Troy Maxson Hero

In 1949 Arthur Miller wrote an article titled “Tragedy and the Common Man”. In the article he describes how the modern tragic hero is a “clash between the character and the environment…” (Longman 532). In Fences Wilson introduces his spin on the modern tragic hero through Troy Maxson, a (53) year old African American man who was a former baseball star in the “Negro Baseball League”. Troy is a complex character; he seems content in the beginning, but as the play goes on his personal conflicts become more evident. Though Troy is quite a piece of work, he is undoubtedly a good man who struggled to have it all together while also having it all, which in turn made him a modern tragic hero. All of the other relationships in the story evolved around …show more content…
He spokes using baseball terminology and he kept a ball hanging from a tree in his front yard for practice swings. I consider his love for baseball on the level of obsession. His behavior and actions suggested that he was almost obsessed with baseball. He describes his life as playing it safe and settling on second after marrying Rose, his wife. His inability to let go of his past with baseball and move on marred his life; but it’s like he didn’t realize what was happening to him. Troy’s use of baseball terms in his everyday life was quite ironic. He was quite bitter over the fact that he was too old to be a qualifier for the league because of his stint in jail. According to Letzler, Troy’s mindset and focus on baseball was “misguided” (302). I think Troy used baseball and his inability to play in the major leagues as an excuse for his many shortcomings. His insistence on “going down swinging” is nothing more than a saying he repeated in order to convince himself to do everything he could for the bettering of his family when in actuality he was doing what he did for selfish reasons. His actions had very little to do with his family. Troy is tired of playing it safe and plans to “steal second” by having an affair with Alberta (Wilson 925). Bono, Troy’s closest friend since prison, warned Troy not to stray from home, but Troy was so bitter about his life that he turns selfish and indulges. Feeling that he was “born with two strikes,” he says that he now looks at his marriage to Rose as a last minute opportunity for him to move forward in life that he compares it to bunting (Wilson 925). After eighteen years of standing on first, his desire to steal second with Alberta was purely a selfish decision. He was concerned about his wife’s feelings; but instead selfishly decided to cheat. Not only did his affair affect his relationship with Rose, but it also caused his relationship with Bono to practically end. Bono