Fences Research Paper

In his play the Fences, August Wilson depicts Troy Maxson as someone who has numerous relationships with his family members. Troy is represented as an aggressive and strong-minded man but has complicated relationships with other members of the family. Eventually, Troy life is that of loneliness and fear as his relationship with his family gets worse. Despite the fact that he constantly tries to escape his life, he also tries to engage it besides challenging death due to his convictions (Amir 14). These convictions are illusionary but his stance cannot be changed by anyone. The influence of a differed dream alongside past experiences shapes Troy’s behavior towards his family, perhaps indicating an internal resentment, and prevents him from moving forward in his life.
When Troy demands that his son Cory respects him, the son complies. Troy feels better and bigger by teasing his sons. Life during the three Fridays interspersed in the play become lonely for Troy. He leads a loveless and friendless life eventually losing respect from members of the family. Essentially, the family members are forced to change their life in a bid to become independent. In talking with his mother, Cory asserts that when he was in his father’s house, he felt that his father’s shadow “…followed [him] everywhere. It weighed on [someone] and sunk it [their] flesh” (Act II/Scene V, p. 1086). This is because Troy eventually forgets his role of being a loving and devoted parent, husband and an inspiring friend. Troy goes ahead to risk joggling between two relationships with his wife and Alberta. In the end, he is depicted as a bench warmer.
In many ways, Troy does not have control over his life and disappointments. His self-doubts are founded in his hardships he has gone through and a disappointing life. His demise is as a result of his actions, bad luck and a racist society. As the play proceeds, one learns that Troy was born in large and poor family. A child, Troy is abused by his father and engaged in petty crimes in order to survive. This crime eventually lands him in jail where he learned how to play baseball but could not play in major leagues because he was black (Gale 23). He seeks employment with the sanitation department in order to support his family. After many years, Troy could still not secure a promotion due to discrimination in the hiring practices.
Troy’s relationship with Alberta, his objection against the union and denial of his son’s promising future represents choices that he makes without interference and all contributes towards his troubled life. In addition to this, he signed the papers that allowed Gabriel to be sent to a mental hospital which is a fateful and dynamic problem. This is because that Troy cannot read hence did not know what the papers contained. His inability to justify his actions and behavior finally get the better of him and his poor choices eventually hurt his relationship with family members and friends (Gale 28). Troy is seen as a protagonist who is disillusioned his entire line by all those he has had a close relationship with. He does not how to treat those around him and his selfishness does not allow others a chance to prove themselves. Besides hitting up against others, Troy is constantly hitting up against himself further complicating his life.
Troy is unable to envision a generation that can be more successful than what he has achieved. He cannot see his son becoming more successful and cannot accept his son’s dream of becoming a footballer. In essence, Troy is chained to his expectations of what one can accomplish. This becomes a source of conflict with those around him particularly his son Cory. Troy is bitter for losing the opportunity to play in major leagues which he idealizes as a symbol of American pride or dream. This makes him fear that by allowing a chance to play football, he will make him to lose the difference of his African American roots. When Rose informed Troy that Cory had been recruited by a college football team, he says that had told Cory “…about that football team. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (Act I/Scene I, p. 1035). This severely destroys his relationship with his son. His sense of responsibility for his family becomes an ultimate responsibility. He is caught between his yearning for freedom, caught up in a relationship with Alberta and a vicious sense of loyalty to his family. Arguably, his sense of responsibility is inherited from his father. Ultimately, he becomes his father and eventually abandons his family for an illegitimate relationship.
Troy’s brother is arguably a symbol of his personal apocalypse. In this context, apocalypse in a sense implies an understanding or a revelation that one’s life will come to an ending eventually. Troy’s struggles with the family and his sense of responsibility remind him the nature of death and his vulnerability. His life is foretold by his brother who holds that Troy’s life is explained in St. Peter’s book although he cannot conceive his mortality. The tragedies that the protagonist endures act a series of death events. He is abandoned by his own father and then he abandons his own son. His lover dies and his life ends (Weber 648). These events suggest to troy that he has no control over life despite his effort s to control others. Tr...