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Symbolism In Troy's Fences

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The way Troy had a bad experience with sport baseball and what he went through in the past is what developed his character in the book “Fences”. In the beginning of the book we get introduced to a character named Troy and he is a father and husband; we also get told that he used to play baseball growing up and how he only grew up with a father who in his words was “so evil”; for a short period of time before he moved out on his own. Troy is African American and with him being African American and growing up during a racist time he didn’t get very far with baseball and because of that it spun his life in a spiral and he’s never forgotten about it. In the beginning of Fences Troy is talking to Bono and Rose and Bono brings up Troy’s son Corey playing football and even having a recruiter coming to check him out. Troy doesn’t like this and talks about how playing sports got him nothing in life and times are still the same and Corey’s going to end up that way. This is significant because it already shows how …show more content…

For example in the story Troy describes death as a fastball on the outside corner and that he could hit a home run with it. He also brings up baseball when explaining his affair to his wife as her being “safe” but once he met alberta he wanted to “steal second”. As you can see Troy doesn’t want his baseball dreams and glory to go and he’s gonna keep brining them up as much as he can. Another symbolic thing that happened is Troy and Cory got into an altercation and Cory picks up Troys baseball as a weapon against. Troy seemed offended because he was saying things “like thats my bat” and “put my bat down”. This is significant because it shows Troy’s character and true personality when it comes to baseball and shows how much it really meaned to him. On the other hand it also shows his bitterness towards anything that tries to come in between him and

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I agree with David Letzler in “Walking Around the Fences: Troy Maxson and the Ideology of “Going Down Swinging”” on a few occasions. He does uncover many key, important facts about baseball in the time frame of Troy Maxson, that author August Wilson did seem to either ignore for the sake of the play, or rather, just did not know enough about all the regulations and new rules of the Major League Baseball was undergoing during that time, resulting in favoring Troy’s ideology of “going down swinging”. However, I believe that Letzler did also not look in full detail to another aspect of combining both ideologies into how someone lives their life. One thing that Letzler and I agree with is that throughout the entirety of the play, Troy is misinformed with a lot of information about baseball and particularly the players that Troy claims that he superior to, and how he should have a shot at the Major Leagues.

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In the book, Grendel many theories were introduced. These theories were introduced because of the author, John Gardner, who wanted to go through the main ideas of Western Civilization and because Gardner wanted to relate the book to faith and reason. The theories that Gardner introduced were existentialism, nihilism, anarchy, and modernism. Although the theory that was constantly used by many of the characters was nihilism. Nihilism is a theory that moral principles and beliefs are meaningless and that life is useless and meaningless.

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In the book Fences by August Wilson, the author chooses baseball to compare many of the struggles everyday people deal with in everyday society. August Wilson created some very relatable characters to portray the message of life and love Fences attempts to display. It is ultimately displayed in a quote by the main character Troy Maxson. Troy said “That’s all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner” (10).

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897 Words | 4 Pages

It was also because of the struggles they had through their generations of oppression. In the play Troy’s son, Cory, wants to play baseball however Troy believes Cory will be discriminated against like Troy was. “Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can't play football no more.. Just cause you didn't have a chance! You just scared I'm gonna be better than you, that's all."

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875 Words | 4 Pages

In the play “Fences”, written in 1957 by August Wilson annotates how Troy’s childhood experiences affected his life and put a strain on his relationship with family and friends. Troy’s enormous amount of pride, flaw of judgment, and malicious actions lead to his shortcomings and resulted into him becoming a tragic hero. In the story, Troy had a lot of flaws in his character throughout the play. As Troy was growing up he never had the proper guidance, so he had to take care of himself the best way he could.

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In the play Fences by August Wilson, Troy Maxson presents as the protagonist. He is an unsympathetic character who seems to hurt all those around him with his aggressive persona. Troy is a selfish man, with a one sided perception on life which made him unable to accept the choices others made. Due to his upbringing, Troy is unable to show love in a normal fashion. Instead, he blocks his family out by using a harsh exterior, emotionally excluding himself from his underlying love.

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The hardships that people face, coming from racial and gender injustice, can sometimes affect not just those directly concerned, but their families as well. These injustices, such as the treatment to Troy in Fences during his younger years, change the ways he acts to his sons and the rest of the characters and is the source of much of the conflict they face. Many of the conflicts in the play arise because the characters disagree with the way they see the past and what they want to do in their respective futures. For example, Troy and Cory see Cory's future differently because of the ways they have been treated in their pasts.

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In the play Fences by August Wilson Troy Maxson uses his authority for being Cory's parent by making the decisions he makes for Cory to protect him because Troy believes he knows what’s best for him and when Troy feels like Cory isn't treating Troy the way he thinks he should be treated then Troy sees that as an Unjustice and reacts to it by using the three strikes and you’re out method because Troy sees life as a baseball game. Troy was raised with an abusive father, lived during the years of discrimination long before the civil rights movement or MLK or Harriet Tubman, and was a former baseball player for the Negro League. Troys dream was to become a Major League baseball player and that was going for him until he got dropped because of his

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1242 Words | 5 Pages

In the play “Fences” by August Wilson, there are numerous elements of fiction including irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, and imagery placed in the play that show how main character Troy has failed to achieve living the American dream. The irony in this play is that Troy had dreamed for a long time about becoming a driver for a trash truck but, once he finally accomplished getting the job, it fell short of his expectation. A use of symbolism throughout this play is that baseball used to be something that brought happiness into Troy’s life but, when he got older baseball was what ended his unhappy life. Another element of fiction that plays a major part in this play is foreshadowing. At the beginning of the play Troy talks about how he isn’t

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954 Words | 4 Pages

At the same time, if Troy were willing to discuss these things, he would understand baseball's significance to Cory and wouldn't have threatened to tear him apart from it entirely, even if he had taken an issue with Cory's pursuit. Troy is so busy providing for his family that he has neglected to form a genuine connection with his son. His friend Bono recognizes this when he notes that "some people build fences to keep people out" (Wilson

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1516 Words | 7 Pages

Troy’s inability to commit to building his fences despite his repetitive speaking of how he is going to finish his fence shows how his isolation from his wife stems from his inability to truly commit to his wife even though he always told her he loved her. He wanted to protect his wife from the truth that he cheated on her and has a baby on the way with her but the fence prevented true communication with his own wife. Troy's inability to see the change in civil rights during his time period because of the fence led to the isolation of his mindset towards African American rights and the straining of his relationship with his son. His struggle to be accepted into playing professional sports alongside white men lead to preventing his son from playing professional football despite the changing times in civil rights. Without isolation from change, his relationship with his son could possibly be a happy one.

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838 Words | 4 Pages

“Fences” major theme was the whole idea of the African American race being the minorities. It’s constantly mentioned throughout the play. Troy believes his color prevented him from achieving many things in his life. For example, professional baseball. Rose insists Troy was too old to continue playing baseball, but Troy says he couldn’t make it because of his color.

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1247 Words | 5 Pages

Troy Maxson Troy Maxson was the lead character in the play “Fences” by August Wilson and is a very outspoken and humorous character of sorts. Troy has a very big personality, and believes that he owes his family everything, from his paycheck to his soul. Troy is the protagonist, but you can't quite say he's the hero unless you put tragic in front of it. Troy is no known hero, however, he was known to have several flaws and several good qualities. Troy was let down in a lot of ways in life and it is because of how he was treated that he acts the way that he does.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

This meant that all professional baseball teams were still not for black people from playing. In fences, the troy character is very negative just because, he suffered in his past. In Fences, August Wilson shows that troy is a villain because he is unfair to his wife, wants to control everyone, and mean with his son. In the fences, August describe how Troy is a villain because of the unfair to his wife.

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1501 Words | 7 Pages

In August Wilson’s playwright Fences, the narrator portrays racism in a social system, in the workplace, and in sports, which ultimately affects Troy’s aspirations. Troy Maxson is constantly facing the racism that is engraved into the rules of racial hierarchy –– fair and unfair, spoken and unspoken. Troy suffers many years of racism when he plays in the Negro major Baseball League; therefore he decides to protect Cory from ever experiencing those blockades in his drive for success. In the end, although Troy is always driving to obtain agency, Troy always succumbs to the rules of racism because those racist ideologies are too hard to overcome. Throughout the play, Troy is perpetually confronting the racist social system that displays unspoken

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