The Culture Heritage Protection: Suggestive Themes and Views of August Wilson’s Fences

Abstract

Identity, values, history, language and principles of a man all compose the cultural form of a cultural form of an individual. Man becomes the focal point of most subject matters of the modernist writers who focus on the concept of humanism. In the light of Marcus Garvey “people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. Therefore, this study aims at investigating how Wilson seeks to rediscover African- American's history and culture via multi-messages besides the play’s title. Wilson had played a great role in raising global issues affecting most societies in the 20th century. Wilson' dramatized the life of his fellow people to visualize their suffering and plight within American society. As he was trying to supply the black people with determination to gain freedom, he depicted exploitation, abuse and slavery. Wilson's plays have clearly displayed the tensions among blacks who wanted to clutch their African legacy. This study concludes that losing the individual’s culture will create identity disturbance and rootlessness that lead to the lost generation of Afro-American people.

Keywords

• afro-american people
• culture
• identity