August Wilson Character Analysis

Struggles in Parenting
August Wilsons play, Fences, tells us the story of a man named Troy Maxson and his family. Troy Maxson did not live an easy life. He was raised in a time where African Americans were not welcome. The city where he was raised was flourishing and people were profiting. Wanting to take part of the city’s wealth, the African Americans were hopeful and packed their bags to move to the city. Wilson, says that “they came from places called the Carolinas and the Virginias, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.” They came to take part of the growing economy. They were described coming to the city well prepared for their new journey. Wilson says, “they came strong, eager searching.” However because of their color they were

rejected and turned away to the outline of the city, living in what Wilson describes as, “ramshackle houses made of sticks and tarpaper.” Just like many of the African American families who traveled for freedom and profit, Troy Maxson and his family became slaves to the white people, with no opportunities in life. Now that Troy Maxson is a husband and father the times are starting to change where unlike before the African Americans are now more accepted. Through the heartache and pain of his past Troy Maxson struggles with letting the past go and encouraging his sons to follow their dreams, and to not follow in his footsteps.
Troy Maxson has two sons. His oldest son Lyons he had in a previous marriage and a son named Cory who he had with his current wife Rose. Troy feared that his children would undergo the same rejection that he had growing up. He did not accept that times have changed and wanted his son’s to live their life cautiously. It was no question that Troy Maxson was a hard worker. He took great care of his family’s needs financially. He put a roof over their head and provide their everyday basic needs. He did not spoil his children by any means. He wanted them to know that nothing would be handed to them in life because of who they are. He tried to install his values and beliefs into his children, but because the children did not grow up in the same era as Troy they did not understand his racial fears and why he lived a life of bitterness. Lyons and Cory wanted to live a life different from their father and when they decided to follow their dreams and goals it hindered their relationship.
Troy’s main priority when it comes to raising his children is to teach them that you have to work hard for your family and that you should not rely on no white folk to help you. Troy’s oldest son, Lyons is a jazz musician. He did not have a job and would arrive on Troy’s payday to get money from his father. Lyon’s did not have the ambition to work and he did not want to work hard labor. He had a dream of getting paid for his music. Troy wants him to get a job and to stop showing up for money, but Lyons tells his father, “you know I can’t find no decent job.” This angers Troy because he knows places where Lyons can work, but as Lyons put it, “he don’t want to be carrying anyone’s rubbish,” and “I don’t want to be punching nobody’s time clock.” Lyons does not care what his father thinks because he is able to get by in life with his girlfriend’s job and handouts. Troy blames Lyons mother for the way she raised him, since Troy was not around when Lyons was younger and for the reason why he has no motivation or work ethics.
Troy’s youngest son Cory is a great football player. He resembles Troy in many ways and this scares Troy. In his younger years Troy Maxson was an amazing baseball player. His dreams of becoming a professional baseball player were shut down because of the color of his skin. He is angered by this and holds a lot of resentment towards whites. He talks to his friend Bono and his wife Rose about his batting average and how he was above everyone else. By the time blacks were allowed to play baseball, Troy was too old and was still rejected from the game. “Troy is so angry over his own lost opportunities that, by 1957, he cannot take pleasure in the fact that black men are finally able to play major league ball. Integration means nothing to him because it came too late to benefit his life” (Metzger). The rejection of playing his favorite sport, burned a hole in his heart that he is unable to fill. This becomes apparent in his relationship with Cory. Cory is given an opportunity to meet with a recruiter to continue his dream of playing football. Troy refuses to meet with the recruiter and to sign the papers because he does not want what happened to him happen to Cory. When his wife Rose ask him, why he doesn’t let him play sports, Troy Responds with, “I don’t want him to be like me!” It is apparent that Troy fears that his son would experience rejection in sports just like he did when he was younger. Looking at Cory reminds him of himself and how baseball was his life. He does not want his son to feel the way he does. Instead of expressing his concerns to Cory, he just takes away his sports privileges which created major tension and places a wedge between the two of them.
With both of his son’s Troy is caught in a battle of his past and his children’s future.

Troy is a mixture of two very different parenting styles, Authoritarian and uninvolved. A psychiatrist named Diana Baumrind describes Authoritarian parenting as parents that are “demanding, expect unquestioned obedience, are not responsive to their children’s desires, and communicate poorly with their children” and a uninvolved parent is a parent that “minimizes both the time they spend with their children and their emotional involvement with them and provide for their children’s basic needs, but little else” (Griggs 301). When it comes to his children’s everyday life and need for love and comfort Troy is not there. When Cory ask Troy why he doesn’t like him Troy responds with asking Cory, “Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you?” Troy believes that all he has to do is provide food and a roof, and that is it when it comes to raising his sons. This is how Troy is an uninvolved parent, but on the other hand Troy can be an authoritarian parent when he is demanding of his son’s careers and life choices.
In the end Troy and his son’s become estranged. Lyons ends up getting himself in trouble with the law and Cory leaves and joins the Marines without looking back on his father. It wasn’t until Troy’s death that the family reunites. Troy Maxson did have good intentions for his son’s, but his actions and his words separated them as a

family.