Allusions

St. Peter is one of the allusions in Fences. St. Peter was one of Jesus leading disciples. He had
a role as the keeper of the keys to the door to the Christian Heaven. In the story, Gabe often
refers to St. Peters as if he knows him personally. Gabe says that he saw St. Peters book for
Judgement Day with Troys and Roses name inside.
Troy last name is Maxson, which is the combination of Mason and Dixon. Mason Dixon is a
name for an imaginary line that divided the North and the South so the African-American would
try to cross it to be free from poverty and racial discrimination and hope for the best. I think it is
an allusion because Troy lives in the North but his mind is like still in the South , which make
him thinks that the racial discrimination still exist and he is trying to get away from it , like still
trying to cross to the North.
The Trojan Horse was used to fool the romans and to get into their walls through deception and
once the horse was in, the Trojans came out to fight. August Wilson, the author of Fences,
choose the main character to be named Troy intentionally. Troy has built a wall (in this case a
fence) which functions as a barrier against outside invasion. Inside this fence are his deceptive
notions, his delusional state of mind, his past, his experience, and everything he has grown up to
understand. Outside this fence is reality. Troy has cheated on his wife, he cannot drive, he was
too old to fulfill his passion in baseball, and Troy has literally hoodwinked himself into believing
the complete opposite. Troy does not want to let in the Trojan horse (reality) into his city (his
life) and destroy everything.