Troy, Doing the Best He Can.

 

Troy, a large man who is getting up there in his years, a former athlete, and now a garbage worker.  He’s got a mouth on him and loves to tell stories but sometimes those stories are just flat lies, or at the least alterations of the truth.  And his wife Rose never ceases to remind him that he is lying, “Troy, you ought not talk like that.  Troy ain’t doing nothing but telling a lie” (Wilson 7) but however I believe that he is doing the best that he can with the situation.  In this time period racism and inequality ran rampant, it was difficult for a black man to hold a stable job, and even when they did they didn’t get paid as much.  He is a hard worker who gives his all for keeping the family afloat financially but doesn’t always support them emotionally, he pushes his children to find jobs so that they can support themselves and take a weight off of Troy’s shoulders.  He has a weakness for women, it may not be apparent just yet but I believe that this weakness will come between him and Rose “you ever known me you chase after women?  Hell yeah! Long as I done known you” (Wilson 4).  However I believe that his strength to do what needs to be done outweighs the bad, he may lie and possibly cheat, but Troy supports his family, and expects them to be better than he was.  In my book, being able to realize that you aren’t the best guy and not wanting your children to be like you shows a serious amount of fortitude.  We as a society believe that we are mostly good, but what we really are is weak, too weak to admit to ourselves and others that we are in the wrong, Troy stands up above the regular crowd and openly admits that he isn’t what he should be.  But that shows that he has courage and guts to be the man of the family.