The Significance Of Family In August Wilson's Fences

Have you ever thought about the significance of family and its impact on your life? The importance of family is a major theme in August Wilson’s Fences. Although the way you live your life is your choice, love, family, and relationships can impact your life and the many decisions you make. In Fences, this theme is demonstrated through the characterization of Troy and the Maxson family’s interactions with each other.

Troy, the main character in Fences, strongly impacts his family members, especially his wife Rose. Troy saw himself as more important than everyone else in his family and impacted their life. Troy consistently cheated on Rose, even when she knew. Because Troy made the money in his house, he believed he had a more substantial role in the family. Rose tells us, while talking to their son, Cory, “I married your daddy and settled down to cooking his supper and keeping clean sheets on the bed. When your daddy walked through the house he was so big he filled it up. That was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me.” (Citation 1180, 187-191).

Cory never felt respected by Troy, which is shown at the beginning of Fences, when he asks Troy “How come you ain’t never liked me?” (Citation 1166, 200). Troy responds by saying “Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you?” (Citation 1166, 201-202). Again, this shows us that Troy does not think family has significance in his life and, instead of liking him, only feels responsible for him, shown through his condescending words towards Cory. In addition to this, Troy does not allow Cory to play football, which causes Cory to show deep resentment towards his father. In the end, we see that Troy does this to protect Cory from the same discrimination he faced while playing baseball. This shows us that despite their differences, Troy still loves his son, relating to how family can impact someone’s