Troy's Identity In Fences, By August Wilson

Identity is the fact or being of what a person is. Each person searches for his own identity unique to himself alone. In Fences by August Wilson Troy struggles to find his own identity. While doing so he forces his past self onto Cory and disrupts Cory’s own identity.
The imagery Cory uses to describe Troy indicates the loss of self that Troy has experienced. Rather than using a Troy’s name Cory simply refers to him as that shadow. A shadow is something that doesn’t have a true shape or existence; this indicates that Troy does not have his own identity. This is evidenced earlier in the play when Troy mentions, “She gives me a different idea… a different understanding about myself” (68). Up until that moment Troy is “ standing in the same place for eighteen years” (70). This shows the reader that Cory is so rooted in the same place that he does not have a true form.
In addition, the use of the word crawl indicates the unsteadiness of Troy’s attempt to find himself. Crawling is usually done by babies because they are not fully developed; thus, this indicates that Troy is unsteady in who he is, and when he attempts to himself it is comparable to the actions of a baby. When Cory describes the attempt Troy makes to control

When someone digs something up he is unable to replace everything so that it is exactly how he found it. So, when Troy digs into Cory it is assumed that Cory will never be able to return to his true self. Digging is also a deliberate action, which shows that Troy is purposeful when he tries to change Cory’s identity while his own is lost. This is exhibited when Rose tells Cory, “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t… and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was” (97). Someone’s unique sense of self is lost when he is influenced by someone else’s perception of how they should be. In this way Troy ruined Cory’s identity by digging into