Raynell Character Analysis

Unlike Troy, Rose devoted her life to him, her life was a routine as well but she never cheated on her husband. She was tempted but her love for Troy was bigger than any temptation. Troy was honest about the affair after he found out he was going to be a father again. Troy ruined his relationship with his wife and son after they found out about the affair.

She wanted to keep her family together and in order to accomplish it, she wanted her son Cory and husband Troy to work together on building a fence together so that they would have a father and son bond. She did not accomplish keeping her family together since her husband Troy tells her he had an affair with another woman that he was going to be a father. Also, Troy and Cory did not obtain a chance to finish the fence together since of their constant fights about Cory’s decision on playing sports. Although Rose did not forgive Troy for the affair, she took the responsibility of his daughter. In addition, she let him to not let Cory fulfill his dream of having the scholarship to play football in college. After all, it demonstrates that she was a loyal wife that had a great heart for someone who did not deserve

Six months later, Troy says he is going over to the hospital to see Alberta who went into labor early. Rose tells Troy that Gabriel has been taken away to the asylum because Troy couldn't read the papers and signed him away. Alberta had a baby girl but died during childbirth. Troy challenges Death to come and get him after he builds a fence. Troy brings home his baby, Raynell. Rose takes in Raynell as her own child, but refuses to be dutiful as Troy's wife.

For instance, Rose is portrayed as a matriarch figure that has held the family together. According to Wilson, the extremely figure exhibited by Rose came in a large part from his mother (Wilson 6). Secondly, the fact that a child figure is introduced in the play is aimed at ensuring that maternity can become a central theme in the play. Wilson has presented the audience with the character of a strong maternal figure, Rose, who not only gives birth to Cory, but also plays the role of a supporting wife to her husband, Troy. She appears to handle all the financial matters in the house, even though she is not in any formal employment outside the homestead. She is in charge of all the cooking, shopping, and washing. She constantly monitors Troy’s finances and scolds him like a mother. Thus, Wilson presents a woman whose maternal roles have superseded her marital roles. It is this behavior that could creates the drift between the two and pushes Troy to start an affair with Alberta. If Rose was the submissive stereotypical woman as some critics portray her, it would not be expected of her to accept the child that her husband brings

Rose is unable to fully accept herself or the statements made by her mother throughout the chapter, until she reflects back on her relationship and realizes how her mother predicted this by the condition of the garden taken care of by her husband. She understands her mother finally and stands up to Ted, explaining to him how she was going to fight for everything in the divorce.

Troy thought that he was a good husband to Rose because he provided her with food and a house. He wasn’t a good husband because he didn’t give her love and compassion. These two things are needed in a good marriage. She centered her whole life around him and he gave her almost nothing. When she had a problem, she couldn’t go to him. Troy also wasn’t faithful to Rose. He went off and had an affair with another woman. Rose was heart-broken by this. She couldn’t believe Troy could do this to her. She devoted her life to him and he goes and stabs her in the back. On top of that, Troy had a child with his mistress. The woman died giving birth. Troy asked Rose to take care of the baby. Rose did, what else could she have done? Troy was not a good husband.

According to Sandra G. Shannon, Rose Maxon’s focuses are on “being a wife, mother and homemaker.” (154) Shannon states that Wilson places Rose as a conformed woman by being the nurturer but also demands herself some self-respect. She is loving, supportive, outspoken but inferior to her husband in some ways. Rose is not treated like a second-class citizen but is expected to be understanding and forgiving no matter how small or huge the wrong-doing is. Rose is a mixture of strong because she stayed with Troy even though he had an illegitimate child with another woman. She showed such strength when she took Troy’s daughter as her own to raise and told Troy he was a “womanless man.” She took Troy’s daughter as her own because she told Troy that her daughter is not to blame for her father’s actions. Women’s roles are defined by men still in the 1950s, (155) and she loves Troy enough to accept his flaws up until he confesses having a baby out of wedlock. Women may be forgiving because they know separation/divorce is looked highly down upon and women rely on their husbands financially. Also, women who are alone are less likely to succeed, and will run the risk of constantly meeting worse men. (155) When Troy gives Rose the unexpected news about him becoming a father through another woman, Rose first is in shock; asks why did he wait eighteen years to do that and Rose gets angry. She is in

Troy tries to subject Rose to his misogynist mentality in his belief that Rose should answer his every demand. A part in the play that exemplifies this is when Troy calls upon Rose, when she doesn’t answer him as soon as he intends her to. He says, “You’re suppose to come when I call you woman!”(Wilson 1.4.21). Troys response to Rose not being there immediately during his time of need verifies his expectation of his wife being of service to him.

As Bono says, “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in.” This is why Rose wants the fence to be built. When faced with Troy’s infidelity she gets only a cursory, self-serving response from Troy. It’s hard to decipher why exactly she stays with Troy, but a very simple, valid reason would be that she has no other place to go, and feels a strong responsibility to try and care for her children. Eventually her compassion leads her to make an unspoken ultimatum to Troy: I can either take in this bastard child, or I can take in you. Troy misses this ultimatum and sees the well-being of the child, Raynell, as the only option.

Well come on…I’ll make a batch of biscuits,” (26). Rose steadily tries to be the best mother that she can be for the Maxson family and not just take care of herself. She represents the primary care giver of the Maxson household by cooking for everybody and bringing the whole family in together to eat. “Okay, Troy…you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for you…cause…like you say…she’s innocent…and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time,” (79). By Rose saying and doing this, it just proves how loving and tender hearted she is. Even though Rose is not the child’s mother, she still wants what is best for the baby. “Stop that yelling. You gonna wake up Raynell. I just got her to sleep,” (80). This shows that Rose has fully accepted Raynell as her daughter. Rose does not see Raynell as just Troy’s daughter but also hers too. Rose says, talking about Lyons, “Let the boy have ten dollars, Troy,” (19). This shows how loving and caring Rose acts towards Troy’s son. Rose and Troy clearly do not have enough money to be giving it out, but she encourages Troy to give some to Lyons because she cares about everyone. Rose is a very good hearted person who uses all of her characterisitcs to keep everyone in the family together and keep them in check.

The members of the family that makes the most effort to keep the family level is Troy?s wife, Rose. The narrator tells us that Rose is a gentle woman. She cares a great deal for her family and her husband, despite the challenge of making her home a positive environment under the strains of a man with such impossible qualities. The author explains her reasons for enduring Troy by saying that ? her devotion to him stems from her recognition of the possibilities of her life without him: a succession of abusive men and their babies, a life of partying and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration? (526; I, 1). In light of the fact that Troy is a good man and provides for their family in a way of his duty, Rose loves and supports him and ?either ignores or forgives his faults, only some of which she recognizes? (526; I, 1). Despite his love and respect for his wife, Troy acts extremely disrespectfully towards Rose. Due to the lack of love and respect that Troy was shown as a boy, he does not know feelings to his family. He talks down to his wife as if she were a child, while at the same time he declares his love for her to his friend, Bono. Troy?s fault, however, in declaring his love for his wife and family. He says, ?I love Rose? (555; II, 1), but when the time comes for him to show his love, he only disrespects her. When Rose asks Troy what he and Bono are talking about one

Troy's then made his life revolve around work and his family; he put his dreams of becoming a major league baseball player aside. He went into working and became a garbage man; he realized that he needed a steady income to provide for his family and to purchase the house that they live in. Even in the work place Troy wants to excel and make a stand for himself, talking to the commissioner about being a driver of one of the garbage trucks. Troy argued for blacks to drive the garbage trucks, but he doesn't know how to drive or even have a license. Troy acts out to try and better his black community and to try and break the barrier between whites and blacks. When Troy confronts Rose about his affair with Alberta, Rose becomes very angry with Troy. Rose is a stronger person than Troy, despite what she lets him think. She makes this extremely apparent when Troy tells her about the affair. "All of a sudden it's "we," where was "we" at when you was down there rolling around with some god forsaken woman? "We" should have come to an understanding before you started making a damn fool of yourself. You're a day late and a dollar short when it comes to an understanding with me." Troy realizes that the affair causes much disrespect to his wife and family. One day while visiting his wife Rose, they receive a call at the

Through Troy’s perspective, he sees the fence as a barrier between his enemy known as; death. If death gets through the fence, it would have to come through Troy himself, since he believes that instead of loving his family; protecting them has more worth. It is clear Troy starts to build the fence to keep those who are mistreating his family out; although he himself grows distant. We can infer that Rose and Troy’s perspective of the fence had started to collide. Rose had viewed the fence to keep those she values and cherishes within the fence; while after Troy confesses he is cheating on her with Alberta a division with his family is shown. Division with their family occured due to Troy mistreating Rose and not realizing his mistake sooner. This is to show that Troy’s trait of responsibility reinforces the main symbol. Troy had acknowledged his mistakes resulting in a mental and emotional separation between the couple. “[...] A motherless child had got a hard time…. From right now this child got a mother. But you a womanless man. [...]” (Wilson,122) This confirms that even with the presence of Raynell; Rose will not acknowledge Troy for what he used to mean to her. Further into the play it is revealed that even with this rift, Rose continues to communicate with him to keep order within the house, although emotionally her ties have been severed with Troy.

I think it’s a perfect example of women in the 1950s because after the war, women still found themselves in traditional roles but were slowly breaking out of them. When the men returned from the war, many women wished to keep their jobs but instead became stay at home mothers who were expected to care for the children as well as cook and clean. Many ads and TV shows portrayed the perfect “wife and mother” that women in the 1950s were expected to be. Rose deals with Troy 's nonsense mostly because she feels she has too, and even after Troy cheated on her and had a baby by another woman she took care of the baby. An example of this is when Rose said “I told him if he was not the marrying kind, then move out the way so the marrying kind could find me.” This shows that Troy is unloyal, and Rose was always subject to his wild ways. Especially when Rose insisted on marrying him instead of

and then there is Raynell. She appears at the end of the play, and is the daughter of Troy