Troy Maxson in Fences by August Wilson

Introduction

This play was written by August Wilson in 1983. The author is considered as one of the most noteworthy voices in modern theater of America. His plays expose an extraordinary talent to describe the experience of African American people and at the same time, they make a universal appeal. His plays reveal his rhetorical aims of using art for changing the relationship between the society and blacks people and to clarify that the culture of black people in America exists and that it is able to offer sustenance.

Fences is the contribution to his ten play cycle, which got a Pulitzer Prize in 1987. The drama also got other awards as well. This is a two act drama which focused on the lives of the family of Troy Maxson to survive in a northern urban society which is impoverishing and unwelcoming to them. They lived before in a southern environment which was also exploitive and unfriendly to them. The play revolves around the relationship of a protagonist, Troy Maxson, with his family and friends. In this paper, we have to present the characterization of Troy Maxson in detail.

Troy Maxson is a garbage collector who is 53 years old. He is a man with powerful personality. He had an argument with his father at the age of fourteen and left his home after which he became a thief. He became a player of baseball when he was serving a 15 year sentence for a murder. He faced a lot of racial discrimination while playing which prevented him from playing in major league. That is why, he also insisted his son, Cory, to abandon his dream of playing football.

Discussion

The story centers on a volatile and dynamic character Troy Maxson and sets in 1957. He is the warrior character whose courage not only disturbed his own life but also disturbed the lives of those related to him such as his wife and children. The play is about his struggle with life and his illogical way of dealing with life's difficulties such as pain, unfairness, hate and love. It is about a fence which he built around himself and his life which could not be able to reduce the injustice of world to him and did not protect him and his family from the problems they faced while dealing with society's discrimination (Menson-Furr, 90).

When he left the ...