Fences is a story by Austin Wilson entangled with various conflicts adjoining an African American family living in Pennsylvania in 1957. In the text, the focus of conflict is purported to be the head of the family and the main character Maxson Troy. The outstanding conflict used in the text to bring forward other elements of the story is Troy's conflict versus the family. Maxson Troy's conflicts emerged from his son Lyons from the previous relationship, Bono, his ally, Rose, his wife, and their son Cory. Each conflict from these family members that arise in the text plays a significant role in creating Troy's family structure and also lending a hand in addressing the external and internal conflicts brought out in the text. Thus, Wilson uses Troy and the family's conflict to explore the topics of dissatisfaction, emerging opportunities, and aspirations for African Americans.
From the text, Maxson Troy is living in a cohort where there are inadequate chances for African American individuals. Despite the limited opportunities, Maxson Troy believes that struggle is the only mechanism to survive, and the only way to do it to support the family. In the text, Maxson Troy's conflicts arise when he tries to impose his beliefs and views on the family members and demands them to view the world through his perspective. This act is according to the narrative by Suddeath et al. (2017), which states that problems are generated by the client’s wider view on cultural discourse and stories.
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In the story, from the first encounter, the relationship between Lyons and Maxson Troy is adversely stressed due to the variance in outlook adopted by the two characters. The difference in outlook is brought out by the fact that Maxson Troy and Lyons were brought up in two different generations. Maxson Troy was brought up in a generation where the African Americans were treated poorly when compared to the Native Americans. On the other hand, Lyons was brought up in a generation where there are many chances for African Americans. Also, Lyons is musically struggling with his belief that his music gives him a sense of fitting ( Wilson, 2016 ). Further, the gap between the father-son relationship is widened by Maxson Troy, believing that Lyon's optimism is blindness and thus creating a barrier in his relationship with his son to an extend of pushing him away. Also, the strained relationship between Maxson Troy and Lyons arises from the underlying fact that Maxson Troy was incarcerated for the first fifteen years of Lyon's life. Maxson Troy imprisonment led to Lyon mentioning in the text that Maxson Troy did not take part in raising him. The attitude developed by Maxson Troy towards his son is adversely out of protection and thus the reason why Lyons does not want to reconnect with his dad, Maxson Troy.
The other aspect of Maxson Troy conflict versus family is brought out in the text when Maxson Troy gets out of the prison and meets Rose, who later became his wife. As the story unveils in the text, Rose displays an outstanding character of comparison and understanding to Maxson Troy and other characters in the story. Rose puts her faith, time, and efforts in ensuring that Maxson Troy and their son Cory are doing well. However, her efforts are stunted upon Maxson Troy, revealing to her that he has sired a son by the name Raynell with her secret lover, Alberta. After Maxson Troy revealing the secret to his wife, their relationship instantly changed to almost a point of emotional cut-off. The fading relationship between Maxson Troy and his wife Rose is following Corbin (2017), who claims that two people in a relationship go through circles of distance and closeness.
Despite Maxson Troy explaining his secret affair with Alberta occurring because he wanted to escape anxiety and stress that had to govern his life, Rose, stand for herself and realizes the time that she had wasted living with Maxson Troy. The conflict between Maxson Troy and Rosa is enhanced when Alberta, Raynell's mother, dies, and Maxson Troy insists Rose to adopt Raynell as her own. The birth of Raynell weakened the relationship amid Maxson Troy and Rosa, leading to emotional cut-off. Despite the threatened relationship, Rosa gathers her strength amidst the conflict and develops a strong bond with Raynell ( Wilson, 2016 ). In the story, Rose finds her real self again by giving up her strength for Maxson Troy to recollect his strength.
The other Maxson Troy conflict versus family is the conflict between him and his son Cory, who is about 17 and has a greater passion for football when the story begins. In the story, a glimpse of Maxson Troy and Cony's relationship can be identified from the first encounter because Maxson Troy's childrearing style is severe, whereas Cory is indeed submissive. Earlier as the story continues to unveil, Maxson Troy is seen educating Cory the importance of being responsible, but his childrearing and communication are tough, making Cory lose the information.
The conflict between Maxson Troy and Cory developed when Cony needs to play soccer to acquire scholarships. Cory's ambitions are discouraged by Maxson Troy, who considers that Cory should work hard and play soccer as a leisure pursuit. Maxson’s prior unsuccessful involvement in playing baseball made him have a belief that Cory should be a successful soccer player, but again Maxson Troy is attempting to protect his son from being wounded. Despite Maxson Troy's actions being good, he goes further and damages the good actions by pushing Cory away; although Cory tries to reconnect with his dad, getting pushed away led to a total disconnection making Cory reluctant in wanting to attend Maxson Troy's funeral.
Although, as the discussed conflicts, it is significant to highlight Maxson Troy's conflict with his close friend Bono. Maxson Troy and Bono met while in prison during Maxson Troy's baseball playing times ( Wilson, 2016 ). Despite Bono admiring Maxson Troy's logic of leadership and responsivity, he quickly changed his friendship feeling and generated concern on Maxson Troy's marriage. Maxson Troy and Bono soon bump heads on infidelity, and indeed Bono's thoughts and morals affected the close relationship between him and Troy. Towards the end of the story, Bono stopped checking on Maxson Troy, and their friendship became distant.
Indeed, Maxson Troy's conflict versus the family drives forward all the elements of the Fences story. For instance, Maxson Troy had a conflict with Lyons when he wanted Lyons to perceive the world through his perspective, yet the two were brought up into different generations. Also, Maxson Troy had a conflict with his wife, Rose, after revealing that he had sired a child with his secret lover. Finally, Maxson Troy had a conflict with his son Cory because Cory wanted to acquire a scholarship by playing football, whereas his dad stunted his ambitions.
References
Corbin, S. F. (2017). Keeping Your Friends Close: Perceived Distance as a Function of Psychological Closeness (Doctoral dissertation, University of Dayton). https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=dayton1497502217239512&disposition=inline
Suddeath, E. G., Kerwin, A. K., & Dugger, S. M. (2017). Narrative family therapy: Practical techniques for more effective work with couples and families. Journal of Mental Health Counseling , 39 (2), 116-131. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.39.2.03
Wilson, A. (2016). Fences: a play (Vol. 6). Penguin.
