Troy would be viewed as a tragic figure in the play because he tries to do good by teaching life lessons in the play, but he failed to demonstrate some of them that which tampers with his relationships throughout Fences .Troy teaches Lyons responsibility by showing him the influence his dad. Troy displays his idea of people should do right by you when he chooses to shop at Bella’s instead of the A and P which is cheaper. Also, he fails to demonstrate it by doing wrong by Bono and Rose when he had an affair with Alberta. Troy tries to teach Cory that he should focus on getting a real job because it is very likely that football won’t work out, that is why Troy gets mad that Cory lied about his job and tells Cory’s coach he can’t play anymore.
His belief in that idea is that because of his past bad experience playing baseball in the Negro
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Troy tells Lyons how troy’s father wasn’t the best dad and really didn’t care but those kids were his so he stayed. (pg 50 & 51) Troy afterward follows up with telling him to get a job. He tells him that he shouldn’t be living off Bonnie. He wants the best for Lyons because he wasn’t necessarily in Lyons life because he was in jail. But now he wants Lyons to do good and get a good to provide for himself. Troy tells him that to show responsibility. He does good demonstrating responsibility with Cory and Lyons but fails at demonstrating his motto “people doing right by you”. (pg.7)
He fails with doing right by people. First, he fails to do right by rose. He cheats on her with Alberta and gets Alberta pregnant. (pg.66) He has been with Rose for eighteen years and now he wants to cheat. He didn’t do right by Rose because she says “Don’t you think I ever wanted other things?”(pg.70). She wanted to experience other things too but she didn’t. She did right him and he failed to do right by her. Just like how he failed to not be
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...
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.
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.
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.
The protagonist of Fences, Troy Maxson is a hard working garbage man who believes in working hard to support his family. He ultimately wants his wife Rose and his son Cory to live a happy and blissful life. Troy also cares for his best friend Bono who works alongside with Troy. At first glance, readers might get the sense that Troy is an average working man with an ordinary American dream. However, Troy is more than that. He is in fact a complicated character with an array of emotions and thoughts.
Later Troy and Cory get into a big argument in the front yard and Troy kicks Cory out of the house and looses his son’s respect. In the last scene Troy dies and is sent to heaven with Gabriel’s trumpet, he is forgiven and is redeemed as a flawed hero. In August Wilson’s “Fences” Troy is viewed as a tragic hero, to be a tragic hero one must have dignity, something to fight for, and a downfall, Troy is the perfect example of a tragic hero because he possess all three of these qualities.
This inability to change diversely affects Troy's relationship with his second son, Cory, who is a promising athlete. Sports provide the arena for the continuing conflict and foreshadows the characteristic that will eventually lead to Troy's downfall. There is a constant struggle between Troy and Cory because Troy will not allow his son to pursue his athletic dreams, telling him instead to keep his after-school job. This stems from Troy's past, when he was a promising baseball player who was prevented from playing because he was black. Troy's fears carry into the new generation when he prevents his son from pursuing a football scholarship because of his past, even though the world was changing at this time, and colored people were expanding into...
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.
He could have easily stayed away from messing around with Alberta, especially after Bono warned him that he knew, and the way he treated Cory was wrong so their relationship was a failure before he was even a factor in the family, all because he felt robbed of his dream. Troy felt a since of entitlement to bring others down with him because of his past, and Cory just happened to get it the worst, he was being stripped of his dream all because his father was stripped of his. The fence here symbolizes the discontent in his own
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
Throughout the play Fences, by August Wilson, we are introduced to several of the Troy Maxson's family members. We soon learn that because of Troy's personality traits, he is unable to sustain a healthy relationship. Troy is a father, a husband, and a brother, and unfortunately, he makes it impossible for any of those numerous relationships to thrive.
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’s father was a horrible person and when he was 14 his father raped a girl. Troy became a man at a young age because he knew he could not listen or respect a man who could do such a horrible thing. Manhood to Troy was separating from his father. Troy inherited the characteristics of self-responsibility at this young age. Even though Troy does not have much to do with his kids he does care and is there for them at all times financially he was a very responsible parent. In the play Fences the cast is prominently all black characters the only exception was the white boss. This is what August Wilson was striving for. According to Theater and Race, “ August Wilson advocated for color-conscious casting practices in addition to the expansion of opportunities for minoritized authors”. While troy was young the oppoturinties given to him was very little. However, for Cory growing up later in life is now given an expansion of opportunites. Cory can now play professional sports with out being discriminated because of his
...tween Troy and his youngest son, Cory. August Wilson’s play, Fences, is ultimately about the conflict between a father and his son because they come for two totally different generations. Troy refuses to see life from the perspective of his son in a world that has changed since he was younger. . Cory cannot easily embrace his father’s views on the society they live in either. Another conflict arises between the two of them when Troy tells Cory’s coach that he can no longer play football. He did not get a chance to continue his career in sports, so he feels that his son cannot do that as well. Troy is afraid that his son will be better than he was, and Cory knows this. In fact, he states it in the play saying “You just afraid I’m gonna be better than you, that’s all” (1. 4. 372). These two characters have a deep rooted conflict that has no sign of ever being solved.
Even though it took Troy forever to finish the fence it, “becomes a gauge for his life, during which he experiences both literal and figurative incarceration. He is fenced off from society during a lengthy prison term; he is fenced out of the Major Leagues because of racial segregation; and after he initiates the breakup of his family, he is fenced out of his own home as well as out of the hearts of Rose and Cory” (Shannon 203-04). A fence usually means protection, but Troy got the negative connotation related to being shut out. He was so set in his ways, that his family didn’t see eye to eye and by society not accepting him, and proving he is worthy wasn’t enough he just stops fighting eventually but leaves with a legacy. He never gave up and spread his word of wisdom, even though people didn’t want to listen. He gave in to death, giving his power to turn his property into the visible recognition of his human properties, such that his responsibilities to his family, his athletic prowess, and his physical presence confirm his ability to confront Death- and hence construct his life- on his own terms. (210) Troy never had anyone tell him what to do after his father’s strict ways. He shaped his life based off how he was treated. He didn’t want to be walked on anymore; by setting standards for yourself keeps you centered. Troy isnt perfect, no one is but we show