A dead giveaway of Troy’s unwillingness to change is seen when Troy says; “I don’t care what nobody else say. I’m the boss...you understand? I’m the boss around here. I do the only saying what counts” (Act 1, Scene 3, 550). In making this statement, Troy shows how everyone else’s opinion is irrelevant to him, the only thought that counts is his own. What he says, goes, and that is final. Although Troy is an authority figure and the head of his household he still needs to be reasonable and willing to hear others opinions. It is impossible to head a happy family without everyone getting to give some input. This would be like trying to run the United States without listening to the people, it doesn’t work. Everyone has a right to …show more content…
A huge contributor to Rose’s character is her push to get the fence built, which is symbolic to keeping the family together. It is a way for her to keep out the bad and protect the good. Mollie O’reilly tells us, “The fence around the yard that Troy is building throughout the play is Rose's idea--an expression of her desire to define and protect what she values. She is a reconciler, determined to hold her family together; she stays on the margins of the men's conversation in the yard and changes the subject whenever she senses danger or discord” (O’reilly). Rose is the opposite of selfish. She is compassionate, caring, and would do anything for her family. Unlike Troy, she cares so much about him and everyone else that she, “took all of my [her] feelings, my [her] wants and needs, my [her] dreams… and buried them inside you [Troy]” (Act 2, Scene 1, 565). She gave up the opportunity of an easy life in exchange for a life of hard work and little play. The only thing she cares about is Troy and the family, she is essentially non-existent in her equation of life. Since Rose is so dedicated to her family, caring for everyone and putting other’s needs above hers, the last thing she would want for Cory is an unfavorable outcome. If she truly didn’t believe he had a shot at creating a better future for himself playing football, she would say
Right before this scene, the reader finds out that the main character, Troy, has died. The Maxson family is getting ready for the funeral, when Cory shows up unexpectedly at the front door. Soon after arriving, Cory tells Rose that he does not want to attend his father’s funeral because this is the one time that he can say no to him. Rose quickly objects and tells him he must honor his father by attending the funeral. In a couple sentences specifically in Rose’s argument, Wilson effectively incorporates personification to assist her in getting her point across to Cory. “You can’t be nobody but who you are, Cory. That shadow wasn’t nothing but you growing into yourself. You either got to grow into it or cut it down to fit you. But that’s all you got to make life with.” Obviously, you are not able to grow into or cut down an actual shadow, but the use of personification here really makes the reader stop and think about what Rose is really trying to say. She needs Cory to know that the shadow of his father will always be lingering over him. However, he either has to fill in the shadow by becoming what his father was or he has to become his own man by cutting the shadow to fit his own personality. The way Rose makes her argument, it seems that she may have had the same thought that Cory had. In other words, I feel that at one point Rose herself questioned whether she should attend the
“Fences” is a play written by August Wilson about a family living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1957. Troy and Rose have been married for 18 years and have two grown children; Lyons and Corey. Troy is an uptight, prideful man who always claims that he does not fear death, the rest of his family is more laxed and more content with their lives than Troy is. As the play progresses the audience learns more about Troy’s checkered past with sharecropping, his lack of education and the time he spent in prison. The audience also learns more about Troy’s love for baseball and the dreams he lost due to racism and segregation. In the middle of the play the author outwardly confirms what the audience has been suspecting; Troy isn’t exactly satisfied with his life. He feels that he does not get to enjoy his life and that his family is nothing more than a responsibility. Getting caught up in this feelings, Troy cheats on Rose with a woman named Alberta and fathers a child with the mistress. By the end of the play Troy loses both of the women and in 1965, finally gets the meeting with death that he had been calling for throughout the play. Over the
...e he ruined his marriage by cheating on her. Rose takes care of Troy’s newborn baby Raynell because she believes that Raynell needs a mother figure in her life and not a worthless man; she then kicks Troy out of the house. After Troy dies, Rose forgives him. Rose married Troy after he was released from prison. Troy knows that he is unsuccessful in accomplishing what he wanted for him and his family. Troy is a garbage man who feels that the white man kept him from doing a lot of things that he wanted to do in life. Troy does not have many goals in life. Troy is in own little world and does not like to be judged.
Troy takes advantage of his brother, Gabriel’s disability money, and eventually ends up being responsible for getting him sent away. He also puts up a fight whenever his oldest son Lyons comes around, refusing to give him money even when Lyons says he will pay Troy back. However, a villain would not care about his family so much, even if the way he shows it is not ideal. Although his relationship with his family is in shambles by the end of the play, he does eventually build the fence for Rose, signifying that he wants to keep her close. If he was a complete villain, he would not have done this. He probably would not have even told Rose about Alberta. He understands what he did was bad, and the fact that he does can allow him to be identified as a tragic hero as well as an antihero. He is still horrible to Cory in the end, and Cory is completely justified for not wanting to attend his father’s funeral. He distinguishes himself from his father, though, being the better man and agreeing to go. The final scene of the play has the gates of Heaven opening for Troy, which means that he was not completely bad after
... 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.
Losing the respect and company of people was one of the few things that caused him to feel some form of remorse for what he did to Rose. However, Troy did nothing to fix the problems he created, except to drink and pretend he was still respected. It becomes especially clear that nobody respects Troy when Cory blatantly says “I ain’t got to say excuse me to you. You don’t count around here no more” (II iv, 85). Although nobody else says it as obviously as Cory, most characters realize Troy’s failure. Even though he may have provided for his family in the physical sense, Troy neglected them a great deal emotionally. This once again proves that Troy is unsuitable to be a proper father for Cory and a respectable husband for
Troy is the type of person that only cares about himself and will only do things that benefit him. He does not care about who hurts while doing it as long as he benefits he is satisfied. When Troy was telling Rose about getting Alberta pregnant his excuse was that he, “just might be able to steal second”(2.1.118). Troy was unsatisfied with still being on “first”. He was tired of Rose and the way his life was he just wanted something different. Troy just wanted to steal second. He did not care about how his actions may affect Rose and his family he just did what would make him happy. Troy has no sympathy for anyone in his life. He knows his actions affect everyone around him negativity but he does not care because it is beneficial to him. Being unsympathetic to the people he supposedly loves also proves why Troy is the villain of this
Troy is a very self-centered individual. He is only concerned with issues regarding him. For instance, he wants to be able to drive the trash trucks at his job like the white men do. In Act One, scene one, Troy tells Bono that he talked to his boss, Mr. Rand, about driving the trucks. “How come you got all the whites driving and the colored lifting?” (1332). If things in Troy’s life aren’t going the way he wants them to, he makes himself into the victim and searches for sympathy from others. In addition, if he ever does something erroneous, he never accepts responsibility, never admits his wrongdoing and no matter how much anguish he causes someone, he never apologizes for it.
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.
time I see him.? The source of this conflict lies in Troy?s experiences and attitude
If you can’t do both… then you quit the football team. You’ve got to take the crookeds with the straights.” (Act 1, Sc 3, Pg 37). Troy ordered to Cory to get his job back, otherwise he would be in trouble. At this point, already, Troy does not agree with Cory to play football, but the situation gets even worse lately.
Troy began to scold his son, but he no longer cared, he no longer thought of Troy as
Rose had been with Troy for 18 years, she had stuck with him through thick and thin. August Wilson never makes her look selfish, we see her as someone who is opened to anyone and would gladly offer help to them. Until she could not handle it anymore, once Troy had told Rose that he got Alberta pregnant. She had enough of it and had explained to Troy that she had dreams as wells and asks him, "Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes?"(1174 Wilson). Here, Rose is expressing to Troy that she wanted other things in her life as well, that he was not the only one that wanted other things in life. Rose had a chance to leave him long ago, however, her devotion and her love to Troy made her not leave him. She had told him that, "I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter. You was my husband. I owed you everything I had. Every part of me I could find to give you"(1147 Wilson). As we can see Rose truly loves Troy in how she explained that she had gave him every part of herself. At the end, she ended up taking care of Troy's daughter, still showing her devotion to him, even after Troy
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
This contrasts with Boldwood’s dialogue which mainly focus around himself, ‘I cannot live without you’, ‘my life is a burden without you’, these two statements show he is subject of the dialogue not her. Troy, however, having been more experienced knows what a woman wants to hear. He thanks Bathsheba ‘for the sight of such a beautiful sight’ when he sees her face.