Troy's Legacy in his Children

A legacy is what we leave behind for others to remember us by. Albert Pine says “what we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.” In Fences, I believe that Troy’s legacy is in his children. Troy’s three children all possess different qualities that Troy himself had as well. Cory is a strong and independent man who grew up to serve his country as a Marine. Cory has become successful in the Marines and has earned a high ranking, “Look at you, man. Look at you. Don’t he look good, Rose. Got them Corporal stripes” (Wilson92). Lyons recognizes how well Cory has done for himself, and comments on how Troy knew that Cory had it in him. Cory is a part of Troy’s legacy because he has Troy’s qualities of bravery, and toughness. Throughout the play you could see how tough Troy was and his resilience will be remembered through Cory.

Lyons has more of a free spirit. Lyons is a musician who embodies Troy’s passion. Lyons says he will never stop playing because he says “it still helps me to get out of bed in the morning. As long as it do that I’m gonna be right there playing and trying got make some sense out of it” (Wilson 94). Troy had a passion for baseball and he always regretted that he never got to go further with his career. His passion will be remembered through Lyons who is still trying to pursue his dream and make music with his friends.

                Raynell, Troy’s daughter, is young and innocent. This is shown when her mother asks her why she is outside. “Girl get in here and get dressed. What you doing? Seeing if my garden growed” (Wilson90).  From the small portion of the play that Raynell is in, you can tell that she is a sweet and caring towards her mother and when she meets Cory. Troy was only caring and loving towards Rose. Raynell will be the one to carry on Troy’s legacy of love for Rose, because even when Cory goes back to the Marines, and Lyons to jail, Raynell will be there with Rose.

                Troy’s legacy is in the form of traits that he has instilled in his children. He never accomplished anything huge or contributed something huge to the world, but his children will be there to each carry on a part of Troy. Even though Troy won’t be there, his children will serve as a reminder of him. 

Happiness

In Fences, each character has their own definition of happiness. Each character wants something that will make them happy, and they are striving to obtain it. For example, Cory wants to be able to play football for a college team, and he is arguing with his dad for the right to play. Cory says “I get good grades, Pop. That’s why the recruiter wants to talk with you. You got to keep up your grades to get recruited. This way I’ll be going to college. I’ll get a chance” (Wilson36). Cory wants the chance to go to college and become someone. He wants to be able to use his love of football to create a new life for himself; this would make him happy. Rose on the other hand, has settled for her happiness. While arguing with Troy, she says “I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn't take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn't never gonna bloom” (Wilson71). Even though Rose realized that she isn't as happy with Troy as she wanted to be, she still does her best to care for him and Cory and she has made do with what she has. She makes the best of what she has, and that is how she finds her happiness.

                Our society presents happiness as doing well in school, excelling in your extra-curricular activities and sports, going to college to get a degree, getting married, and starting a family. Our society views this as the model how our lives should go, and if you accomplish all of these things, you should be happy. I think that happiness is over glamorized and an inaccurate portrayal of reality. In reality, people have struggles that they have to overcome, they might not be the best at something, and they might perceive things differently than others. I do not believe that you have to be the best all the time, or that you have follow the model of high school, then college, then a family, and I think that happiness is subjective. What makes one person happy may not make the next person happy, but each person has the right to be happy in their own way. I think that as long as you enjoy what you are doing, believe in the decisions you have made, and always look at the positive side of things, you can create your own happiness, despite what other people might think.

                Troy is one example of someone who is creating their own happiness, but he happens to be doing it at the expense of other people’s happiness as well. Troy is using his mistress as an escape from his normal life, and seeing her makes him happy again. “She gives me a different idea… a different understanding about myself. I can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems… be a different man” (Wilson69). Troy isn't happy in his daily routine and he is trying to create a new happiness for himself with his mistress. He believes that “as long as it sets right in my heart… then I’m okay” (Wilson63), which goes along with my opinion that you have to believe in what you want, in order for you to be happy. 

Troy

As a man Troy has many sides. He is strong-willed when it comes to things he believes is right, he is tough, and he gentle and sweet when it comes to Rose. Already in the play we have seen multiple examples of times when Troy has acted on something that he believes in. In one case, Troy stood up for the rights of black men to be able to drive the garbage trucks just like the white men do. He argued with the Commissioner’s office that is was unfair for only the white men to be able to drive the garbage trucks while the black men did all of the dirty work. “Look here, Rose… Mr. Rand called me into his office today when I got back from talking to them people down there... it come from up top…he called me in and told me they was making me a driver” (Wilson44). In this scenario, Troy did the right thing in arguing the case of inequality. Later on in the play, Troy goes to Cory’s school and tells the coach that he isn’t allowed to play football, and that the scout shouldn’t bother coming. Troy unfairly punished Cory because sports were unfair to Troy in his past and he doesn’t want Cory to play sports either. While Troy thinks that he is doing the right thing, he isn’t paying attention to what Cory wants, and how important the scout was to him. Troy is using excuses like work in order to say that Cory doesn’t deserve to play. “I can’t work after school during football season, Pop! I tried to tell you that Mr. Stawicki’s holding my job for me. You don’t never want to listen to nobody. And then you wanna go and do this to me!” (Wilson57).  Troy might think that he is right, but he is not always right just because he believes he is.

                Troy lies and embellishes stories a lot, but whenever Rose corrects him, he always admits that she is right. Troy is very caring and kind and it shows how much he cares for Rose. He frequently says that she is the best thing that happened to him, or that she was the only good thing to come to him. Even while Troy is explaining to Rose why he doesn’t want Cory’s future to be anything like Troy’s past, he incorporates “you the only decent thing that ever happened to me” (Wilson39). Troy constantly says things like this which shows that he is a very loving husband to Rose.

While Troy may not be perfect, and he has some skewed views of how things should be, he is not an overall bad person. He obviously cares a lot for Rose, which means that he can’t be all bad. 

Wilson's Legacy

August Wilson is a renowned playwright who left a unique legacy. August Wilson began his incredible writing career in high school. He attended three high schools before getting his diploma from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Wilson switched out of one of his high schools because he felt he wasn't challenged enough (August Wilson Center for African American Culture). Wilson was such an incredible writer even then that he “dropped out of Gladstone after a teacher accused him of plagiarizing a 20-page paper on Napoleon” (August Wilson Center for African American Culture). Throughout his career, Wilson wrote many poems and plays, and he helped found a theater workshop group, and an actual theater as well. Wilson’s real legacy is his ten play cycle, each covering a different decade of the 20^th century. The cycle is the only one of its kind and “chronicle the African American experience in 20^th century America” (August Wilson Center for African American Culture). The plays are set where Wilson grew up, and have many of his own ideas and experiences incorporated in them. Because of the uniqueness of the cycle, this is Wilson’s biggest legacy he left for the world.

                Because the ten play cycle is from the African American’s experience, it sheds light on their lives in a way that other people might never have realized. In the history of the United States, African Americans have had different experiences and treatments than say white people. The plays that Wilson has written might be able to reveal just how different the races have been treated in the past, and how they have been oppressed from positions of power. Wilson’s legacy might be able to show people the differences and similarities in people’s everyday lives and how our language, attitudes, power, and race affect each person.