Separation In The Play Fences, By Troy Max Wilson

Troy's lack of commitment to finishing the fence that Rose wants put up represents his lack of commitment in his marriage. He doesn't understand that Rose wants to keep the family close because he never truly had a close family. He becomes a womanless man. “From right now… this child got a mother. But you a womanless man” (79). Troy pushes Lyons away by refusing to hear him play his "Chinese music" (48). He also damages his relationship with his other son, Cory, by preventing him from playing football and rejecting his only chance to get recruited by a college football team. The “fence” also depicts that Troy is disowning Cory when they get into an argument and Troy kicks him out on to the streets. Troy states that Cory’s things will be on “the other side of that fence” (89). As a result, Troy ends up driving everybody away just like his father. The “fence” acts like a physical divider between the Maxson’s household and the outside world because Troy doesn’t bring anything others would normally have into his house and Rose does not want any outsider intruding her family.

August Wilson’s Fences is a play about Troy Maxson, and how his values influence his family’s. The play takes place in 1950’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy Maxson is a black, middle aged man working for a garbage company. Each member of the Maxson family has a special relationship with Troy, that affects their behavior throughout the play. In life you learn the most from your parents. They teach you how to walk, speak, and respect one another. Your parents also give you a set of values for life. As you grow up as your own individual, your values will change from your parents. There will be things that are much more important to you, and not as important to them. In the play Fences Troy Maxson has a very strong set of values that he believes are true in how you should live life. Troy imposes these values on everyone in his family to the best of his ability. Each character in Fences is at a different stage in their life, so Troy can’t push his values onto characters that already have their own beliefs. The character that Troy has the most influence on in the play is Cory. Troy is in Cory’s life throughout his childhood, and as his father Cory must respect Troy. Troy is very firm with Cory, because he wants Cory to be successful. Cory has a dream of becoming a football player, and this does not follow Troy’s values. Troy influences Cory so much that Cory will always be like Troy whether he realizes it or not. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at

Fences written by August Wilson is an award winning drama that depicts an African-America family who lives in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania during the 1950’s. During this time, the Mason’s reveal the struggles working as a garbage man, providing for his family and excepting life as is. The end of segregation began, more opportunities for African American people were accessible. Troy, who’s the father the Cory and husband of Rose has shoes fill as a working African America man. He is the family breadwinner and plays the dominant role in the play. Troy’s childhood was pretty rough growing up on a farm of 11 children. Overtime, he realizes the change of society. He builds a friendship fellow sanitation worker, Jim Bono while in the penitentiary. Troy planned to build a fence around his house to control the number of people on his property. The fence also plays a symbolic role throughout the drama. These motives and characteristics control is what makes Troy the friend, father, worker, and husband he is today.

The theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is the coming of age in the life of a broken black man. Wilson wrote about the black experience in different decades and the struggle that many blacks faced, and that is seen in “Fences” because there are two different generations portrayed in Troy and Cory. Troy plays the part of the protagonist who has been disillusioned throughout his life by everyone he has been close to. He was forced to leave home at an early age because his father beat him so dramatically. Troy never learned how to treat people close to him and he never gave any one a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish. This makes Troy the antagonist in the story because he is not only hitting up against everyone in the play,

Throughout the play, readers see an incomplete fence which symbolizes Rose (Troy’s wife) and Troy’s drifting relationship. Rose wants Troy and Cory to build a fence to keep her loved ones protected. This is evident when Rose is seen singing the church hymn, “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on

     We all lead lives filled with anxiety over certain issues, and with dread of the inevitable day of our death. In this play, Fences which was written by the well known playwright, August Wilson, we have the story of Troy Maxson and his family. Fences is about Troy Maxson, an aggressive man who has on going, imaginary battle with death. His life is based on supporting his family well and making sure they have the comforts that he did not have in his own childhood. Also, influenced by his own abusive childhood, he becomes an abusive father who rules his younger son, Cory?s life based on his own past experiences. When the issue comes up of Cory having a bright future ahead of him if he joins the football team,

Troy Maxson is the main character in August Wilson’s Fences. However, he isn’t like most characters. He has many different faces, or personalities. He shows different traits that make him different things such as the tragic figure, the hero, and even the villain. Troy Maxson’s personality and the way he presents himself changes throughout the play to transform him into completely different people.

Rose not only cares for Troy, but she also cares for Troy’s sons, Lyons and Cory. Rose play the roles of a wife and a mother excellently because she takes good care of Troy, Lyons, and Cory by asking them many times if they were hungry or wanted food throughout the play. Rose also cared for Gabe also known as Gabriel, Troy’s brother, when Troy did not. Troy only kept in touch with Gabe because Gabe was the reason why Troy had a roof over his head. Rose had said, “I done tried to be everything a wife should be. Everything a wife could be” (Wilson 67). This shows that Rose had tried and had fulfilled her role as a wife and a mother in the family, however Rose did not receive the love and respect from the family. Troy failed to treat Rose the way Rose wanted to be treated. Because Rose fulfilled her role as a wife and mother in the family, she believes that the other members in the family should also play their roles in the family, to keep the family together. For example, Troy should not have had an affair with another woman, but he should have been faithful to Rose. Rose wanted to be a perfect wife to Troy, so she cooks for him and takes good care of his

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.

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

Fences by August Wilson is a play that covers the life of Troy Maxson from the 1950s through the mid 1960s. The main character Troy is an aging man who formerly played in the negro leagues and is now working as a garbage man. Troy struggles with racism, taking care of his family and dealing with the reality that times have changed. Maxson is a strong character with very prominent traits displayed throughout the play. He can be described as hardworking, responsible, and troubled. Those traits attest to who he his, how he lives and play a role into his relationships with family and friends.

In the play fences, the main character Troy Maxson is portrayed as a family man that is misunderstood. Despite his actions towards the end of the play, Troy is caring and is a great family man because he wants what best for them, supports them and because of his troubled past. It may seem as if Troy turned bitter and insane as the play goes on, but he is just misunderstood. He knows how to take care of his family and know what’s best for them.

Fences, by August Wilson, is a play about individuals that are reacting to the struggles of the day. In the book, the main character, Troy, wasn't contempt with the life he had, and it led him to committing adultery. Also his son, Lyons, was chasing after a musical career that possibly may never happen. In today's world, we are constantly facing similar issues that the characters in Fences were facing.

In Fences, Troy Maxon builds a fence around his property that contains metaphorical reasons as well as the literal meaning. During a conversation with Troy and Cory, Bono mentions the fence Troy is building for his wife Rose and says “Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you” (61). Bono explains this to Troy because Cory was unable to comprehend why Rose wanted the fence up in the first place. This opens the reader up to the symbolization of the fence itself. The fence allows Rose to keep Troy with her because she has loved him for so many years and does not want to let him go or leave her for another woman. Later, in Act two, Troy, after speaking to Rose about his new baby who he had with his mistress Alberta,

The story “Fences” by August Wilson, shows the struggle that a certain family goes through. This family is the Maxson family, each and every character in this story has a problem they face throughout their life whether it be a problem about money, choices, illness, or even love. The problem that Troy the father faces is that he is not satisfied with his life or love life. When he was younger he tried out for the pro baseball team and did not get in because of his race. Which left him distraught and led to all the problems his family faces. He feels he has more of responsibility than a life that he should be living. This causes him to eventually find another life with another woman. Him doing this causes a big toll on all family members.