The Worst Case of Writer's Block.....Ever

We are all products of our childhood. The youngest years are the times when we learn when to trust, when to love, when to fight, and when to fly. In the play Fences by August Wilson, we meet two very different characters, Troy and his son Cory. Even though their basic personalities may contrast one another, their childhoods harden them into two men inclined to make very similar decisions.

Troy’s childhood taught him that he could trust no one but himself. His mother ran out on him, his father beat him and eventually drove him to run away, and his wife left him while he was in prison; he has been broken too many times. When greeted by his son Lyons, and optimistic musician, Troy invests nothing in his son’s dreams, but rather tells him, “I done learned my mistake and learned to do what’s right by it. You still trying to get something for nothing. Life don’t owe you nothing. You owe it to yourself” (2006). Unfortunately, the one person in his life that he should’ve trusted came too late. His wife, Rose, is described as, “[recognizing] Troy’s spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ignores or forgives his faults” (2000). Throughout the story, she greets Troy warmly and puts up with his somewhat-degrading comments or exaggerated stories. She seems like a perfect wife. Even Bono tells Troy, “I just say she a good woman…. I know what Rose means to you, Troy. I’m just trying to say I don’t want to see you mess up” (2028). Troy responds by admitting, “You can’t find a better woman that Rose” (2028). We are given these and other clues that Rose is the best thing that ever happened to Troy, and yet, his inability to trust leads him to lose the one person who would have never hurt him. Troy cheats on his wife and impregnates another woman, Alberta. Even though his life was stable with Rose, he couldn’t bring himself to trust that life would stay that way. He has been conditioned to snatch at every opportunity that passes him by, not trust the situation he’s already in, and for this reason, he betrays Rose. Alberta was just another opportunity walking by, but Troy had never learned how to let opportunity go by. In the end, Troy dies the same way he has lived most of his life: alone.

While Cory had a much more optimistic youth, he too entered his adult like with crushed hopes. Cory, unlike Troy, had a stable family growing up. His only hardship was believing that his father didn’t like him, a fear that was confirmed when he finally asked his father why and was scolded for his words. Cory’s passion in life was football, and he was good at it. Early in the play, we learn that there is a recruiter after Cory, and that he’s being given the opportunity to play football in college. Unfortunately, his father Troy single-handedly ruins Cory’s big chance. The dream Cory had trusted was taken away from him, and he too learns that life is all about watching out for yourself. Unlike Troy, however, we are left with hope that Cory will learn to trust again someday. When he walks into the house declaring to Rose that he won’t be going to Troy’s funeral, all she has to do is look at him and say, “You Troy Maxson all over again” (2045). Suddenly, we see a much softer Cory, who sings with his little half-sister Raynell and decides to go to the funeral after all. Though he has been conditioned to think like his father, he is still young, and there is still hope that he can learn to trust and love once more.