Essay about Act one Scene 3 of Fences

It is obvious to the audience that Troy and Cory simply do not get along. The two are constantly bickering, mostly about Cory's dream to play football at the college level. Since playing baseball did not get Troy anywhere, he feels that football will not benefit Cory and that Cory should "get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living" (8). Troy constantly denounces Cory's dream and pressures his son to quit the highschool football team so that he can work at the local grocery store. The verbal abuse of Cory by Troy is enough to make Cory question whether or not his own father even likes him, but it is not until after Troy's affair with Alberta is out in the open that Troy and Cory's unhealthy relationship reaches a whole new level.

On Troy's payday, Bono shows up unexpectedly. Troy and Bono acknowledge how each man made good on his bet about the fence and the refrigerator. Troy insists that Cory leave the house and provide for himself. Cory brings up Troy's recent failings with Rose. Cory points out that the house and property, from which Troy is throwing Cory out, should actually be owned by Gabriel whose government checks paid for most of the mortgage payments. Troy physically attacks Cory. Troy kicks Cory out of the house for good. Cory leaves. Troy swings the baseball bat in the air, taunting Death.

August Wilson’s play, “Fences”, is a play about a father who is trying to make do to support his family as well as come to terms with his boisterous upbringing and the collapse of his Major League Baseball career. The Father, Troy Maxson, resents his son’s painless childhood and chances to pursue a college level football career. In multiple excerpts from the play, Troy brutally lectures his son Cory about life and adulthood. He uses short and incomplete sentences, rhetorical questions, repetition, connections from his past, and current examples to support his claim: life is not about being liked, but being treated with righteousness.

Throughout time there have always been conflicts of morality and injustice. August Wilson wrote this play about issues that were prevalent in the 1950’s but also still are sadly present today. In Fences, there is an abundance of evidence of cultural clashes. In this play these clashes span over racial, generational, and even gender lines and its effects on the characters.

Cory is very aware that his father is envious of his athletic accomplishments. Troy also has no respect for Lyons and he does not support his dream to be a musician.

Almost everyone Troy encounters in the play, he betrays, for example taking away his son's dreams, and locking away his brother. One person Troy betrays is his son, Cory, out of spite and jealousy. Since Troy is Cory’s father he feels he can control his life even if it means hurting Cory, one way he does this is by taking away his dream, “Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can’t play football no more.” (Act 1 Scene 4) Troy knows that this is what Cory wants to do, he wants to play professional football. Due to the fact that Troy’s baseball dream did not come true, he pulled Cory out of football, claiming that it was for his own good when in reality it was out of jealousy. Troy also betrays his brother by locking him in a mental hospital. In the beginning of the play, Troy claims he wants his brother to be free and explains that nobody should be locked up. Then towards the end of the play Rose tells Troy, “I said send him to the hospital, you said let him be free… now you done went down there and signed him to the hospital for half of his money.” Troy claims he wants his brother to be happy but truthfully he wanted half of Gabriel's money, and just did not want to admit it. In order to receive half of the money Troy took away Gabriel's happiness and betrayed

As with most works of literature, the title Fences is more than just a title. It could be initially noted that there is only one physical fence being built by the characters onstage, but what are more important are the ideas that are being kept inside and outside of the fences that are being built by Troy and some of the other characters in Fences. The fence building becomes quite figurative, as Troy tries to fence in his own desires and infidelities. Through this act of trying to contain his desires and hypocrisies one might say, Troy finds himself fenced in, caught between his pragmatic and illusory ideals. On the one side of the fence, Troy creates illusions and embellishments on the truth, talking about how he wrestled with death, his

One of the differences that complicate their relationship is that they have grown up in completely different time periods. A great deal has happened between the times when Troy was growing to the time period that Cory is growing up in. This issue itself causes many other concerns. For instance, Cory is a very talented athlete. He would like to play football in college and would probably receive a scholarship

Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.

After a fight in Act Two, Scene Four, Cory runs away in almost the same manner Troy did it when he was only fourteen years old, where he had a big fight with his own father as well. But the difference between him and Cory is that Cory is not going to end up in jail like Troy did. He goes to the Marine and becomes a military man.

life? These questions reside at the heart of Wilson’s play and illustrate the theme of Fences by

The first time I read August Wilson's Fences for english class, I was angry. I was angry at Troy Maxson, angry at him for having an affair, angry at him for denying his son, Cory, the opportunity for a football scholarship.I kept waiting for Troy to redeem himself in the end of the play, to change his mind about Cory, or to make up with Ruth somehow. I wanted to know why, and I didn't, couldn't understand. I had no intention of writing my research paper on this play, but as the semester continued, and I immersed myself in more literature, Fences was always in the back of my mind, and, more specifically, the character of Troy Maxson. What was Wilson trying to say with this piece? The more that

Troy failed to establish a healthy relationship with his father resulting in a struggle to develop a bond with his own son bringing about a highly dysfunctional relationship and adding to the overall familial unhappiness. These characters consistently fail to reach common ground concerning Cory 's future leading to both verbal, as well as physical altercations. Troy’s own selfishness holds his son back from achieving his dreams as he fears that his son will achieve more than he ever had, and in turn abuses his parental power, holding unrealistic goals for his son, and driving a wedge between them. Troy stated, “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football. I told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living” (Wilson 6). Cory is unable to escape his father 's control and is forced to live his life the way his father intends. Cory is justifiably angered and takes a stand against his father by not attending his funeral to take back his father 's power over him. This specific incident shows just how deeply rooted the conflict between them was and the extent of the dysfunction in their relationship that creates a level of unhappiness for

became a father that Cory never wanted, ultimately leading to Troy’s own demise. While it

Everyone has unique talents and interests. It is because of these interests that people develop their own dreams and aspirations for their future. These dreams may be about career or finding happiness or even about family. There are many hurdles in the path to achieving dreams. In the play, Fences, August Wilson centralizes many conflicts in the plot around each individual character’s pursuit of their dreams and aspirations and the difficulties they face. Although there are many different themes in this play, the main theme concerns the pain and suffering that individuals go through to get a chance to fulfill their dreams and how the characters cope with the failure to achieve their dreams due to various reasons like, racial