FencesPodcast

In this podcast episode, Renna discusses August Wilson's screenplay "Senses" and focuses on the character Jim Bono. She explains that she usually prefers reading books and poetry over drama, but "Senses" has piqued her interest. The play highlights the hardships faced by African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Jim Bono is portrayed as a loyal friend and sidekick to the main character, Troy Maxson. Throughout the story, Bono undergoes a significant internal change as he stands up to Troy and expresses his disappointment in his actions. Bono admires Troy and looks up to him, particularly in how he treats his wife Rose. However, Bono tries to convince Troy not to ruin his relationships and emphasizes the importance of what he already has. The inclusion of certain details in the film adaptation, such as Bono and Troy moving away from the house during a conversation, adds depth to Bono's character. Bono serves as Troy's moral compass, attempting to steer Hey there, my name is Renna and welcome to my curious little podcast where I'm going to explore August Wilson's screenplay Senses and more specifically the lovable character within it named Jim Bono. Currently I'm attending Northwest Florida State College and in my English course we are learning the ins and outs of reading, writing, and analyzing drama in literature. In the past I would prefer to watch anything relating to drama, I would much rather read books and I would also read poetry if I came across it somewhere, I would never really choose to read poetry, but I love books and fiction books, non-fiction books, biography, stuff like that, but anything about drama like Romeo and Juliet never really caught my attention, things like that I was just never really interested in, however reading drama like I said has just never been a big interest of mine besides just books and poetry. However Senses is an extraordinary piece that Wilson used to demonstrate the hardships African Americans had to endure in the 20th century and which he also used to convince me to read more drama. This play is set during the time of the Civil Rights Movement and more specifically in 1957 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Throughout this screenplay Jim Bono is portrayed as a stereotypical sidekick or follower of the lead character Troy Maxson, I would also describe him as a flat dynamic character, I say flat because he's overall uncomplicated and he fits that archetype of sidekick. He undergoes a very significant internal change I would say throughout the story because he starts off as that hype man that really just doesn't say much besides yeah you're right Troy and yeah you got it Troy, but then by the end of it they're not friends anymore because he stood up and said he was disappointed in how Troy was acting and didn't agree with what he was saying. So I think that Bono really admires his best friend at the beginning, they met each other in the penitentiary, he knew him when he told all the stories about how amazing he was in baseball that no one else in the story was present for except for Bono so they have that strong bond and friendship from the beginning. He admires him in so many ways and he looks up to him as an example for like how he treats his wife Rose, Bono really admires that and tells Troy how much he admires that. In Act 2 Scene 1 Bono says that was the first time I knew you had any sense, I said my man Troy knows what he's doing, I'm going to follow him, he might take me somewhere. He's telling Troy about this memory when he's explaining how much he loves Troy's love for Rose and their relationship, he thinks Troy's really lucky and he emphasizes this point a lot throughout the play because I think he's trying to show Troy that he knows he's making that mistake even if Troy thinks it's on the down low, Bono knows because he's his best friend. So he's trying to make it a point that you have something real already, you don't need to mess this up. In the play Bono provides Troy with all the validation that he wants and Troy provides Bono right back with that example like I said of the person that Bono is striving to be. Through reading the play I don't really get a sense for who Bono is as his own person, I'm only getting to assume the things that I think would complete his character like his expressions on his face and his mannerisms. The inclusion of these that come throughout watching the movie I think sheds light on a new character of Bono, now he's not so much a robotic follower but more so a loyal friend who doesn't argue with Troy in his blasphemous remarks, he just sits on the side and lets him talk his talk. Instead I feel like through the movie and seeing it we can witness Bono's reactions, his emotions in the real time that these situations are happening. In some of the instances I can even see that Bono encourages Troy, his face can still show that he's dissatisfied with his friend even if his words are saying something different. A detail I wanted to point out is that I really felt it was an interesting addition to include in Denzel Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's play, as well in Act 2 Scene 1 Bono is trying to dissuade Troy from ruining his relationships with his family like Rose and his sons, the actors are first in the backyard where most of the play is supposed to take place. Bono starts off kindly explaining to Troy how lucky he is to have Rose like I said and how lucky he is to have his family, his two sons, his brother that's still there. And then as the conversation carries on Bono starts talking and delicately explaining to Troy that he needs to stop hooking up with that Alberta girl and as the conversation turns to this topic I saw that Bono and Troy move further and further away from the house and so I wonder if it's them moving further and further away from Rose. I don't know if that's Bono moving them away or Troy moving them away to avoid Rose hearing anything which is interesting because shortly after Troy goes in and tells Rose about it. I just think that's a very interesting detail to add into the film adaptation because most of the play is supposed to just be them standing on the porch or in the backyard around the fence but they decide to distance themselves from that house, from that safe place as Bono is trying to get through to his best friend which sadly doesn't do much other than get him to actually admit what happened. A crucial line that's delivered in this play is delivered by Jim Bono and it's when he tells Troy that some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in. He says this in Act 2 Scene 1 and I think Bono is relating himself to the figurative fence in the title through this line because he's explaining to Troy that he's been on a path where he's starting to fence out his family and I think he's doing this due to his own fears and regrets from his past. As expert Mary Bogumel says, she suggests in her publication, what Bono is trying to make Troy see is that by holding his son back from his dreams and lying to his wife he's just really pushing them away and not keeping them close at all. He's not even giving his son a chance and that's exactly what the men did to him back in his past when he tried to play baseball. It's just a hamster wheel of trauma and bad decisions that he's just passing down. I think further Bono sheds light on the fences that Troy has built between himself and his brother Gabriel. Gabriel even moved out and even as he says it was no big deal, he just wanted his own space, but obviously there was a reason that made his only relative that he speaks to now move out of his own house that he paid for. Bono is also talking about the fences that Troy builds within himself when he tries to drink away all of his problems and all of the things that, like the discrimination going on in the world and just all of the failings that he thinks he has to struggle with and endure because his life is so bad is really just making everything worse and Bono is trying to tell this to his friend, but his friend doesn't want to hear it. Bono alludes to the historical circumstances that contribute to Troy's fate and like I said what he considers to be failings in his life like the fact that slaves were kept behind fences themselves similar to his ancestors that he likes to bring up. Bono is Troy's moral compass throughout the story I think and time and time again Bono attempts to convince Troy to quit the infidelity and his various bad choices, but it doesn't seem to get through to him or work and it ends with their friendship deteriorating and not being anything anymore by the end of it because Troy just can't seem to be content with what he has, something just has to be more for him to be fully pleased and satisfied and Troy always brushes Bono off and continues on with his snide remarks and everything else and expert Asante Kenyatta acknowledges that it's through the deterioration of their friendship that the downfall of Troy's character is really reflected and Kenyatta goes on to explain that their friendship has even more honesty than Troy's relationship with his wife Rose because I think that's saying a lot because Troy even tries to lie to his best friend about going to see this girl he brushes it off and says I talked to everybody I went and told everybody that I got promoted blah blah blah like it's not a big deal that he's going out of his way to see this random girl when he has a whole family at home so I just think it's interesting that even though he's lying to both people his relationship with Bono has more honesty maybe it's because they've known each other longer but in my opinion there should be more honesty with his wife but we can see that that's not a big priority for Troy at all he is his number one priority and we know that I think in the play Troy finally does something bad enough which is cheat on Rose and get this girl pregnant and that ends in Bono condemning him and actually walking away from their friendship like I said although Bono never really had a good father figure for himself as he says in the story it doesn't keep him from taking on that role for Troy's neglected sons Lyons and Cory Bono admits that his father was never around that he went searching for some new land and never came back when Bono was very young and he adds that he never even got the chance to disobey his dad when Troy asks him and I think despite the neglect that he experiences in his childhood and despite not having any kids of his own with his wife he takes it upon himself to show Troy's sons what a caring father can look and what he should act like because they don't get it from Troy and we see it and read it when Troy goes off on his rants about sports and the white men controlling them and everything Bono is always ready with his level head to defend Cory and all of this potential in the sport and in life and whenever Troy's older son Lyons stops by to see his father and occasionally borrow money Troy is always criticizing everything about him and his lifestyle and just whatever he can bring up once again Bono will be there and be patiently waiting to give Lyons the listening ear the support or even just simply the love that he's yearning to get from his father and it's really sad to see that in a physical representation in the movie because I just think it evokes even more emotion and the neglect and emotional abuse I think that these kids get from their father's emotional abuse that he's still suffering from it's just adding to the overall message that I think Wilson and Denzel Washington are trying to get through. Bono learns the disappointment that comes from watching your hero or your idol fade right before your eyes and according to Robert Verini Jim Bono lives his life as a sidekick to the protagonist Troy Maxson their bond is so warmly portrayed in the movie and I can see as Verini can put it the comfort that's found in following a hero that I think Bono finds in Troy as well as the sting that Bono feels when that hero's as Verini says feet of clay destroy the bond. Troy is an idol in Bono's eyes for much of his life since they know each other and when Troy makes this detrimental mistake that ruins his family and his life Bono doesn't want to stand around to watch the repercussions of it he doesn't agree with it he doesn't support it and he excludes himself from it which I think is I respect and makes me like his character even more. Overall I really enjoyed this play and the movie I think August Wilson created a heart-wrenching story of the hardships and trauma that African-Americans endured and in turn passed down to their kids and the kids after them. Denzel Washington captured Wilson's message incredibly and the liberties he took made the story that much deeper in my opinion. Each character is going through a personal battle even as the world around them was going through on itself like the civil rights movement. I think Fences was a wonderful screenplay that has shown me how not only a play can evoke such emotion and thought in me but also how a film adaptation can do the same if not even more. Thanks for listening.