Troy in “Fence” by August Wilson, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The play is set in the South in a small neighborhood, the main characters who are African Americans at a time before the civil rights movement struggle to achieve the American dream. It portrays a disintegrated family relationship due to the intense struggles of life.

Troy the main character seems to have a complicated relationship with other characters especially his son Cory whom he denies the opportunity for a football career. Troy is an hypocritical character because he successfully tricks his friend Bono and wife Rose into believing that he lives in a fictitious world. At the beginning of the play he entertains Bono and Rose with an epic story about the struggle with a personified death which at the end turns out to be his tragic destiny. He also happens to have an extra-marital affair with another woman in the name of Alberta all at his wife’s back. This portrays his hypocrisy because even his best friend Bono is not aware of the relationship. He lives in self created illusions which seem to complicate the manner in which everyone around him relates to him.

Troy is rigid in his believes a character which greatly affects his family relations in the play, we encounter him being seriously opposed to his wife Rose’s habit of playing the numbers. This depicts him as a person who is neither accommodative nor tolerant to other people’s likes. He goes on and aggressively denies his daughter Lyon the pleasure of being a musician; as such her father castigates her dream. Troy is also totally opposed to her sons decision to play football in college all this actions put him in conflict with his family relations. To the family Troy’s behavior is symbolic to the play’s title “fences’ because he has used his power as a father and husband to deny them the freedom of deciding their destinies. Troy who is a garbage collector is opposed to the way the blacks are treated by their employers; he acknowledges that the idea of limiting black workers to being lifters on trash trucks and not being truck drivers is utter racism. Due to his ever opposed view he finds life unfair and mistreating.

Troy’s good natured character helps us understand the plight and torture of the black society in the American South as well as their search for a true identity, this is revealed by the songs sung and stories told by Troy. They reflect upon the traditional role of song and story in the African cultures a true revelation of the roots of the black family as well as their past generations. Troy has a kind and loving wife who is concern about her family welfare. She accepts to nurture Raynell Alberta’s son without protest an act which exposes her as a dutiful wife. Troy is always at war with Cory and every time they confront each other he brands him an insubordinate son act 1 he tells him that that is stoke on for defending his mother during a struggle between the two of them.

The struggle between the two leads to family disintegration because Cory is thrown out of the house by Troy as he goes to seek a home in the marines. Despite the predicament Cory suffers in the hands of his father, Cory travels home ate the news of his death. He dreads attending the funeral but his mother warns him that he should attend his father’s funeral because failing to do so does not make him a man. Troy actually represents the black family in America and the daily struggles that they go through to make a living. Racism shattered his dream of becoming a successful base ball player since blacks were not admitted into major leagues early enough by the time they started being admitted he was too old to play. He is keen to meet with his friends on the pay day over a drink to socialize and share his frustrations because he recognizes that despite the challenges he has to live on. His tragic death is saddening because he leaves the issue of inheritance unmentioned a scenario likely to cause conflicts.

Conclusion

Troy is a strong and decisive character portrayed as a fighter. He decides to question his employer the sanitation company regardless of the fact that the move could earn him an easy sack from the job. He says in pp 2 act 1 scene 1 ‘ I ain’t worried about them firing me…they wanna come up with a pack of lies.’ He is determined to rule his family and therefore everyone is tied to think his way. The way he lives leaves no doubt that he does not care so much about what other people do or say. The fence he constructs mean that he shuts other people out of his family and avoid ant meddling in his affairs.