Father Son Relationships In August Wilson's Fences

From Jesus to Pope Francis, cavemen to business men, and Washington to Obama, interpersonal relationships are pivotal. Whether the relationships are good or bad, all humans interact with each other in different ways. The different interactions amongst people have been captured by authors like August Wilson, James Wright, and Theodore Roethke. These writers used their literature to dive deeper into the vague topic of human relationships; they all produced works that focused on father-son relationships. Their works suggest that fathers love their sons in ways which do not follow the traditional view of physical and emotional parental love. In August Wilson’s Fences, Troy Maxson shows his love for Cory by being a very protective and sometimes unfriendly father. Troy, much like a garbage truck, takes Cory’s dreams, crushes them up, and dumps them out in a landfill. He is fully against the idea of letting his son play college football, and would like to see Cory to learn a trade. He wants Cory to learn a trade because he believes “the white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (Wilson 6). Cory is very distraught upon hearing his father’s opinion and argues that …show more content…
Instead, the fathers express their love by protecting and providing for their sons. Also, some of the fathers in the works love theirs sons in order to fill an emptiness inside of them. These three types of love are different from the traditional emotional and physical love that most parents express to their children. Regardless, the love that the fathers express to their sons is real. All the fathers, love their sons because they are their flesh and blood. Though sometimes fathers express their love to their sons in mysterious ways, all they want to do is mold their sons into strong young men and make sure they choose the right path in