When reading this question of the similarities between Stanley and Troy before reading “Fences”, I was surprised that these two men could be relatable. However, while reading the script the similarities started to pop up. The most common things between these two men is the fact that they’re both arrogant and do things their own way, they are extremely dominant in nature, both passionate, and so on. Basically, all of these qualities combine to make these two men and how they act in their daily lives. With Troy he does not take advice into account, he runs his family his way, and he is a ticking tomb with emotions as he continuously acts with tons of pride in way that wears him down. Meanwhile, Stanley is similar to Troy since he acts in the way that he pleases while also not taking advice into account, he runs his home the way he wants to which is clearly shown in how he welcomes Blanche, and also he is an emotional ticking time bomb that wears himself down too. …show more content…
Although these two men are similar in nature, the main difference that I found between them is their background. Troy acts based on his experiences with baseball and how never making it to the Big Leagues tears him apart. On the other hand, Stanley’s background as a Polack in a changing America forces him to fight against social hierarchies. As stated earlier, baseball is an important factor in this play since it drives the main character, Troy. Due to the fact that Troy was an unbelievable ball player that did not get his opportunities in the Majors because of the color of his skin, it is easy to realize why there is so much built up pain and anger in Troy. Besides for being a tool that shaped Troy into who he was as an adult, the part where I found baseball driving the plot is when Troy describes death. In his description, he says, “ Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner”. The reason for Troy comparing death to this specific pitch is because a fastball on the outside corner was an automatic hit for him back in the day. Basically, this shows Troy’s feelings of invincibility and how if death every crosses his plate in life, he will just smack it out of the park and move on with his life. Therefore, besides for making Troy who he is, baseball was used as a plot device that created an ironic situation where Troy eventually died in the end. In the play “Fences”, it should be a given that a fence had to play some sort of role.
The role that it plays is a symbol of the relationship between Troy and Rose. Clearly, Rose is a proponent for the construction of the fence, as she constantly is bothering Troy to build it. In my opinion, Rose views in a positive and protective manner where if Troy builds it for her then she knows that she has some control of her husband and her house could be “protected” from all of the chaos that fighting could bring the family. On the other hand, Troy is not a fan of building the fence, which is shown through the amount of time that it takes him to build it and also is shown through the emotions he expresses during the process. I believe this shows how his relationship with Rose is not in a good place because if the relationship was going smoothly then he would have done it without having to be asked multiple times. Instead, he dislikes the idea of fence, which foreshadows the rockiness of his relationship with
Rose. While reading the final scenes of the play that took place during Troy’s funeral, the whole play for me took a complete 180. Before these scenes, all of the characters despised Troy and what he preached. However, through his death they were able to understand why Troy acted the way he did. At that moment, his messages started becoming clearer and his family began forgiving him. While each characters experience was individually unique, together they felt the love that Troy brought and they understood why he acted the way he did due to his baseball career and the torment he had to carry with that. 1) The first image that I found that should be used in the play is an old school baseball glove. I feel that by having a glove that Troy could walk by/ look at briefly on the set would set the scene of how baseball never left him. Sure, a bat works, but I feel that a glove is more powerful as its more unique to players. 2) The next image is the fence that I would use on set. Since, Troy has to build it himself the fence would be wooden. Also, I would have the panels uneven like the picture above, which shows the effort that Troy put into the construction, as he does not want anything to do with it. 3) Finally, the rocking chair is a significant part of the set, so as the scenic designer I would make sure that the chair would be similar to the one above, however, it would be more run down and look older. This will symbolize the relationship between Troy and Rose also, as Rose spends her time watching Troy build the fence, the chair will get weaker as well as the relationship.
In Fences, the main character Troy obtains an occupation that changes his value systems, his character traits, and his overall ideology. Not only did it affect his lifestyle, it eventually affects those around him. The newly found ideology Troy obtains significantly effects the development of the story's plot.
After reading Fences, it is clear that there is much conflict between Troy and his son Cory due to Troy’s failed aspirations and jealousy of Cory’s success, as well as a significant generational gap.
Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.
In a simple fictional world, characters are either good or bad, heroes or villains. The heroes almost always win and defeat the villains. In August Wilson’s Fences, Troy Maxson is more complex than that. He has both good and bad qualities. He is both a hero and a villain. Because of this, Troy can be considered an antihero.
In both Trifles and Fences, the relationship between genders plays a large part of the story and in both plays women are not created equal to their spouses. In comparing both plays, the women are tradtionally forced to stay home and do all the housing chores, while the men went to work and socialized with friends while at work. This idea of women staying at home portrays the control that society has over women and makes women unfree and confined to only their homes. In the play "Trifles" the wife, Mrs. Wright seems to have had a interesting life, singing for a chouir during her youth. However, when she marries Mr. Wright, she no longer sings for the chouir and starts lossing herself within her marriage and is unhappy. In the play "Fences,"
August Wilson wrote the play Fences in 1983, the setting of the play was in 1950s. During the 1950’s women were supposed to find and husband, get married then stay home and take care of the house. The male role in the 1950’s was to provide for his family make sure he had a paying job. In Fences Troy and Rose Maxson are the perfect characters for these stereo types. After analyzing this play many themes became observable. Troy, Rose, Bono and Cory all go through situation where they have to deal with Duty, responsibility, limitations, and opportunity. Troy is the protagonist in the play; he lifts garbage into trucks for a career. Troy use to play baseball for the Negro Leagues. Rose is his wife and he has three children Lyons, Cory and Raynell.
There are many causes that molded Troy Maxson into the dishonest, cantankerous, hypocritical person that he is in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” (1985). Troy had an exceptionally unpleasant childhood. He grew up with a very abusive father that beat him on a daily basis. His mother even abandoned him when he was eight years old. In this play, Troy lies habitually and tries to cover himself up by accusing others of lying. He is a very astringent person in general. His dream of becoming a major league baseball player was crushed as a result of his time spent in jail. By the time he was released from jail, he was too old to play baseball efficiently.
Without recognizing the early hardships of Troy’s life, it is easy to dismiss him and his cynical outlook. What can be learned from his story is evident. Never judge someone for his or her seemingly unwarranted attitude because there is a good chance it is completely defensible. Works Cited: Rich, Frank. Theater: Wilson's Fences.
The entirety of the Nadel’s article sheds light on a topic that is not easy for many authors to use without creating caricatures or exaggerated images of a stereotype. At first reading, the content is a little confusing, and somewhat daunting. However, after another reading, the text is easier to grasp. Nadel’s article would have been much stronger if he took time to mention other characters than Troy. Adding more about the character of Rose in this article created a fuller and better grasp on the topic of the fence, which Nadel...
The complication begins in Troy’s youth, when his father beat him unconscious. At that moment, Troy leaves home and begins a troubled life on his own, and gaining a self-destructive outlook on life. “Fences” has many instances that can be considered the climax, but the one point in the story where the highest point of tension occurs, insight is gained and a situation is resolved is when Rose tells Troy that Alberta died having his baby, Raynell.
struggle for survival. Troy has come to believe, from his experiences, that blacks cannot get something for nothing and that life does not owe blacks anything. Due to this, Toy ?fences in? everything that he loves to protect his possessions from the monster of society. Thus there is a symbolization of Troy building a physical fence in the yard but building an emotional fence of protection around his family and friends. He believes that blacks owe it to themselves to make an honest, hard-earned living and that is the only way to survive. Troy states sarcastically that Lyans is blowing his...
The trials of Troy’s life are filled with racial discrimination which mentally scars him. His attitude and behavior towards others are governed by experiences and in most cases he uses the symbol of death in his fictional stories to represent the oppression of the white man. The play Fences, which is largely about Troy, begins with Troy entertaining Bono and Rose with an epic tale of his struggle with death or in other word...
Troy was met with many hardships in his life that left him feeling like he needed to protect himself from the things that have hurt him and could hurt him. The fence that Rose told Troy to build symbolized the barrier that he puts up to protect himself from the things that have hurt him and could hurt him in the future. Troy uses the fence to symbolize the emotional separation and neglect he has towards his family; Rose and Cory in particular. The main reason why the fence took the whole play to complete is because Troy neglected it and spent his time with his mistress which symbolized his neglect towards his family. Cory brings this to attention when he tells Troy that he "don't never do nothing, but go down to Taylors'", which is obviously his mistress’s home (Henderson). This was Troy’s f...
This is the reason why Troy fights against his family and himself, because he feels like he is the only one who can protect them. To Cory and Rose, Troy is destroying the family because of his stubborn thoughts but to Troy he is saving the family from falling apart and this distrust causes the family to eventually fall apart. Troy really does try his hardest to be a good father and is bothered by the fact that Rose and Cory do not see it as him trying to protect them but more of him destroying the family. This hurts Troy because his family is his everything they are what he “fights” for he works day end and day out to put food on the table and try to give them a life he thinks the deserve. August Wilson in “fences” Troy says, “ I love this woman, so much it hurts. I love her so much… I done run out of ways to love her.”(1.1) Wilson uses to show how much Troy actually cares for his wife, to Troy Rose is his everything, she is the light in his darkness, she try’s to guide him back to a sane man. Another Way Wilson shows how much Troy loves his family is when Troy is talking to his family and says that “ You all line up at the door, with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood…”(1.3) Troy is saying that he will give them everything until he has absolutely nothing but the lint from his pockets. He will go out of his way to make
Throughout the play the reader sees how 'fences' are used to protect the characters mentioned. Early on, Rose protects herself by singing, 'Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way' (Wilson 21). By Rose signing this song, one can see Rose's desire for protection. To Rose, a fence is a symbol of her love. Her longing for a fence signifies that Rose represents love and nurturing within a safe environment. However Troy and Cory think the fence is a burden and reluctantly work on finishing Rose's project. Bono indicates to Troy that Rose wants the fence built to protect her loved ones as he says, 'Some people build fences to keep people out' and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you? (61). While reminiscing about the 'project', Bono asks Troy why he 'got to go and get some hard wood' (60) as he says, "Nigger, why you got to go and get some hard wood? You ain't doing nothing but building a little old fence. Get you some soft pine wood. That's all you need" (60). Troy choosing to use hard wood instead of soft pine wood shows the reader that Troy wants hard wood to protect him harder from Death and all of his problems. Although each character in the play interprets the concept of a fence differently, they all see it as some form of protection.