Monday, May 18, 2015

The Legacy of the Broken Man

In the book “Fences” Troy Maxson is an African American making his way through life working long hours in a dead end job to support his family. Before that he was a young adult going through life trying to pursue his dreams to become a professional baseball player, something that just didn’t work out for Troy. He wound up being kicked out of the league because he was black, this really caused Troy to despise society. I think that Troy’s legacy was the values of a hard working individual making his way through life and striving hard to love and support his family and bringing his family closer together to protect them. Troy’s legacy has evolved throughout the book. The first change stemming from when Cory and Troy were having a conversation about black people playing sports, which got Troy thinking about his past experiences. “The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports” (Wilson 34). Troy was trying to teach Cory a lesson but since it was a different time period then when Troy was playing, Cory seemed to have better luck in getting really involved in sports and didn't want to let go of his dream of going to play for a college team. The big picture here is that Troy was actually protecting Cory, you can’t really see it until you realize that Troy wanted to save Cory from the heartbreak and the struggle of trying to make it through that. Troy truly loved Cory, but it was hard for him to really express that. 

Another way Troy’s legacy evolved was when Troy began cheating on Rose with another girl, a girl that made him feel like he was a new man and that he could laugh out loud with her around. Like he had no priorities anymore. “And I got to thinking that if I tried… I just might be able to steal second. Do you understand after eighteen years I wanted to steal second” (Wilson 70). Here we see Troy trying to explain to Rose that since he met her, he gave up his dreams in life to settle down and make a family together. And after all that time he grew tired, and he wanted to feel alive again. Something he hasn't felt since his days playing baseball, which explains why Troy brings baseball into his explanation. He was at first base his whole life, and that it was about time that he decided to go out on a limb and steal second. Troy didn’t want to see himself give up which is imprinted into his legacy, but the way he went about showing it wasn’t the best. 

The last part that really evolved Troy’s legacy was after he died. Lyons got to experience Troy when he was prime and still playing sports, so Lyons went about trying to tell Cory how amazing their dad was out on the baseball field. That he wasn’t afraid of nothing, and you can see in the book where Cory forgives Troy by accepting to continue on his legacy and trying to avoid all the mistakes and challenges he had went through when he was alive. Troy Maxson was a man that wasn’t afraid of mistakes, just as long as he got it right in the end. “You got to take the crookeds with the straights. Yeah, papa was something else” (Wilson 94).

1 comment:

  1. In your blog you said "making his way through life and striving hard to love and support his family and bringing his family closer together to protect them." and I disagree with your point that he wanted to bring his family closer because he is the one who broke it apart. Cheating on Rose, kicking Cory outside the house, and not being there for Lyons is why the family broke apart. The only thing that brought them back together is his death. "Lyons got to experience Troy when he was prime and still playing sports, so Lyons went about trying to tell Cory how amazing their dad was out on the baseball field." this is a really good point and I think because of this talk from Lyons Cory changed his mind and attended the funeral

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