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

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