Fences Troy Character Analysis

In the play Fences by August Wilson, dissatisfaction plays an important role. The main character, Troy, is a tragic hero as he makes decisions that lead to his own destruction. These decisions are fueled by his discontent with life. To a large extent, dissatisfaction fuel Troy’s relationships, negative decisions, and lead to his downfall as a tragic hero. The first time that the audience sees Troy’s dissatisfaction is when he is talking about his job. Troy is a garbage man, but he doesn’t like standing on the back of the truck and lifting because he wants to be a garbage truck driver. For example, when Troy is talking to Bono on page 3, he says, “All I want them to do is change the job description. Give everybody a chance to drive the truck”

Even though Rose is a great wife to Troy, he still is so discontent with his life that he cheats on her. Troy tells Rose on page 69, "It ain't about nobody being a better woman or nothing. Rose, you ain't the blame. A man couldn't ask for no woman to be a better wife than you've been" (Wilson, 1986). This shows that Troy was fortunate enough to have Rose as his wife, but he was so unhappy with his life he found someone else to be with and love. Troy says to Rose that he is going to keep seeing the girl he has cheated on her with, Alberta. He then tells her, “It's just...[Alberta] gives me a different idea...a different understanding about myself. I can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems" (Wilson, 1986, p. 68). Since Troy couldn’t be satisfied by Rose, he found someone else who made him feel like he could escape his

Cory is a very good high school football player and he is being recruited by colleges to play football. Troy is jealous of his son because he is getting the opportunity that Troy never had with baseball; to play at a high level. When Rose tells Troy that Cory is being recruited by colleges for football, he responds by saying, "He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living" (Wilson, 1986, p. 8). Troy can’t be happy for his son and won’t let him play college football. The audience sees this when Cory says, "Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can't play football no more. ...Told him to tell the recruiter not to come.... Just cause you didn't have a chance! You just scared I'm gonna be better than you, that's all” (Wilson, 1986, p. 57-58). This shows that Troy strongly disagrees with Cory playing football because he is jealous of him. He uses an excuse by saying that he wants Cory to focus on getting a job as to why he won’t let him play football. Troy’s dissatisfaction with baseball play’s a large role in his decision to prohibit Cory to play football. Since Troy never got an opportunity to play professional baseball, he doesn’t want Cory to have the opportunity to play college football. Troy allows his own failure to cost his son a chance to have a college