Drama Analysis of August Wilson’s Fences
At the beginning of the play, Fences, the audience gets to know about the family of Troy Maxon a garbage collector, and his friend Bono. The play depicts Troy as a man who responsibly supports his family. He does everything in his capacity to provide for his family and even gets a promotion to be a truck driver. He has a son from his previous relationship by the name Lyons. Lyons is struggling to make an impact as a musician, a path that his father did not approve. The audience also meets Rose, a loyal and faithful wife to Troy, and the mother of their son, Cory. Troy works as a garbage collector together with his friend Bono since he left prison. He blames his misfortune on being born at the wrong time. In his youth, Troy is a prominent baseball player, but racial discrimination denies him an opportunity to be a professional player. He then turns to a life of crime, kills someone and serves his time in prison. This is a massive blow to him, and leads to his attempts to sabotage his son's career in sports. This portrays him as a wicked, malicious person, and a very uncaring father.
After he had leaves prison, Troy marries Rose, but later on cheats on her with a woman in the name of Alberta. The woman with whom Troy has an affair gets pregnant and dies in labour leaving behind a baby girl. The issue of his having an affair comes up first when his friend Bono advices him against it. Troy confesses his extra marital affair to his wife. After the death of his mistress, Troy asks Rose to accept him and his child. Rose accepts to nurture the baby, but does not want anything to do with Troy. This portrays Rose as a kind hearted woman since she is willing to take care of Troy's mistress' child. Troy's excuse for his affair is that his life is boring and that the affair gave meaning to his life. However, he is not remorseful for cheating on her. This is clear from his be seen words, “I saw that gal . . . She firmed up my backbone. And I got to thinking that if I tried . . . I just might be able to steal second”
Because of Troy's affair with Alberta, Rosa is extremely heart broken and decides to leave him. She does not understand why he has an affair, and yet she has always been a dutiful wife. However, she accepts his child and raises her. During this period, Troy loses his friendship with Bono. This is because Bono is unhappy with Troy's mistake, a mistake he goes ahead to commit even after advising him against it. This also increases the stain in his relationship with other family members. His son Cory, for instance, has no respect for his father anymore and does not listen to his advice. Cory even tells his father that he has no role to play in that family any more. The strain gets worse and ends up in a physical fight which gets Cory kicked out of the house. Troy's marriage breaks, he loses his best friend and his son.
August Wilson portrays Troy both positively and negatively. The negative traits are, however, more apparent than the positive. Troy is portrayed as a remarkably insensitive and self-centered person. For example, his confession shows no remorse whatsoever, and he does not notice his mistake. He heartlessly breaks the news to Rosa and does not bother to apologize. Wilson also portrays Troy as an extremely controlling and inconsiderate person. This is quite clear from the reaction to his son's football scholarship. He is not willing to let his son pursue a sports career. Therefore, he refuses to sign the scholarship papers for his son's college. This completely crashes a Cory's hopes of ever going to college. The most unforgivable trait that Troy portrays is a sense of greed and injustice. This comes out clearly when he puts his retarded brother, Gabriel, in a mental institution in order to spend his disability wages on buying a house. The good side about Troy comes out when he takes responsibility for his newly born child, and in providing for the family.
Rose, on the other hand, is a faithful and dutiful woman. Throughout the play, she remains faithful to Troy and carries out her duties well. She also has a kind heart and accepts to take care of the child that Troy had with his mistress. Rose is also a warm and loving mother, and she wishes the best for her son. She also tries to make Troy more supportive of him and tolerates her husband despite their marital challenges.
In conclusion, Troy Maxon's life is a series of unfortunate events caused by his temper, selfishness and poor decision making. In spite of the fact that the he had suffered one genuine mishap during his youth, the rest of his problems are of his own making. He ends up having an unsuccessful life as an adult and as a result, hates his life. In his pursuit for happiness, he cheats on his wife, loses his son and his best friend. He also loses the woman he had an affair with, and his life becomes more miserable than ever before.
Works Cited
Wilson, August. Fences. New York, Ny: Theatre productions Group, 1983. Print.
