CP: Fences

     In the play write Fences, August Wilson entices readers by creating the perplexing story of Troy Maxson, an African American man that ostracizes those around him due to his own vindictive past. The setting takes place in the late 1950's - 1960's in Pittsburgh, PA; an era that emphasizes the aftermath of slavery through a time when discrimination was legalized through the Jim Crow laws. Troy's abusive relationship with his father proves to be the origin of his embittered attitude towards the white man. This also depicts a history of Southern slavery and how it has effected future generations through a cycle of abuse. Troy turns out to be a reflection of his own father in terms of the harsh treatment he gives his own son, Cory. Are Troy and Cory locked into a cycle of abuse?
     As a brother of 11 and the son of an unsuccessful sharecropper, Troy was always fearful of this father because his unethical teaching methods and referred to him as the devil; the root of his problems. He decides to leave home at a young age and in his own eyes, finally became a man. Though he has a steady job, a family, and a house, a reoccurring theme is apparent throughout the play: A fractured father-son relationship.
     The main cause of Troy's dysfunctional relationship with his son Cory is created by a generational gap. They possess different historical perceptions because Troy is confined to the socio-cultural fate for African Americans before the War, giving him the inability to accept new changes during the post war period. He cannot see past his own knowledge and experience, so Troy internalizes the oppression he faced and therefore, he refuses to give Cory the chance to play college football to make a better future for himself, but instead to work forever at the A&F grocery store to make a hard, honest living.
     Eventually, our tragic-hero dies a and Cory returns after joining the military. After years of being absent from the household, he and his father never reconciled their differences, leaving Cory still without closure and loose ends. After he decides not to attend the funeral service until Rose tells him not attending will not make him any more of a man. I don’t believe the same repetitive cycle will continue with Cory and his future offspring. What Cory has that Troy didn’t is his mother, someone that shows love and compassion toward the innocent, which will reflect onto Cory and his actions. She is the prime example of what Cory is capable of, loving and nurturing someone regardless of past mistakes without incriminating them or wielding any animosity or resentment towards another.