Troy Maxson's Character In Fences, By August Wilson

Troy Maxson

Troy Maxson was the lead character in the play “Fences” by August Wilson and is a very outspoken and humorous character of sorts. Troy has a very big personality, and believes that he owes his family everything, from his paycheck to his soul. Troy is the protagonist, but you can't quite say he's the hero unless you put tragic in front of it. Troy is no known hero, however, he was known to have several flaws and several good qualities. Troy was let down in a lot of ways in life and it is because of how he was treated that he acts the way that he does. Troy uses his anger and bitterness towards the world, to evolve into a hardness towards his own life and the lives of others around him.

Kenney states that “ The origins of Troy’s

Troy doesn't see that times are changing, and doesn't allow his son Cory to pursue his football career, because of what happened to Troy when he tried to make it big in baseball. During the time that Troy was playing baseball in the Negro Leagues, there weren't any major league black baseball players and it caused Troy to give up on his dream in baseball. Now that Cory is getting recruited to play football at college, Troy simply cannot see that things would be different for his son now that the times were moving forward for black professional athletes. The motivation behind Troy being so against his son playing football stems from his bitterness about not being able to pursue his dreams in playing baseball.

Kenney States in his article that “Baseball serves not only as the focus of Troy’s dream and disappointment, but also as his metaphor for what he sees as the essentially combative nature of life itself.” This is Troys underlying motive, that derives from his failed baseball career. He uses the failure to hold it against his family, and cause it to take over his life because he is always so angry and disappointed with the way his life turned