Troy Maxson. To some, it is but a
name. On the other hand to most, he was a modern day tragic hero who just couldn’t
hit the mark. Troy left behind an interesting legacy, which is composed of a
Fatherly figure, a lover, a brother, a friend, and a liar. Troy is dissatisfied with his life. He's unhappy that his
pro baseball dreams were stopped by racial discrimination. He feels trapped and
unfulfilled in his job as a garbage man. His son constantly disappoints him by
not seeing the value of work. And even though he loves his wife, Troy finds a
new love in another woman's arms. But first, let’s rewind. Troy had a clean fresh start when
he married Rose. For once everything was going right in his life.
He had a son, Cory, and he tried to
do everything he could to be the best possible father for him. Since Troy had a
rough time growing up with this mother who wasn’t around, in addition to his
abusive father who took care of 5 sons, Troy didn’t have what some people would
call the best childhood. Troy had this sense of duty to be a father to his family. Troy seems to think that a
father's only real duty is to provide food and shelter. He doesn't think it's
important for a father to show love to his son. He also doesn't feel his duties
to his wife include fidelity. Troy has an affair, but doesn't believe it's
necessarily wrong. He's provided for his wife and loves her, but his love now
includes someone else. Troy never apologizes for anything he does in the play.
It could be that this is why the other characters respect him by the end.
Though they were all disappointed by the things he did, Troy always did what he
thought was right. You could say then that Troy never once betrayed himself.
Though Troy fulfills his own idea of his
duties to his family, others may question this. What do you think? What does a
father and husband owe his family?
I really like how you started to make it dramatic with entrance. I agree that his legacy was interesting that he left behind but I also believe that he left a pretty good mark on the world. You said, “Troy left behind an interesting legacy, which is composed of a Fatherly figure, a lover, a brother, a friend, and a liar.” I agree with all of the components listed except for a liar. I do not believe he was a liar because in the end he came clean and owned up to his mistake. “Rose…got something to tell you. I’m gonna be a daddy. I’m gonna be somebody’s daddy” (Wilson, 66). Although he made a huge mistake that he can’t get out of, he owned up to it and came clean. That makes him honest. He felt no matter what the consequence is, that he needs to do what is right and tell the truth which is what he did. Another thing that you said and I disagree with is, “His son constantly disappoints him by not seeing the value of work.” I disagree because I felt that Troy wasn’t disappointed, he seemed to show the emotion of anger and worried for the future of his son because he doesn’t understand the money concept and working is how he has a steady income that he can depend on.
ReplyDeleteIn the second paragraph when you start to describe some positive traits, I completely agree. Your explanation of how he grew up was spot on. “Troy didn’t have what some people would call the best childhood. Troy had this sense of duty to be a father to his family. Troy seems to think that a father's only real duty is to provide food and shelter. He doesn't think it's important for a father to show love to his son. He also doesn't feel his duties to his wife include fidelity.” I agree with this. A quote that I used was, “I do the best I can do. I come in here every Friday. I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain’t got no tears. I don’t spent them. We go upstairs in that room at night…and I fall down on you and try to blast a hole into forever. I get up Monday morning…find my lunch on the table. I go out. Make my way. Find my strength to carry me through to next Friday. That’s all I got to give. I can’t give nothing else” (Wilson, 40). This is explaining how he provides for the family as much as he can and he would give anything to please them.
A place where I never thought about was when you said he never apologizes throughout the play. That is true. I agree with this because he didn’t ever apologize. Instead he says, “I can sit up in her house and laugh. Do you understand what I’m saying. I can laugh out loud…and it feels good. It reaches all the way down to the bottom of my shoes” (Wilson, 69). Instead of apologizing for what he had done, he tried to get Rose to understand. Even if he believes what he did was right, there is still room for apology because his loyalty was no longer there. He made love to another women while in a marriage with Rose. That is where he went wrong. Also when you said, “Troy always did what he thought was right” I agree because he really tried to provide for the family. He never knew what a good father was, and he left the house at age fourteen. For example, when Cory asks him why he doesn’t like him, his response was, “It’s my job. It’s my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house...sleep you behind on my bedclothes…fill you belly up with my food…cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not ‘cause I like you! Cause it’s my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you!” (Wilson, 38). He does this because he knows in his right mind, it his responsibility no matter what the circumstances. Another thing that I added to my own blog post was the last scene when Cory doesn’t want to attend the funeral and the mom describes how much Troy has done for them. That is something to think about.
What She Said ^
ReplyDelete-Chuck