Fences: Style 1 key example

Act 1: Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis:

The style of the dialogue in Fences is conversational, but the stage directions make clear that the play is to be performed with a great deal of weight and layered meaning behind the words. For example, in Act 1: Scene 1, a crude joke about Alberta is followed by the highly serious introduction of Rose:

TROY: Legs don’t mean nothing. You don’t do nothing but push them out of the way. But them hips cushion the ride!

BONO: Troy, you ain’t got no sense.

TROY: It’s the truth! Like you riding on Goodyears!

(ROSE enters from the house. She is ten years younger than TROY, her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him...)