cism in baseball.In baseball, at this time, umpires used their dictatorship over the game to call strikes, andthrow players out of the game to benefit Jim Crow. As a matter of fact, when Jackie Robinsonwas up to the plate, he had stuck out looking. Then, the umpire, Jocko Conlan, began yelling"that was a strike right down the middle" repeatedly. In truth, he was trying to make it look as ifJackie Robinson argued the call. Following this action, Robinson was thrown out of the game forsupposedly arguing the call, when in fact he did nothing. August Wilson's book, Fences, was in depths look into the lives of the African Americansthat made the Negro Leagues what they are known as today. He not only uses symbolism, butImagery, and Character Development as well to illustrate his point.First off, his use of symbolism at the end hit me like a brick. Throughout the story, Troy,the main character, condemned baseball, and denounced what is stood for, but in fact, it was still apart of his soul. To cite an instance, Troy questions, "what it ever get me (baseball)? Ain't got apot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of." (Wilson, pg. 9) In all actuality, Troy did lovebaseball, and when he died at the end swinging his bat, is displayed just that. In my opinion, itwas his way of battling "death," which he deemed as not being able to play baseball, which was adirect association with the white community. Hence, he saw death as all the prohibitions and lawsthat stopped African Americans from living life; it finally caught up with him. Conversely, the imagery that Wilson used was extensively vital to the understanding of the story,and the situation the family was undergoing. For example, when Josh Gibson's daughter wasspoken of being seen wearing raggedy clothes, it exhibited a world of detail to me. I could seethe daughter of the famous homerun hitter Josh Gibson, wearing a tattered old dress, which theycouldn't afford to wash because...
