Fences

Fences by August Wilson

Wilson's play is one that toys with change, family, and dreams. The play is about Troy, his wife Rose, and the lives of their children: Lyons, Cory, and Raynell. Troy's mentally handicapped younger brother is also a main character in the story, along with Bono, Troys best friend. Troy and Bono have been friends for years, and they met while they were in prison. They now work together and every Friday (payday) they have drinks together. The men talk of their childhoods and Troy ends up getting drunk and telling stories while "eyeing" other women. Though Troy thinks of himself as an accurate moral compass, Bono seems to keep Troy in line and offers advice that is aimed to steer Troy in the right direction.

Troy's son Lyons is aspiring to be a musician, and he stops by on Fridays to borrow money from his father. Troy always makes a big deal about it but ends up lending the money to Lyons anyway. Cory is busy with football, which angers Troy because he never finishes his chores and he has stopped working at the A & P. Cory has been recruited by a college in North Carolina, but Tory refuses to sign papers that will allow Cory to attend and play football. He insists that Cory must get his job back at the A &P, and this is where the conflict builds between Cory and his father. 

 

Rose has always been a loyal wife to Troy, and though he knows she is the best thing to ever happen to him, he still manages to get another woman pregnant. He tells Rose and explains that "after eighteen years I wanted to steal second". Troy felt stuck on first base for eighteen years, and this woman became his escape, and she inspired Troy's desire to go for second base. Rose is hurt and explains that all those years she had dreams too, but she remained loyal to Troy and hoped that one day things would change. Rose agrees to raise Troy's daughter after her mother dies in childbirth, but she is no longer Troy's woman. Cory and his father get into a fight and Troy kicks Cory out of the house after he proves he's the strongest.

Everyone returns back to the house for Troy's funeral, and Cory is now a marine corporal, while Lyons is serving time for stealing money. He quotes his father saying " You got to take the crookeds with the straights" to describe that with every positive thing comes something negative, and vice versa. Though the boys are different, they both are very much like their father. Rose tells Cory "Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don't know if he was right or wrong... but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm. He wasn't always right. Sometimes when he touched he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms he cut." In my opinion, this quote wraps up the whole story. 

In many ways, this story is one about regret and lost dreams, seen in Rose and her regrets in giving all of herself to Troy, and letting him swallow up her identity. It is also seen in Troy, who missed out on a baseball career because he was in prison for all of his "crooked deeds". Cory surely resents his father for not letting him attend college in North Carolina, and he never really lets go of the anger that resulted from his father holding him back from his dream. Wilson also toys with history and change in time and culture, with the African American population becoming more integrated in sports in Cory's generation than in Troy's. This is what causes much of the conflict between them; they cannot understand one another. The family that Troy grew up with, an evil father and an absent mother, also affects his parenting and views on life. Bono talked of his father being absent from his life, and he decides not to father any children so that they are never abandoned the way he was. He remains loyal to his wife and all throughout the story he is the character that is most morally sound.