Fences Character Analysis

In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy is shown as a man who has hurt the people who are closest to him without even realizing it. He has acted insensitive and uncaring to his wife, Rose, his brother, Gabriel and his son, Cory. At the beginning of the story, Troy feels he has done right by them. For example in act 2 scene 1, “I give them fifty dollars and they let him go.” Troy meant that he paid the coach to have Cory off the team. He thought he did a good thing but Cory could’ve gone far if he kept playing football. He feels this throughout the story. He doesn’t realize how much he has hurt them.
According to sparknots.com, Troy is the son of an abusive father. Troy's father, like many blacks after the abolishment of slavery was a failed sharecropper. Troy claims that his father was so evil that no woman stayed with him for very long, so Troy grew up mostly motherless. When Troy was fourteen, his father noticed that the mule Troy was supposedly taking care of had wandered off. Troy's father found Troy with a girl Troy had a crush on and severely beat Troy with leather reins. Troy thought his father was just angry at Troy for his

disobedience, but proving Troy's father was even more despicable, his father then raped the girl. Troy was afraid of his father until that moment. At that moment, however, Troy believes he became a man. He could no longer live under the roof with a man that would commit these unacceptable acts, so he left home to be on his own, though he was homeless and broke, with no ties or family elsewhere. Manhood, to Troy, meant separating from his father because of conflict and abuse. The one attribute Troy respected and proudly inherited was a sense of responsibility. Troy's father provided for eleven children, and Troy too became the sole breadwinner for his family.
In the town, Mobile, it was hard for him to survive. He had to steal food, and eventually money. A man shot him after he tried to steal his money. Troy had his knife and commenced to stab him after he was shot. They told him that he killed the man. They put Troy in the state penitentiary for that. He spent 15 long years there. When he came out, he met Rose. All of his stealing habits were gone. Troy and Rose got married. At the time, Troy had a son from a previous marriage. He never spends time with this son, because he was in jail. After they were married, they wanted to have a son. Cory, their son, was born.
Troy thought that he was a good husband to Rose because he provided her with food and a house. He wasn’t a good husband because he didn’t give her love and compassion. These two things are needed in a good marriage. She centered her whole life around him and he gave her almost nothing. When she had a problem, she couldn’t go to him. Troy also wasn’t faithful to Rose. He went off and had an affair with another woman. Act 2 Scene 1 “Rose I don’t know how to tell you… I’m gonna be a daddy.” Rose was heart-broken by this. She couldn’t believe Troy could do this to her. She devoted her life to him and he goes and stabs her in the back. On top of that, Troy had a child with his mistress. The woman died giving birth. Troy asked Rose to take care of the baby. Rose did what else could she have done? Troy was not a good husband.
Troy took care of Gabriel after the war. This made him think that he was a good brother. Troy wasn’t a good brother to Gabriel. He stole the war money that Gabriel got. He used the money that he got to build himself a house. Gabriel couldn’t take care of himself, so Troy oversaw Gabriel’s life. After a while Gabriel moved out. He went to live in Mrs. Pearl’s house, down the street. Troy was mad because now that Gabriel wasn’t living in his house, he didn’t collect rent from him. Troy then sent Gabriel to an institution. Since Gabriel was there, Troy got half of the money that Gabriel got from the war. Troy couldn’t care less about Gabriel; all he wanted was his money. Would a good brother do this? I don’t think so.
Troy thought he was a good father because he put a roof over his son’s head and fed him. Cory was scared of his father and he didn’t really love him. Troy didn’t want Cory to play football. This made Cory dislike him even more. He wanted Cory to work at the A&P. In Troy’s mind this was a nice, safe job. He only did this because, in his childhood Troy wanted to play baseball but he couldn’t because he was black. Troy was afraid that his son would be better than him. He also thought that the white people weren’t going to let Cory play football. He thought they wouldn’t give him a chance because he was black. Troy didn’t realize that the times had changed since he was a boy. Black people now had chances too. Being a father is more than what Troy thought. You should love you son or daughter, and care for them. You should want to spend time with them and help them through life.
All of the examples above show that Troy was a bad man.

He didn’t realize that there were other people in the world beside him. Everything had to revolve around him and everything had to be centered around him. He had to have his way, or it was no way. To him, if he gave you the basic necessities of life, he did a good job.
The play wants the readers to judge Troy, as a bad husband, a bad brother, a bad father and a bad man. I feel this way, too. He cheated on Rose. Then he left her with the child he had with his mistress. He didn’t care at all about Gabriel. He stole money from him and he sent him to an institution. Troy never cared for Cory. He wouldn’t let him play football, the only thing Cory wanted to do. All of these examples show that Troy is an uncaring husband, a bad brother, a poor father and a generally an uncaring

person.