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Fences Compare And Contrast Essay

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The performance of “This is America” by Donald Glover connects with August Wilson’s play Fences by contouring the same ideas of a nation and the use of distractions in the face of a nation’s downfall. The opening of “This is America” begins with the song of a chorus. This chorus can be seen as a nation that comes together as one, just as Troy Maxon’s nation in Fences joins as one to cope with their surrounding world. In both the song and the play, the story of a joint force of black people coming together for support is told. Despite the effort to achieve unity in both nations, each one faces problems. In the nation of “This is America”, gun violence tears apart the choir, while Troy’s inability to enjoy a sense of belonging in his nation tears his family …show more content…
Donald Glover and a group of school kids can be seen doing popular dances together while in the background, people are on their phones instead of reacting to the violence around them. The use of distraction is also found in the lyrics: “I’m on Gucci/I’m so pretty” (Childish Gambino “This is America”). Gucci being a popular brand, the lyrics suggest that people are too concerned with being up to date on the latest trends and flaunting those trends to their peers, and not concerned enough with making a social change. In conjunction with the teenagers’ use of phones, presumably being used for social media, the lyrics emphasize that many times the people of a nation use distractions instead of facing the problems that are causing a downfall. Oftentimes people of a nation eschew their problems because they are painful to face, such as the gun violence presented in “This is America”. However, without facing the social problems, changes are not made. In Fences, Troy’s uses another woman, Alberta, as a distraction. Instead of facing his problems at home, Troy takes his mind off of his family by spending time with another

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