The main theme of August Wilson's play Fences is restraint, conveyed through Rose's request for a fence surrounding her house, and the eventual barrier that the fence becomes. At first, it seems that Rose wants the fence to hold her family together, but ironically, as Troy begins the task of building, the family becomes more and more distanced. The fence's true purpose becomes clear as Troy drifts from Rose and their family.

Rose struggles throughout the play to maintain positive control over her family, and her request for a picket fence is a solid attempt at holding her family together. She is determined to keep her family purely her own, and to keep anyone who might interfere with it out. Rose trustfully allows Troy to come and go as he pleases, trying to "erase the doubt that [he] wasn't the finest man in the...