Theme Of Family In Fences By August Wilson

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree is a saying that is heard often with family. Kids often repeat the mistake their parents made. In the play Fences by August Wilson, The reader introduced to the character Troy Maxson. He’s fifty-three old man, who is a very old school stubborn man. Troy is the man of the household, providing for his wife Rose and his son Cory and occasionally his son Lyons. Within this play, Troy is constantly getting into arguments when they question his masculinity or his life choices. Throughout the play, family responsibility plays an important role for each character. One family responsibility is what it means to be a man. Troy believes that he became a man once he left is an abusive father at fourteen. He starts building fences around his relationships.Troy sense of responsibility comes from the lack of father figure reflecting towards his relationships in the play.
Fatherhood is one family responsibility that Troy believes he excels in. Troy has two son that …show more content…
Cory respects his father and will try to Troy any chance he gets. He takes up football, to have something in common with Troy, who played baseball when he was younger. Cory has been in the attention of recruiters at school which give him the opportunity to go to college. Troy doesn’t like this idea at all because “The white man aint gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (1.1). Troy doesn’t like the idea that his child can do better than he turned out. Troy played baseball when he got out of jail, but he was too old to go in the major league and become a famous baseball star. Rose tries to explain to Troy that “Times have changed a lot since then” (1.1).Troy is stuck in the world that he grew up in. He believes that Cory will have the same problem because if it happened to him, it will happen to Cory as well. Troy hangs on to his terrible past and builds fences around the relationships in his own