Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Heightened, Colloquial, Universal
August Wilson's voice is a unique blend of African-American dialect and heightened poetry. The tone of Fences and the other plays manages to be incredibly approachable and lofty at the same time. Wilson's characters are somehow bigger than themselves. They seem to represent not just themselves, but all African Americans, and all people.