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The themes of fences by august wilson
The themes of fences by august wilson
Problems with racism in literature
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The play, Fences by August Wilson describes the life of and African-American family that is economically troubled. Troy, the father of the family, was a baseball player in the Negro League but never made it to the Majors because he grew too old. The story is about the relationship of Troy with his children and wife. He has a son named Lyons who doesn't live with the family, but still begs for money from Troy. Troy's main trouble is with his son Cory. Cory is disobedient to Troy because he wants to become a football player. He gave up his job and school studies to focus on football but Troy does not like this and he kicks him out of the house. During all of this, Troy is dealing with racial prejudice at his work. His boss will not allow anyone …show more content…
to drive the garbage trucks, but after Troy's pleading, his boss allows him to drive a truck, and he becomes the first black man to drive a truck in the entire city of Pittsburgh.
Throughout the play, Troy struggles with such ideals as race, masculinity, and regret. The conflicts in his relationships overpower his ability to balance them any longer. Psychological scarring inflicted by Troy’s father causes Troy to emotionally abuse Cory.
The relationship between Troy and his father was very strained. In the book A Literary Companion Mary Snodgrass describe Troy’s father as “a downtrodden, womanizing sharecropper who didn’t spare the strap”. During the early 1900's sharecropping was another form of slavery; the landlord would only give enough food and/or money to keep the family to tend to the field. A farmer could work his entire life on a farm and still not have enough money to buy it. Knowing that he is still a slave coupled with
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the fact that his wife left him with 11 children to take care of explains why he is so angry. Sandra Shannon author of the book The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson explains how “Black men frequently lash out at their sons” instead of taking their aggression on “emasculating racism” and “economic pressures”. Troy's father would" sit down and eat two chickens and give you the wing" (Wilson 49) and "getting them bales of cotton to Mr.Lubin" (Wilson 50) was all he cared about this gave the children the idea that he did not care much about their well-being. Troy and his ten other siblings were the lightning rod for their father’s somewhat misplaced and excessive anger and frustration, caused by Jim Crow laws and the cost of taking care of 11 children and a farm. This is why the children only see their father’s anger and brutality. This brutality is evident when Troy’s father was” whupping [Troy] like there was no tomorrow” and when he woke up with “Both of [his] eyes swollen (Wilson 51). This event is critical because this is where Troy associates being brutal with being a man. This misguided view of being a man will cause Troy as well as others in his life great pain and suffering. As a result of years of psychological scarring, Troy now treats Cory the same way his father treated him.
Troy wants to be a good father to Cory, but he had a terrible example to look at when he was a teenager. The mistakes That Troy’s father made have manifested themselves in the decisions he makes with Cory. August Wilson and the African-American Odyssey a book written by Kim Pereira explains how Troy has his mind and energy set on “survival” which limits the amount of “parental affection” he can give to his son, Cory. This is the same mentality that Troy’s father had when Troy was growing up. Cory looks up to his father as any teenage boy would do, so when Troy denies Cory the opportunity to play football he transforms his father’s” hard-line advice into personal rejection” (Snodgrass 133). Troy refuses to see Cory's potential because it would mean accepting his own misfortune. His inability to express his reasoning and feelings causes Cory to perceived Troy as cruel. At that point in time, Cory needed his father’s approval but was met with harshness. Troy is trying to spare Core from the pain of racism and discrimination, but he dominates his son the same was Troy’s father had dominated him. Troy’s unwillingness to let Cory live a life Cory envisions, results in a very strained relationship between the two. By attempting to insure Cory of a harmless future, Troy impedes his son's potential and prevents Cory from having a promising future. That leads Cory to resent his
father much the same way Troy resented his father. The lack of affection shown by Troy has shaped many of the decisions made by Cory. Troy joined the Marines thinking that he would have “a career as far removed from his father’s as possible” (Pereira 44), but this is far from the truth. Living with Troy has prepared him in several ways to join the Marines. For Cory’s entire life he has lived with a man who shown little emotion and ordered him around. This is exactly what a Marine drill instructor would do. Troy spent much of his time trying to form Cory into a person Troy though he should be, a drill instructor would try to shape him into a Marine. Troy was Cory’s drill instructor since the day he was born. Cory also picked up his sense of pride and fighting spirit from his father. Marines well are known for their extreme sense of pride and duty. Just as Troy was proud to take care of his family Cory is proud to take care of his country. The most important decision Cory will have to make is will he continue this cycle of abuse with his son. A negative trait that Cory picked up from his father is his inability to forget his past and forgive. Mary Bogumil states in her book Understanding August Wilson that Cory won’t be able to let go of his past until “he is able to forgive Troy for his shortcomings”. If he is unable to do so Cory will have an estranged relationship with his son, just as he did with his father. Psychological scarring caused by fathers has occurred across two generations of Maxson men. Starting with Troy’s father who was angry that his wife left and took his aggressions out on his children. Then with Troy taking his anger out on Cory because his baseball career was taken from him by racism and discrimination. It is up Cory to break this cycle of emotional abuse if not the scarring will continue across another generation.
Troy is the son of an abusive father. His father was hardly around to raise him. When he was around, he made him do chores and if he didn’t do them he would beat him. One time, after Troy tied up the mule, just as his father told him to, he went off to the creek with a girl to “enjoy himself.” The mule got loose, and his father found out. His father came looking for him. When he found them at the creek, he had the leather mule straps; he started to beat Troy. Troy was naturally scared so he ran away. He looked back at his father and realized that his father didn’t care about beating him, he just wanted the girl. Troy came back; he ripped the straps out of his father’s hand. He then started to beat his father with them. His father, not afraid of Troy, beat up Troy. Troy was left there, his eyes were swelled shut. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t go back to his father’s house, so he went to another town 200 miles away. This is when Troy became a man at the age of 14.
Throughout the play, pieces of Troy’s background are exposed to the reader. It quickly becomes clear that he was a talented baseball player who could have played professionally if not for the color of his skin. Instead of going on to a successful baseball career, Troy was forced to move on with his life and settle down as a garbage man. Although this is not what he truly wants in his life, it provides stability for him and his family. Similarly to his father, Troy’s son, Cory, is a talented football player who is being scouted for college. However, instead of encouraging him, Troy constantly scolds him, telling him he has to find a ‘real job;’ Troy even tells the scout to leave. This is ultimately because of his jealousy towards Cory’s success in sports, and the fact that Cory possesses the life Troy dreamed of. Many feuds and disagreements are born between the father and son because of their different views.
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.
Wilson uses many symbols in the play to depict oppression. The primary symbol used is racism. Troy files a complaint to the Commissioner’s office against the Sanitation Department in reference to white men are the only men driving trucks. This complaint gets Troy promoted and he also becomes the first African American to drive a sanitation truck. Racism and segregation also play a major factor in Troy’s dream to be a professional baseball player in the Major Leagues. Since he is African American, he could only play in Negro League baseball. This defeat in his life now affects Troy’s son, Cory. Cory has an opportunity for a college education by be...
We all lead lives filled with anxiety over certain issues, and with dread of the inevitable day of our death. In this play, Fences which was written by the well known playwright, August Wilson, we have the story of Troy Maxson and his family. Fences is about Troy Maxson, an aggressive man who has on going, imaginary battle with death. His life is based on supporting his family well and making sure they have the comforts that he did not have in his own childhood. Also, influenced by his own abusive childhood, he becomes an abusive father who rules his younger son, Cory?s life based on his own past experiences. When the issue comes up of Cory having a bright future ahead of him if he joins the football team, Troy refuses to allow him. The root of this decision lies in his own experience of not being allowed to join the baseball team due to the racial prejudices of his time. He does not realize that times have changed and because of his own past, he ruins his son?s life too. His wife, Rose, also plays a big part in the way the story develops. Troy has an affair with another woman called Alberta. When Rose finds out about the affair, she is devastated. In this situation we find out what her own hopes and dreams were. All she wanted was a happy home and family life because of her unstable past. The theme of this story is how a black family, in the late fifties to early sixties, faces the problems that many families are faced with, but in their own...
... does tell the truth. He talks truthfully about his father and how he is a lot like him. He also admits that the only difference with him and his father is that he does not beat his children. Troy provided for his family. Additionally, even though he was very tough on Cory, he admitted that he was responsible for taking care of him and the rest of the family. In Act One, scene three, Troy explains to Cory why he treats him the way he does. Cory asks, “How come you ain’t never liked me?” (1346). Troy can’t admit to like his own son, so points out that he doesn’t have to like him in order to provide for him. “[…] ‘Cause it’s my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! […] I ain’t got to like you” (1347). Deep down, somewhere in the dark abyss that is Troy’s heart, he sincerely cares about his family. He just has a very different way of articulating it.
Perhaps the most important and fulfilling relationship a man can be involved in is one with his own flesh and blood. At the beginning of the play, we learn that Troy has two sons, Lyons and Cory. Lyons is Troy's son by a previous marriage and Cory is Troy's son by his current marriage. Neither Lyons nor Cory share a close relationship with their father and Troy is mostly to blame for that.
Even though Troy does not physically abuse his children like his father did to him, he verbally abuses them. He treats Cory very callously and unjustly. In a way, Troy is taking out his frustrations of having an unsuccessful baseball career by not allowing Cory to pursue his dream to play football. Troy crushed Cory’s dream. In Act One, scene four, Cory expresses his misery. “Why you wanna do that to me? That w...
Troy has a right to be angry, but to whom he takes his anger on is questionable. He regularly gets fed up with his sons, Lyons and Cory, for no good reason. Troy disapproves of Lyons’ musical goals and Cory’s football ambitions to the point where the reader can notice Troy’s illogical way of releasing his displeasure. Frank Rich’s 1985 review of Fences in the New York Times argues that Troy’s constant anger is not irrational, but expected. Although Troy’s antagonism is misdirected, Rich is correct when he observes that Troy’s endless anger is warranted because Troy experiences an extremely difficult life, facing racism, jail, and poverty.
Though Troy's actions toward his children are harsh and unfair, but this is not all Troy's fault. He was raised in a time when jazz music and African-Americans playing on professional sports teams just didn't happen. He was a product of his era just as his father before him. Parents can only raise their children the best way they know how, and for Troy this was all he had. As Troy told Cory “Who the hell say I got to like you?”, parents aren't forced to like their children. Sadly, Cory resented his father even after his death. We are all children, and we must learn not to resent our parents because of their actions, but to accept them and understand why they are the way they are. (Wilson 1304).
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.
family living in the twentieth century. This conflict involves Troy trying to live his life through his sons, Lyans and Cory, while trying to keep them from making the same
In the end Troy died living behind a trail of animosity between him and his family. In my opinion his story is that of a tragic hero. He began being loved and praised by his family but eventually and gradually, he began to succumb to the weight of racism. It can be said that the effects of racism finally took the better of Troy, and consequentially it ruled his life. Like his fictional stories, death finally took him.
"Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain't cared nothing about no kids.” (50). Troy and Cory have a misunderstanding on what to do for Cory’s next step in his life for college. Troy wants Cory to stop playing football so he can just have the job and be at school. Troy does not want Cory to have any other distraction from the two. Cory is being recruited by a college, everyone in the house is happy for him except his father. The relationship between Troy and Cory is bitter and stressed mostly because Troy is trying to treat Cory the same way he was treated by white people in sports and how he was treated by his father. Troy feels that Cory is disobeying his rules or what he tells him not to do which is to stop playing football. Which counted as strike one. Strikes were warning of disobeying rules told by Troy. If someone gets three strikes from Troy, they will be removed from the house. Life for Troy as a kid was a struggle, living on a farm with ten siblings and a father who barely cares for his kids. His father just wanted his kids to learn how to walk so they can get the working and help around the farmhouse. Before Troy even thinks about leaving his home as a fourteen-year-old, his mother already left because she did not feel comfortable around Troy’s father “evilness”. So, once she left that influence Troy to think about leaving his home which he did because his father kicked him out the
August Wilson’s Fences was centered on the life of Troy Maxson, an African American man full of bitterness towards the world because of the cards he was dealt in life amidst the 1950’s. In the play Troy was raised by an unloving and abusive father, when he wanted to become a Major League Baseball player he was rejected because of his race. Troy even served time in prison because he was impoverished and needed money so he robbed a bank and ended up killing a man. Troy’s life was anything but easy. In the play Troy and his son Cory were told to build a fence around their home by Rose. It is common knowledge that fences are used in one of two ways: to keep things outside or to keep things inside. In the same way that fences are used to keep things inside or outside Troy used the fence he was building to keep out death, his family, and his disappointments in life while Rose used the fence to keep those she cared about inside and help them bond.