Fences Essay Example For Students

Fences Essay Fences Essay Troy Maxson is a man who thinks he is a failure but finds it hard to admit. Troy is a middle age black garbage man who feels held back by the white man. Why you got the white men driving and colored lifting? (p.9). the quotation mentioned is an example of how Troy feels he will never amount to anything because he is a black man in the white mans world. Therefore, Troy limits his goals in life. Maintaining a job, having a roof over his head, and food on the table is Troys idea of success. This is his idea of success because he has accomplished this while having a hard life. Troy fences himself into his own little world where there is no room for anyone to question or judge him. Meanwhile Troys bitterness towards the white man creates callousness towards his son Cory. Cory, being a high school student, anticipates making it big playing football. When he found them at the creek, he had the leather mule straps; he started to beat Troy. Troy was naturally scared so he ran away. He looked back at his father and realized that his father didnt care about beating him, he just wanted the girl. Troy came back; he ripped the straps out of his fathers hand. He then started to beat his father with them. His father, not afraid of Troy, beat up Troy. Troy was left there, his eyes were swelled shut. He didnt know what to do. He couldnt go back to his fathers house, so he went to another town 200 miles away. This is when Troy became a man at the age of 14. In the town, Mobile, it was hard for him to survive. He had to steal food, and eventually money. A man shot him after he tried to steal his money. Troy had his knife and commenced to stab him after he was shot. They told him that he killed the man. They put Troy in the state penitentiary for that. He spent 15 long years there. When he came out, he met Rose. All of his stealing habits were gone. Troy and Rose got married. At the time, Troy had a son from a previous marriage. He never spend time with this son, because he was in jail. After they were married, they wanted to have a son. Cory, their son, was born. Troy thought that he was a good husband to Rose because he provided her with food and a house. He wasnt a good husband because he didnt give her love and compassion. These two things are needed in a good marriage. She centered her whole life around him and he gave her almost nothing. When she had a problem, she couldnt go to him. Troy also wasnt faithful to Rose. He went off and had an affair with another woman. Rose was heart-broken by this. She couldnt believe Troy could do this to her. She devoted her life to him and he goes and stabs her in the back. On top of that, Troy had a child with his mistress. The woman died giving birth. Troy asked Rose to take care of the baby. Rose did, what else could she have done? Troy was not a good husband. Troy took care of Gabriel after the war. This made him think that he was a good brother. Troy wasnt a good brother to Gabriel. He stole the war money that Gabriel got. He used the money that he got to build himself a house. Gabriel couldnt take care of himself, so Troy oversaw Gabriels life. After a while Gabriel moved out. He went to live in Mrs. Pearls house, down the street. Troy was mad because now that Gabriel wasnt living in his house, he didnt collect rent from him. Gender Issues Essay Troy then sent Gabriel to an institution. Since Gabriel was there, Troy got half of the money that Gabriel got from the war. Troy couldnt care less about Gabriel; all he wanted was his money. Would a good brother do this? I dont think so. Troy thought he was a good father because he put a roof over his sons head and fed him. Cory .