Troy's Legacy

     What will we remember from Troy Maxson? His legacy is defined through his actions. After reading throughout the whole play Fences, I believe that Troy’s legacy he left behind had more positive than negative. I will explain the positive attributes Troy left behind. Troy starts out in the beginning of the play kind of fooling around with another girl but they down play that until the end. There are parts of the play that explain how he is trying to be the best father that he can be and provide his children with what he never had. A legacy is what someone leaves behind when they are no longer present on earth. I believe that Troy will be remembered for all of his handwork, honesty, a father figure, a best friend, and the respect he gave and received. Troy faced a lot of controversies in this play such as an abusive father, a mother who abandoned him, a wife who is demanding, an unexpected child from another woman, inequality in the work place, and disrespect from his children at times. He stood up for what he believed in. For example, “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). Troy doesn't respect this idea because he works just as hard, if not harder for all his money and everything he owns. Troy is one of the most hardworking men and he will leave that behind as well. His children will get to grow up and remember that they had a lot more than they thought. . “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). Troy gave it his all in everything that he did. To answer the question in one sentence as to what Troy’s legacy is, I would say Troy’s legacy is to do what you love, and the rest will come. He did what he wanted, he believed in what he wanted, and he acted how he wanted. He was very strategic with his money because they had a scarce amount. For example, when Cory wanted to buy a TV with money he didn't have, Troy brought up the fact that their roof hasn't been redone in a while. “Two hundred and sixty-four dollars...cash money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be thinking about the roof...and whatever else go wrong around here. Now if you had two hundred dollars, what would you do…fix the roof or buy a TV?” “I’d buy a TV. Then when the roof started to leak…when it needed fixing…I’d fix it.” “Where you gonna get the money from? You done spent it for a TV. You gonna sit up and watch the water run all over your brand new TV” (Wilson, 32). This is a lesson he taught his son. Money needs to be managed. You can infer that Troy would love to have a TV but instead he has to think logically. Another legacy he left behind as that no matter what the consequence is, you must own up to your problems. He came forward and told Rose that he had been sleeping with another girl and got her pregnant. Although it was a bad situation, he came forth and showed responsibility for his action. Troy’s legacy he left behind is that no matter what the circumstance is, pursue what you want, manage your money, work hard to get what you don’t have, and self-happiness is important.

     Troy tries to teach his children to work because during this time period, no matter how hard they try, work is something they can’t take from African Americans. They may get treated like they’re less important but at the end of the day, they will have a reliable source of income. Troy wants to have Cory go back and get his job at the A&P. Also he tries to persuade Lyons to get a job. He offers to work at the rubbish with himself because he needs to make his own money.

Another thing that Troy teaches his kids is responsibility. “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). This is when Cory asked why Troy doesn't like him. You can tell that he does like him, he just wants to teach him what is best. He wants Cory to succeed and have more than he ever had, and never go through what he went through. “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” (Wilson, 39). Troy always put everyone before himself. He would go to work, pay the bills, provide love to Rose, lend money to Lyons, support Cory and give him a place to stay, and kept Gabriel from going to a mental institute. He was a good father even though he didn't have a good father. That shows a lot about his character and how he wants to be remembered. He didn't do it for the glory, or the fame. He did it because he knew what it felt like to be abandoned, abused, forgotten, and on his own.

     In Act 1, Scene 4 there was a conversation between Bono, Troy, and Lyons. It was about how their father’s treated them and how they never wanted their kids to be treated that way. “Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain't cared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn't nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working. When it come time for eating…he ate first. If there was anything left over, that’s what you got. Many would sit down and eat two chickens and give you the win” (Wilson, 50). Troy tried to disconnect himself from every characteristic his father possessed. Troy left at a young age because he was abandoned by his father mentally and one time he was left in the field beaten and left to die. When he came through he went on his way with nothing and had to make something of it. Telling Lyons this story will be something that is never going to be forgotten. “That’s a heavy story, Pop. I didn’t know you left home when you was fourteen” (Wilson, 53). At the end of the conversation Rose pops into the scene and Troy says, “I’m telling Lyons how good he go it. He don’t know nothing about this I’m talking” (Wilson, 54). This just goes to show that Troy looks out for his children and wants the best for them. Troy leaves behind that he wants ownership of everything and nothing stands in his way. He talks to “death” a few times and all the times that he did he would say “it’s between you and me now” (Wilson, 89).

     Troy starts out in the beginning of the play as a loyal husband to Rose. He looks to keep her happy, he pays the bills, he comes home and eats the home cooked meal prepared by her and then goes up to sleep with her. In the very last scene, Cory tries to tell his Mom that he will not be attending his father’s funeral and she says, “You can’t be nobody by who you are, Cory. That shadow wasn't nothing but you growing into yourself. You either got to grow into it or cut it down to fit you. But that’s all you got to make life with. That’s all you got to measure yourself against the world out there. Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't…and at the same time he tried to make you everything he was. I don’t know if he was right or wrong…but I do know he meant to do more good than harm. He wasn't always right. Sometimes when he touched he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms he cut. When I first met your daddy I thought…he’s the man I can lay down with and make a baby. That’s the first thing I thought when I seen him. I was thirty years old and had done seen my share of men. But when he walked up to me and said, “I can dance a waltz that’ll make you dizzy,” I thought, Rose Lee, here is a man that you can open yourself up to and be filled with bursting. Here is a man that can fill all them empty spaces and been tipping around the edges of. One of them empty spaces was being somebody’s mother. I married your daddy and settled down to cooking his supper and keeping clean sheets on the bed. When your daddy walked through the house he was so big he filled it up. That was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me. For my part in the matter. But at that time I wanted that. I wanted a house that I could sing in and that’s what your daddy gave me. I didn't know to keep up his strength I had to give pieces of mine. I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldn't hardly tell which was mine anymore. By the time Raynell came into the house, me and your daddy had done lost touch with one another. I didn't want to make my blessing off of nobody’s misfortune…but I took on Raynell like she was all them babies I had wanted and never had. Like I’d been blessed to relive a part of my life. And if the Lord see it fit to keep u- my strength. I’m gonna do her just like your daddy did you…I’m gonna give her the best of what’s in me” (Wilson, 98). This couldn't be a more perfect example as to what Troy was like. Within this long quote it is saying how Troy gave more than he received, and regardless of what he wanted, he put Rose first. He provided for the family, gave them laughter, happiness, and a worry free life. You couldn't tell that times were rough for Troy because he was the mold of the family who kept it running smoothly. He left a strong legacy on the family and that is to be the man you wish to see in the mirror. Don’t live a life you don’t want to, don’t try to do too much, but enjoy the life you live because in the end, that is all you will ever get.