Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Troy and societal standards



      To answer the first question, I believe that the society has different expectations depending on where you come from, what you look like, and how you act. What I mean by that is if you were white, you didn't have to be that good at a sport to get playing time, whereas if you are black you have to be twice as good. Also I believe that the society gives an easy way to the white people because they have all the power. Power in this, meaning wealth. Even when a black man becomes wealthy, he knows to dedicate his time and money to the white people because of ranking. “A Negro go in there and can’t get no kind of service. I seen a white fellow come in there and order a bowl of stew. Pope picked all the meat out of the pot for him. Man ain't had nothing but a bowl of meat. Negro come behind him and ain't got nothing but the potatoes and carrots” (Wilson, 23). In that section, a black man won the lottery, opened up a restaurant, and served meat to white people (expensive), and a bowl of potatoes and carrots to the black community. This is just the way society was set up back in the day. Siding with white people, or the wealthy will result in slightly better treatment and more of their money.

      For the second part, I do believe that Troy is a good man. However, he also thinks he is the only one who has problems. It seems as if he is exhausted in effort but Rose and his children don’t see it. In Act 1, Scene 3 it says “I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and blood.  I ain't got no tears. I done spent them” (Wilson, 40). Basically he was saying that he would give anything and everything he had to Rose and put forth full effort to provide for her. You can tell that he is kind of tired of doing the same thing every day. He is barely surviving and working all the time to provide. One of the weaknesses that I see is he puts more pressure on himself than necessary. Troy overall is a good man but he does have a lot of areas that I could see myself getting mad at him as a wife. He seems to be drunk a lot. I believe that he is drunk to relieve the stress he has. Rose does not like it when he drinks because he becomes vulgar which is kind of a weakness in my opinion. “Don’t you come by my house Monday morning talking about time to go to work… ‘cause I’m still gonna be stroking!” “”Troy! Stop it now!” (Wilson, 20). Also Bono foreshadows that he was buying multiple drinks for another woman which does not make him a good person. Overall, he cares about his children and wants them to be successful in life which is why he wants them to work. He doesn’t want them to end up like himself who has to put in every last breath into everything. “I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get. You the only decent thing that ever happened to me. I wish him that. But I don’t wish him a thing else from my life. I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasn't getting involved in no sports. Not after what they did to me in sports” (Wilson, 39). That is one of his strengths. He is a father who wants his children to live a better life then he did. That is also why he wouldn't give Lyons the money. He wants him to work for it and quit being dependent on him.


      Currently, societal standards for men are that they are macho. They go to work, come home and cook dinner for their spouse, and go to bed. That doesn't mean that women don’t do the same. Stereo-typically, the men are the ones who “provide” for the family. I personally think that Troy would live up to standards in society now. He is such a hardworking man. You can see it when he is giving his spiel to Rose. “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 a quote that demonstrates thoroughly that he is a hardworking man and meets the standard of today’s society. Work, come home, sleep, work, repeat day in and day out. 

2 comments:

  1. Good blog post, I thought it was very interesting when you talked about society and how it varies from person to person. I agree and like how you used direct quotes from the book.

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  2. I agree with some points in your blog post. Like the fact that Troy is putting way too much pressure on himself at times. But i don't think it's from his lack of being a true husband. It should be focused on the way he acts in front of his whole family. Like you said he makes these remarks on how he might have been with other women, but we shouldn't focus on that. I think it is better to focus on the overall picture of Troy, the hard working individual who just cant seem to demonstrate his good meaning. Because of the way society treated him when he was younger, it effected him now and exploits his weakness. Expressing his love and passion for his family. He is being to strong for his own good. Overall i think you went over everything else.

    Good Job!

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