Art and Reality

Philosophy
Name
Institution
Due Date
Philosophy
Art Represents Reality
In the play Fences, the character Cory plays a crucial role in helping readers and viewers of the play come to terms with the inherent nature of mankind. Cory is the son of Rose and Troy. The relationship between Troy and Cory is strained, and Rose happens to be the only person who seeks to bridge the gap between the two characters. Troy grew up at a time when racism was at its peak, and the African Americans’ progress in the world was curtailed by the white man. His past makes him pessimistic about his future, and even after society becomes receptive and changes to become more assimilating to the African Americans, he still remains glued to his beliefs of America being a land that curtails the progress of African Americans.
Cory, the son of Troy, grows up when racism is not the talk of the day, and opportunities for African Americans are widespread. However, his father appears to be the main obstacle to Cory’s progress and pursuit of his dreams. Cory’s character throughout the story depicts the image of a boy who is trying to pursue his father’s love and acceptance. As a character, Cory is able to communicate his neediness of his father, which is a shared human nature that is well showcased in the play. Further, Cory perfectly depicts the two disjointed worlds in which his father and himself live, which communicates a common dissociation between parents and their children. Often, parents can be found stuck to conservative ways and approaches to life that are greatly founded on their experiences as well as practices of the past. The result of the above is always a disconnect between parents and children, which yields poor parent-children relationships. In the case of Cory and Tory, the disconnect becomes greater to the point where Cory decides to follow his dream of joining the marines while negating his father’s desire and approach to life.
The character of Cory depicts a representational image of two worlds clashing with the vulnerable side left incredibly grieved. Plato’s view of art was that it was representational in that it was a copy and, therefore, not original (Stecker, 1992). While this could be true, it can also be said to be misleading, considering art is at times a result of original ideas. In the current context, the play Fences appears to be inspired by real events and is indeed a reflection of the ...