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
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.
To begin to understand Troy, we must observe the tumultuous relationship between Troy and his father. Troy's father was most likely born into slavery, or at least slavery-like conditions. This means that his father probably never had a true family of his own, as his brothers, sisters, and parents would not have lived together. Troy's father had little experience in having and maintaining a family like atmosphere in their home, and this reflects greatly upon Troy. Unfortunately this was often the case in early African-American culture as the Reconstruction failed to help them from becoming homeless and impoverished. In Act One, Scene Four Troy and Bono begin discussing their fathers “ Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain't cared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn't nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you working. When it come time for eating... he ate first. If there was anything left over, that's what you got. Man would sit down and eat two chickens and give you the wing.” He goes on saying that his father only cared about his job, but he did fe...
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.
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.
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
Rose’s loyalty to her family showed a load amount of strength in character. Even though she was not the mother of the child, who would eventually be named Raynell, she still stepped up to the task, even if it was against what she wanted in life. In the play Fences it states, “Okay Troy.. you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for
... 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.
time I see him.? The source of this conflict lies in Troy?s experiences and attitude
It is like Rose knows exactly what is going to happen in the future
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
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.
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.