Fences: A Devastating Impact On The Maxson Family

Racism in Fences: A Devastating Impact on the Maxson Family

In centuries leading to the 1950 and 1960s, racism in America was rampant. The years of slavery and segregation in America made it difficult for many African Americans to achieve their dreams and the Maxson family felt the effects of the racism that was negatively impacting America. For readers and viewers of Fences, it would have been a major disappointment if one could not follow his or her dreams because of the race or color of one’s skin. Inevitably, racism has had a devastating impact on the Maxson family as it has crushed their aspirations and taken over their lives.

The Maxson family has been definitely been impacted by racism, especially Troy Maxson. He was marked from the

time he played sports and did not make it because of a racism in baseball. The events in the play point that Troy’s career in baseball was a factor in his opportunity to play, and his age at the time, 40 years old, may have also been a factor. Nevertheless, he stayed with a very bad image of that time and hates the thought of anyone mentioning sports or the players. In his mind the only people who can make it in sports are white. Racism has impacted him and because of his experience, he has pushed his son from achieving his dream. In the acts of Fences, one can see that racism has an effect on Troy as he believes everyone treats him as if he was less of a person because of his color and he has even agreed to “do my shopping where the people been good to me” (1.1.159).
Compared to Troy, Cory is the son who is really outgoing and fights for what he wants. Cory has a dream of becoming a professional football player and he knows that he is capable of it in spite of the experiences of his father. He knows that time has changed and that race is not the sole factor in deciding the success of an individual, unlike the times of his father. He wants to prove that he can make it despite the negative judgments of his father.
Troy has crushed everyone’s dream just because of his experience with racism.

In fact, Troy tells Cory that “the white man aint ganna let you get nowhere with that football no way” as an attempt to steer him away from playing professional football (1.3.157). Cory does not want to go against what he chooses to focus on even though his father wants him to settle for something that anyone can do, like become a carpenter or auto mechanic. Given his role as a father, one would assume that Troy should be encouraging or supportive even if he may not agree. However, because of Troy’s reluctance to change, he confuses Cory and makes him feel unloved, as Cory asks “how come you aint never liked me?” (1.3. 200). Troy’s experience with racism does not allow him to move on and gives him a hard time supporting his son in his quest to play professional football.

The pressure of having one’s family trying to decide one’s path is alarming. One should not renounce one’s personal identity, passion, and aspirations because of another person’s past negative experiences. Given that negative norms change and racism in the 1950s was phasing out for a more equal American society, Troy’s stubbornness and fright was unhealthy for himself and his family. Everyone’s experience is different and Cory’s dedication and intelligence in school earned him a football college scholarship, which not everyone can earn. Thus, whoever gets this opportunity must enjoy it and appreciate

it.
Because of his experience with racism, Troy takes his bitterness on everyone else. Troy dragged himself to failure and took his anger out on his family – he cheated on his wife, who was always there for him, crushed Cory’s dreams of playing football, and was not ever there in Lyon’s life. Because of his experiences with racism, Troy was always afraid that other African Americans would do better than him, and that is why Cory took it upon himself to say it to him that Troy was “afraid I was ganna be better than you” (2.4.160). Troy was scared, bitter, and stubborn. It is inevitable to note that his tunneled vision certainly stopped him from seeing that racism would end sometime and that for the sake of his family, he had to move on and support the new generation of African Americans to move past racism – he had to support Cory and his family in overcoming, not succumbing to, racism.