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How is fences conflicted between troy and family
Analyze troys character in the play fences
How is fences conflicted between troy and family
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The title of this play is called Fences, not fence. The reason fences are plural in the title is because a fence is used more than once throughout the play. A fence is a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to mark a boundary, control access, or prevent escape (Google). Through out the play, Troy is the main one building the fences. Each fence being built has it’s own effect on the characters and it can be a good or bad one. For instance, Rose wants for Troy to build her a fence around the house. Her purpose for the fence is to keep her loved ones home, where it is safe. The fence that Rose has Troy build affects everyone who lives in the household. She is trying to keep her family together, with no one straying away. Bono tells Troy in Act II Scene 1, page 2093, that he should go and get some pine wood, which is soft, to build the fence. Troy responds by telling him that the pine wood is indoor wood and he needs outdoor wood to build the fence that is going outdoors. This is important to the building of the fence because it shows how steady this fence needs to be and foreshadows how steady it actually becomes in the future. …show more content…
This fence being built affects their father and son relationship. Troy is trying to fence out Cory’s dream of becoming a football player. The reason he is building this fence is because he had that same dream, in baseball, and it didn’t get him nowhere. However, at the time when Troy was trying to chase his dream, of becoming a baseball player, racism still played a big part in things. Troy constantly tries to tell Cory that football isn’t going to offer him nothing because of the color of his skin. Troy is the type of parent to hold his children back because of his own failure, regardless of how great of a chance their child have at making
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 in an insensitive and uncaring manner towards his wife, Rose, his brother, Gabriel and his son, Cory. At the beginning of the story, Troy feels he has done right by them. He feels this throughout the story. He doesn’t realize how much he has hurt them.
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.
Fences was published in 1983 but the setting was the 1950s in August Wilsons home town. Wilson’s main purpose of this play is to show how the separation of humans into racial groups can create social and finance instability and can have a huge effect on African Americans and whites. The 1950s was the middle of the civil rights era. The Maxsons Family is African American, In the 1950s there was not many jobs for African Americans; most people believed that this is what pushed Troy to steal things in order to provide for his family. Troy went to prison for murder and when he got out he was determined to do good deeds and to turn his life around; shortly after he got out of prison he got a job as a Garbage man. Troy is a tragic figure and a villain; he is a tragic figure because he made great effort to do good deeds for his family, but he allowed his imperfections to get in his way which led to a horrible death. Troy is a villain because of what he did to his wife Rose. (Shmoop; Editorial Team)
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 the play Fences, by August Wilson, the main character, Troy Maxson is involved in numerous relationships with family members throughout the entire eight years that the story takes place. Troy is a father, husband, and brother to other characters in the play. Unfortunately for Troy, a strong-minded and aggressive man, he constantly complicates the relationships with his family members. Troy's hurtful actions and words make it nearly impossible for him to sustain healthy relationships with not only his two sons, but also his wife and brother.
August Wilson brings out the struggle of Troy Maxson in his play, Fences. All those that matter to him end up feeling this struggle, for it remains constantly inside of him. As it overcomes Troy the respect and love that he was previously given dwindles to nothing. Troy’s actions and failure to fix them makes his true character known. Troy Maxson’s flawed nature is shown when he fails his family by giving way to his selfishness and the traits of his father.
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.
...in character of “Fences,” fights to be a father with nothing to go on but the harsh example set by his own father, which resembles a symbolic fence separating the relationship between father and son. There is also Troy's son, Cory, a boy becoming a man, coming of age under Troy's sovereignty. The play shows that no matter how old you are, you're constantly measuring yourself against the example set by your parents. Even if the reader’s family is nothing like the Maxsons, one may possibly connect with this basic human struggle.
This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play, but he is also hitting up against himself and ultimately making his life more complicated. The discrimination that Troy faced while playing baseball and the torment he endures as a child shaped him into one of the most dynamic characters in literary history. The central conflict is the relationship between Troy and Cory. The two of them have conflicting views about Cory’s future and, as the play goes on, this rocky relationship crumbles because Troy will not let Cory play collegiate football. The relationship becomes even more destructive when Troy admits to his relationship with Alberta and he admits Gabriel to a mental institution by accident.
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...
In addition, Rose uses the fence, symbolically, to keep Troy in because she wants to keep him close and unknowingly to keep him away from his mistress, Alberta, whom she, (Rose), doesn’t find about until Act 2, Scene 1 of the play. On the contrary, Troy, symbolically, wants to keep people out with the fence. In the play, Troy uses the fence as a way to keep Cory out, this is directly after...
The scene starts off with Troy and Cory building the fence. Then Cory leads his father into a conversation about being recruited for football and Troy refuses to give Cory permission to play college football, “Troy: I don’t care where he is coming from. The white man ain’t gonna let you nowhere with that football no way. You go on and get you book-learning so you can work yourself up that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can’t nobody take away from you. You go on and learn how to put your hands to some good use. Besides hualing people’s garbage.” (Wilson 35). Troy’s only justification for why Cory is not allowed to play college football is his own beliefs that having a job that allows fair trade in currency is more beneficial than false promises of success coming from a white man. Troy uses the excuse of Cory acquiring a job over football because he does not want to see Cory succeed where he could not himself in the Major Leagues. Additionally,
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...
With this language, Wilson creates the imagery of Troy; and the hyperbolic language depicts and establishes Troy’s character. The legacy of the “sins of the father” passed onto the sons, racism, and baseball seems to be the central themes. The illusion of realism for Troy and baseball is a ball made of rags and a baseball bat that leans against the tree. Troy and Rose’s house has a small dirt yard and is partially fenced. This fence in the play is viewed by the characters as many things. Such as major conflict, survival, personality, anger and identity issues that each person has experienced. However, the fence symbolizes Troy’s bitterness and all the barriers that he created mentally and physically for himself, separation of family, friends, and Mr. Death’s foreshadow. Troy has neglected and destroyed relationships with his family and refuses to accept that change has occurred in the world. His main conflict is within himself. He wrestled with Death when he had pneumonia; survived an abusive father and deplorable living conditions in Pittsburgh, and jail. “His own name, Troy, is a metaphor for the defensive wall erected against the Athenians in the Trojan War. He wants to stay on the other side of his fence and challenges death in any conflict or situation he does not understand. This is evident with Cory leaving and Alberta dying in
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.