in their lives and how these challenges are exacerbated by such factors as race, class, and gender, for instance. This lens of intersectionality can also help you more deeply understand the struggles of the characters in the play and will be helpful when you do your character analysis for Essay 2.
In addition to using intersectionality as a lens through which to understand these characters, please also read this glossary of dramatic terms, linked here.
These dramatic terms will help you more deeply understand the structure of plays and ultimately more deeply understand the dramatic techniques in fences. Please note that your essay on this unit is NOT focused on dramatic techniques. Rather, this essay’s purpose is for you to analyze a character from the play Fences. The reason I asked you to read the play first before giving you those dramatic terms is so that you would focus more on the characters than the dramatic techniques. While dramatic techniques used by August Wilson are important to understanding this play more deeply, they are not the focus of this essay. Please make sure you read the essay rubric closely and follow the directions for both the essay rubric and the essay planner.
Your essay planner for Essay 2 is due Sunday, June 13th by 11:59 pm. You can read the assignment sheet for that assignment by going to Content and finding that assignment in the drama unit folder. There is also an example Essay 2 in that folder as well. Please note that your essay planner is to be filled out using a character from the play Fences. The example essay and the example in the essay planner assignment sheet are merely examples to help you more fully understand this writing assignment. The essay also should focus on that same character and should be an analysis of that character. You are welcome and encouraged to apply the concept of Crenshaw’s intersectionality in your character analysis. You are also welcome and encouraged to consider and apply descriptive words from the character traits list, also in the drama folder in Content.

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