Some people are so miserable with their own lives that it spreads to those around them. This applies to the main character of Fences, Troy Maxson. A lot of events lead Troy to be dissatisfied with his life. Due to extreme racism, Troy wasn’t given the same opportunities as white men. Troy played baseball for the negro leagues, but by the time the major leagues started to accept black people, he was too old. Troy had to steal to survive and he ended up murdering someone which landed him fifteen years in prison. After prison he met his wife Rose, and worked as a waste collector. He was unhappy with his job because only white men could drive the waste truck. All of these events lead to Troy being dissatisfied with his life and taking it out on …show more content…
Cory was recruited by a college football team, but Troy was strongly opposed to the idea. Rose even tries to change Troy’s mind by saying, “Why don’t you let the boy go ahead and play football, Troy? Aint no harm in that. He’s just trying to be like you with the sports” (Wilson 1736). Troy responds with, “I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get (Wilson 1736). However, Troy was never given an opportunity like Cory was, it was possible for him to make it big in football. Troy quickly ruined Cory’s chances by telling the coach that he couldn’t play football anymore. The college recruiter was told not to come. It seems that Troy is jealous of Cory because he wanted nothing more then to play baseball in the major leagues. Myles Webber confirms Troy’s jealousy by saying, “But in Fences, amid a chorus of voices instructing Troy that times have changed—and among mounting evidence confirming as much—Troy appears to be a petty tyrant made irrational by envy for his son’s opportunities (670). It was wrong of Troy to keep Cory from a great opportunity just because he wasn’t given the same opportunity. Troy’s dissatisfaction with his life was taken out on
August Wilson’s Fences was centered on the life of Troy Maxson, an African American man full of bitterness towards the world because of the cards he was dealt in life amidst the 1950’s. In the play Troy was raised by an unloving and abusive father, when he wanted to become a Major League Baseball player he was rejected because of his race. Troy even served time in prison because he was impoverished and needed money so he robbed a bank and ended up killing a man. Troy’s life was anything but easy. In the play Troy and his son Cory were told to build a fence around their home by Rose. It is common knowledge that fences are used in one of two ways: to keep things outside or to keep things inside. In the same way that fences are used to keep things inside or outside Troy used the fence he was building to keep out death, his family, and his disappointments in life while Rose used the fence to keep those she cared about inside and help them bond.
Fences, a low diction play by August Wilson, expresses the complex relationship between a father and his sons. Troy Maxson, once a baseball star on a Negro League, is now envious of his son Cory who dreams of having a successful football career. Troy also worries that Cory will be treated with the same disrespect that he (Troy) once was during his baseball career. Lyons, Troy's eldest son, is completely misunderstood by Troy, mostly because of his refusal to get a “real” job and his drive to become a musician. Wilson references stories from Troy's past to convey the reason behind Troy's frustration and actions toward his children.
Some people use fences to keep worlds divided, and live two different lives. Troy Maxson is a prime example of a person who wanted a life that was adaptable to his situation. Troy's character is the centerpiece that all of the other relationships in “Fences” gather around (SparkNotes). His home was his foundation, and something sturdy that he could come back no matter what, but when he was in the outside world he felt that he could have an immoral lifestyle without any repercussions. Troy's fence was only illusory; there was nothing
This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play, but he is also hitting up against himself and ultimately making his life more complicated. The discrimination that Troy faced while playing baseball and the torment he endures as a child shaped him into one of the most dynamic characters in literary history. The central conflict is the relationship between Troy and Cory. The two of them have conflicting views about Cory’s future and, as the play goes on, this rocky relationship crumbles because Troy will not let Cory play collegiate football. The relationship becomes even more destructive when Troy admits to his relationship with Alberta and he admits Gabriel to a mental institution by accident.
Troy used be able to knock a baseball out of the park like it was nothing but he constantly "ends in disappointment" in his personal life. Just like most tragic heroes, Troy does whatever he thinks is right. Troy's relationship with his son Cory is a good example of how he misses the mark. Cory is a 17 year old boy, he’s a senior in high school, a respectful son, and caring nephew to his disabled uncle, Gabriel. Cory was accepted for a college football scholarship. Just like his father, Cory loves sports, and this is his one chance to go to college. Nonetheless, Troy is against Cory going off to play football. One of the
This goes far beyond him being unfair to Cory, but is also hinders Cory from meeting his full potential. The ability to continue with football would not only offer him scholarships, but the chance to even attend college. Troy’s inability to look past himself and to realize times have changed, hurts not only himself but his son too. These selfish actions begin to push Cory and Troy apart. This is the beginning of Troy’s figurative fence secluding him from his family.
August Wilson’s Fences highlights the struggles of the African American male living in the 1950’s through its main character Troy Maxson. Racially and emotionally, Troy is unstable in his environment. Because of his past, he tries to not see his mistake repeated through his son and lives through his marriage with another woman. Throughout the play, the audience can see the hardships that evolved through the lives of African American males and their families. Troy character was essentially restricted physically and morally due to being exposed to the barriers that made up his surroundings.
In Wilson’s renowned piece Fences, the protagonist in Troy Maxson is faced with many hardships. He starts the play off seeming like a personable man who only wants to ensure his family is safe and provided for. However, as the play moves on, he turns into a person who does everything
The scene starts off with Troy and Cory building the fence. Then Cory leads his father into a conversation about being recruited for football and Troy refuses to give Cory permission to play college football, “Troy: I don’t care where he is coming from. The white man ain’t gonna let you nowhere with that football no way. You go on and get you book-learning so you can work yourself up that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can’t nobody take away from you. You go on and learn how to put your hands to some good use. Besides hualing people’s garbage.” (Wilson 35). Troy’s only justification for why Cory is not allowed to play college football is his own beliefs that having a job that allows fair trade in currency is more beneficial than false promises of success coming from a white man. Troy uses the excuse of Cory acquiring a job over football because he does not want to see Cory succeed where he could not himself in the Major Leagues. Additionally,
Troy Maxson may be the protagonist of the play Fences, but this play is an excellent depiction of how the protagonist isn’t always truly a good person. Troy Maxson is a fifty-three year-old, African American man who works for the sanitation department, lifting garbage into trucks. Troy is also a former baseball star in the Negro Leagues. Before the Major Leagues started accepting African Americans Troy’s career was basically over. Troy's character is the centerpiece that all of the other relationships in Fences gather around. Troy is husband to Rose, father to Lyons, Cory, and Raynell, and brother to Gabriel. Troy's years of hard-work for only meager progress depress him. Troy often fails to provide the love and support that would mean the
This became a fence because of Troy’s pride and particular vision for Cory. Troy wants him to go and just work to get a life while Cory wants to go play football and see what happens. This fence just keeps on getting bigger with every fight they both have. It puts an emotional barrier between Troy and Cory which makes it so all their conversations turn to football and anger. This fence left such an impact on Cory that after Troy dies he says this, “Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere. It weighed on you and sunk into your flesh. It would wrap around you and lay there until you couldn't tell which one was you anymore....I'm just saying I've got to find a way to get rid of that shadow, Mama.” (Fen. 2.5.81) He is talking to Rose in this scene and basically says he needs to find a way to get rid of his dad in his life. He never had a good relationship with his father and wants to forget about it. Throughout Cory’s life football was a dream that he wanted to pursue. Troy never allowed that and it pushed Cory’s life in an entirely different
Troy and Cory have different views on life which causes them to disagree on practically everything. Cory wants his father to sign a paper that will allow a recruiter to look at him play football. Troy tells Cory that he needs to work instead of play, so he will not sign Cory’s paper. Troy is upset a...
He makes his point at the beginning of the play when Rose brings up Cory’s football recruitment and replies “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (Wilson, 8). Troy feels that there is no point in Cory playing football because he does not want his son to be treated unfairly for his skin color. I also feel that Troy thinks about his past quite often with baseball since he is always bitter when the subject is brought up. For example, Cory tries to start a simple conversation about the Pirates game and Troy says “I ain’t thinking about the Pirates. Got an all-white team. Got that boy…that Puerto Rican boy…Clemente. Don’t even half-play him. That boy could be something if they give him a chance” (Wilson,
Although it seems as though Cory is determined to escape from what his father wants, he still takes the same path his father went on. This ironic situation is shown when Troy says "I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get” (Wilson 481). Throughout the play, Cory is also trying to pursue this individuality, but ends up trying to chase after his dreams in a sport just like Troy. Cory faces a battle inside him as he tries to form a unique identity separate from his father; however, Troy is resistant to Cory's attempts at individuality. Troy's efforts to restrain Cory from being an individual character makes Cory take on drastic measures, such as verbal and physical violence, in an effort to become the person he wants to be. Troy restrains Cory from pursuing his dreams so much that it builds up to a point where Cory points out the truth that Troy is so afraid to hear; “Just cause you didn't have a chance! You just scared I'm gonna be better than you, that's all" (Wilson 493). Sports acts as a barrier between them from ever becoming close, even though they are both interested in them. This confrontation results in Troy counting numbers until Cory
...ling as if they could never be good enough. Fences in the terms of baseball refers to the outfield where baseball players aim to strike out; ironically, Troy never “strikes out”. He remains captive to internal battle he faces which reinforced by the external world. Analyzing the father and son relationships within Fences reveals an interesting parallel contingent on a generational gap. Troy fails to understand that the world is changing around him; he is stuck in the past, fenced in by his own experiences. Furthermore, he forces his connotation of life onto his sons which is detrimental to their growth as individuals. In the end Cory and Lyon are negatively impacted by their father just as Troy was effected by his father; thus, August Wilson sculpts this viscous cycle passed from generation to generation, acting as a curse on the Maxson family that is inescapable.