Dongjin Shin Dr. Lear Studies in Literature 24 November 2014 Learning responsibility from the worst time in life August Wilson is a playwright and author who wrote several series of plays about the life of African Americans who had to suffer during the early to mid twentieth century due to racism and the time that they had to deal with that. One of the most famous plays, Fences, expresses how hard and tragic it was to live as an African American in the early and mid twentieth century where they were not considered and treated equally. Troy Maxson is a main character in the story who is a retired African American baseball player. He believes that his skin color was one factor that prohibited him from becoming famous player when he was in …show more content…
The scene further demonstrates that his strong responsibility could not prevent him from taking his family. When they argued in the scene, Troy stated “I stood on first base for eighteen years and I thought… well, goddamn it… I just might be able to steal second. Do you understand after eighteen years I wanted to steal second”(Wilson 1062). Due to his strong responsibility, he was not able to move. He mentioned that he stood on the first base for eighteen years without stealing second, which implies that he is supporting his family. His strong responsibility came from the baseball experience. When Troy mentioned about the responsibility and his tough life, he repeats the baseball terminology without thinking. It metaphorically infers that his baseball experience lets him build strong responsibility. Troy continues to show responsibility to Rose, he said to Rose “A man couldn’t ask for no woman to be a better wife than you’ve been. I’m responsible for it. I done locked myself into a pattern trying to take care of you all that I forgot about myself” (Wilson 1061). He does his absolute best to look after her. He seems to be still trapped in baseball when he keeps using baseball terminology without knowing, thus we can conclude that his responsibility came from the baseball experience. In addition, according to the article “Fertile ground: August Wilson’s ‘Fences’” by Wilson O’Reilly, it states “Troy prides himself on tending to his responsibilities: he owns a home, he provides for his wife and son” (O’Reilly). It says that Troy loves Rose a lot. Furthermore, because he is still trapped in his baseball experience in the prison, he keeps using baseball terminology when he is talking about his responsibility as a man of the family and it proves that his responsibility