In the play, Fences, August Wilson uses the conflict of Troy vs. family to drive the other conflicts and elements of the story as evidenced by the strong disagreements and confrontations he had with his sons, Cory, and Lyons, brother, Gabriel, as well as with his wife, Rose. The fence, that Troy built was symbolic; while Rose wanted to keep his family closer, Troy wanted to use it as a barrier to lock out his family from exploring their true potential, while stating his own terms. Besides, Troy wanted to be granted the freedom to do whatever he wanted, but never extended the same freedom to the other members of the family.
The most prominent conflict in the play is between Troy, and his son Cory. When Troy and Cory engage in a conversation for the very first time in the story, there is a complete contrast in their ideologies (Wilson, 1985). There is evidently a fence that separates them. Cory represents the modern generation, while Troy seemingly still lives in the past. Cory tells his father to buy a television because almost everybody in the neighborhood had one. To Cory, a television was a true mark of modernity, and he wanted their family to be also part of the changing times. On the contrary, Troy thought his son was not very serious with life, because to him, there were better things on which to spend money. For example, the roof needed urgent repair, and there was no point of spending a whooping two hundred dollars on luxuries, when basic needs had not been met.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Troy did not believe that things were changing in the country. His past experiences made him bitter with white people, and that same attitude exacerbated the conflict between him and his son. Tory had been a good baseball player during his time, but there had been too much racial discrimination; people of color were not absorbed into professional teams. However, times had changed and people of color were now being recruited to play in leagues. The same beliefs were barriers to Cory’s progress, who seemed talented, and was about to be recruited. Tory had been disappointed during his time and believed that men had to find jobs to raise their families and support their wives.
Lyons must have found his father too unsupportive. Lyons liked music so much and wanted to forge a career in the music industry but Troy labeled his style of music as noise. Even after Lyons begged him to watch him play at the gallery, Troy insisted that members of Lyons band were thugs, and wanted Lyons to find a meaningful job to do. Secondly, Troy formed a barrier between himself and Lyons by trying to dismiss him each time he visited them. He thought Lyons only wanted to beg money from him, hence probably scared him to talk about other subjects. Obviously, it would become difficult to approach someone like Troy for help because he always judged before he listened to what people had to say.
The question, “are you mad at me?” by Gabriel each time he visited Troy and Rose shows there was a fence between him, and his brother, Troy. Although Gabriel had almost lost his mind after getting head injuries while serving in the army, he knew his brother did not want to talk to him much. In fact, they did not hold any meaningful conversations because Troy would reply only casually. The reason for the conflict was that Troy had wanted Gabriel to stay with him, probably to benefit from Gabriel’s pension. However, Gabriel had wanted more freedom, and consequently had moved out to settle with Miss Pearl.
An element of selfishness emerges in the relationship between Troy and his wife, Rose. Troy, probably from his relationship with his late father thought women were disposable (Dyah, 2017). Troy had had conflicts with his father, compelling him to leave home when he was only fourteen. His mother had escaped his father because of mistreatment, and it is also likely that Troy expected Rose to get tired of their relationship and abandon him. However, Rose held onto the relationship, and Troy thought Rose was denying him too much freedom. He thought staying in marriage for eighteen years with the same women was too much to give. He had to find another woman, Alberta. August Wilson’s creation of the character of Bono was deliberate; to act as a voice of reason. Bono at one point explained to Troy the symbolic meaning of the fence he was building; that Rose was trying to hold the family together, and wanted to keep Troy close to her. She loved him, and the only thing Troy needed to do was to give her all the attention she deserved and to avoid betraying her.
Summarily, the greatest lesson August Wilson intended readers of the play to deduce was that constructing barriers along other people’s paths most of the time result into a revolt, and ultimately, a disaster. Troy died a lonely man because all members of his family stayed away from him. Cory walked away from the family to establish his own life while Lyons visited him less and less. Besides, Rose stopped giving him the attention she initially provided, and Bono, his friend, became to lose interest in him because he was full of himself and refused to listen to counsel, no matter how sensible it sounded.
References
Dyah N. (2017). Troy Maxson’s Extroversion In August Wilson’s Fences. Litera~ Kultura , 5 (3).
Wilson, A. (1985). Fences . Accessed April 7, 2019 from https://archive.org/stream/WilsonFences/Wilson%20Fences_djvu.txt
