Cory is a very good high school football player and he is being recruited by colleges to play football. Troy is jealous of his son because he is getting the opportunity that Troy never had with baseball; to play at a high level. When Rose tells Troy that Cory is being recruited by colleges for football, he responds by saying, "He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living" (Wilson, 1986, p. 8). Troy can’t be happy for his son and won’t let him play college football. The audience sees this when Cory says, "Papa done went up to the school and told Coach Zellman I can't play football no more.
He persistently criticizes and neglects his two sons, which thus draws them away from him.Troy pushes Lyons away by refusing to hear him play his "Chinese music". He also scars hisrelationship with his other son, Cory, by preventing him from playing football and rejecting his onlychance to get recruited by a college football team. Also, Troy states that Cory's things will "be on theother side of that fence" when he kicks Cory to the street. Through this scene Troyacknowledges the fence as an actual, physical divide between him and his son. It additionallyconveys the emotional barrier that Troy puts between them.
Troy is concerned with his own feelings instead of others. He assumes he is right in every situation, consequently, he loses his family. Furthermore, Rose defends herself and her family. Although Troy desperately attempts to control her she does not allow it. She supports Cory during the football recruitment.
Once home he decided not to attend because of the distant relationship between him and his father. Rosa lets Cory know that not attending Troy’s funeral does not make him a man or solve anything. Cory and his sister Raynell started thinking about the good things and lessons that their dad did teach them even though he had a weird way of doing because of his past hurts and disappointments but meant well. Cory was going through the reconnecting phrase (p.276), which is the more realistic perception of the parent, typically accompanied by a greater appreciation of the parent as an individual. Cory is now realizing how his dad just wanted the best for him and was trying to shield him from many life disappointments also make sure if it did happen that he was tough enough and prepared as a man.
In the book, Fences, Troy is a Despicable man. You can see it when coming across people he doesn't really agree with or like discussing with. When it came to the time where that person would make him a little angry he would burst out and also become a different person. But thinking about it and looking back to history, he really didn't get raised with proper love from his family. He didn't really have people show him real or anytime of love from especially from his father.
Troy Maxson did not have an involved father growing up, which would attribute to why Troy struggles with many problems. When Troy left his family behind and moved to Pittsburgh, he met a girl and had a child with her. However, Troy wasn’t there for his new born son because he was incarcerated during his son’s childhood. According to Rosenberg’s and Wilcox’s research, as Troy did not have an involved father, he was more likely to make trouble in his environment and become a violent person. Another part of the study was about the insecurities and confidence issues children who grow up without involved fathers have.
At the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Cory is being offered a football scholarship to college. Troy mentions multiple times throughout the novel his discontent with his son playing football, and as it comes to light that Cory reduced his job hours in order to play, Troy’s opinion of Cory playing sports degrades even further. As soon as Troy learns of Cory’s decision to lessen his work hours, he commands Cory to beg for his job back. On page 37, Troy says “You go on down there to that A&P and see if you can get your job back. If you can’t do both… then you quit the football team.” Troy’s lack of concern for Cory’s football- an activity Cory fully believes is his only chance of accomplishing his goals for life- creates a rift between the two, and as the play progresses, the tensions between the two men reaches a fever pitch.
This quote shows that Rose may have wanted the fence to be built to help Troy and Cory bond. She wanted to keep them close for them to work their differences out. However, the fence ended up doing the complete opposite. The fence split Troy and Cory apart. The fence was Rose’s way to symbolically hold her family together.
His dream was to play football in college, and was even being sought by a recruiter at the time for a full ride. Troy is in denial about the times changing, so he prevents Cory from fulfilling his dream. Troy builds a wall by telling Cory’s coach to send the recruiter back as well as take him off the team. Cory is unable to knock the fence down, so he joined the marines as his last option. Once his is kicked out, the fence around his house was finished to keep him out.
Unlike Rose’s positive symbolic meaning of the fence, for Troy, the fence symbolizes bitterness and authority, harming and affecting Cory. The bitterness and exasperation radiating off of Troy is almost visible in many times of the play. It seemed that almost Troy and Cory never really had a decent conversation without leading to conflict. Frank Rich, in “Theater: Wilson’s ‘Fences,’” says, “Although Cory’s ambitions are the same as Troy’s once were, the father cruelly derails his son’s attempts to emulate him.” Similar to Troy, Cory yearns to play football. He even attempts to begin a conversation about baseball to Troy when they’re cutting boards for the fence they’re building, telling him, “The Pirates won today.