Character Analysis Of Troy Maxon In Fences

Troy Maxson, the central figure of Fences, is a self-centered and stubborn man. He wasn’t a completely awful person, he did have some good qualities, but he just wasn’t a good man. In the play we see that does take very good care of his family and takes his position as the provider as the house very seriously. Although, his behavior and the way he talks to his family comes off as very cruel. Troy cares a lot about his family in the way that he just wants to keep them safe and provide them with the necessities like a home and food. But for some reason Troy seems to lack the love aspect of family. Some have said that Troy Maxson resembles a hamartia character but due to everything Troy shows us in the play, that term does not fit him. One reason …show more content…
This could be due to the fact that he wants to be seen as a tough man who can take care of himself… but he takes this too far. I’ve talked about how Troy doesn’t support Cory’s dreams, but I haven’t talked about how he doesn’t even act like he loves or cares about him. In Fences, Cory starts a conversation by asking Troy why he has never liked him and Troy responds with, “Like you? I go out of here every morning . . . bust my butt . . . putting up with them crackers every day . . . cause I like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw. It's my job. It's my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house . . . sleep you behind on my bedclothes . . . fill you belly up with my food . . . cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not 'cause I like you! Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! Let's get this straight right here . . . before it go along any further ... I ain't got to like you. Mr. Rand don't give me my money come payday cause he likes me. He gives me cause he owe me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life!” (Wilson 1.3). Troy’s family loves him and wants him to love them back but he is just too tough of a person to show that. A little bit after Cory had the conversation with Troy about liking him, Rose talked to Troy and said, “Everything that boy do ... he do for you. He wants you to say "Good job, son." That’s all” …show more content…
He never supported Cory and even ruined his chances at a college scholarship, he didn’t show his family that he loved them and made them believe that he didn’t, and then he went and cheated on Rose because of his own dumb reasons. Even after all of this, when Troy died, they all forgave him. He didn’t deserve their forgiveness but they forgave him because they love him even when he didn’t show it back. Even though he worked hard to provide for his family, he was not a good man and didn’t deserve to be remembered as one. So no, Troy Maxson was not a hamartia. He was not a protagonist that had an error or tragic flaw that led to a chain of plot actions building-up in a reversal of their good fortune to bad because he was not a protagonist with a good fortune in this play to begin