Troys legacy

Troy left behind quite a lot when he went. Some ways good, some bad. First and most notably, he left his motherless daughter behind, who rose decided to take in on the child’s behalf. This was from Troy who committed to Alberta, who died during the conception. “Rose: Alberta died having the baby. Troy: died… you say she’s dead? Albert’s dead? (Wilson, 76). It’s a healthy child that was Troy’s’ last creation. It carries on something from him in a good way. But it was also proof of him not being fair to his family. In the first few scenes we see how he is teaching responsibility and how he is being a father. It develops when Troy starts to contradict himself with his teachings. He makes Cory, his youngest son, quit playing football for high school and forces him to get his job at the A&P, to show the importance of being a man, responsibility of holding down a job and money. But then Troy goes behind Rose’s back and cheats on her with another woman. “I’m talking, woman, let me talk. I’m trying to find a way to tell you… I’m gonna be a daddy. I’m gonna be somebody’s daddy (Wilson, 66). In what way does Troy demonstrate his teachings of being a man and responsibility when he is off having kids with someone else?

            In the end I feel that he left a shaken household and a healing family from his inability to understand others dreams. His legacy I think is in a few different areas. Cory, his son, a Marine who doesn’t know what could have been with football because of Troy. But also, has grown to be a good man and is engaged and obviously doing something to better himself. Which was because of Troy. Lyons, his older son, who says he is musician but did time for cashing other people checks. Rose and Raynell, a great wife that stood thick and thin who was hurt in the end and left with a baby girl that isn’t even hers. Raynell, a little girl bared from Troy and now mother and fatherless. I think she stands as a character as sort of the final chance for Troy, he messed up with just about everything else before he died. I believe that Wilson leaves us to thing that she will strive on and be the only one who can be better in life and actually pursue something, without the obstacle of Troy in the way.

Happiness

In the book Fences I don’t think there is a real meaning of happiness. I think that everyone has a daily routine and that they need a little escape. It’s one of the most important things to a person; fulfillment. If we look at Cory, he likes to play football instead of work. That’s what makes him happy after school; that’s his escape from his normal routine for a while. Same with troy; he provides for his family five days of the week and on Fridays he goes to “Taylors”; usually going to see Alberta as his sort of “escape”. Even though it involves hurting his wife, to Troy, standing at “first base” or waiting for something to start just wasn’t enough. He feels like he can be his true self around Alberta and that makes him happy.

I think society over glamorizes happiness completely. When people think of happiness; money is right behind it. Certain TV shows sort of pull you in to this train of thought that, in order to be happy I got to be like that, rich, famous, and liked by all. Even commercials push being happy and even cool. The new Chevy Silverado ad that compares a man with a truck and a man with a corolla. They bring in “real” women and ask who they would go for, giving the viewer an idea that that truck is for sure going to bring me happiness. I think that we all have to find out what happiness means to us personally and strive to do that every day. Happiness in the book and in real life overlap because Cory is doing the same thing. He is trying things out and pursuing what he is good at. He likes football not working at a grocery store, and he thinks he could go somewhere with it and in his mind, if he can do something he likes and it can make him successful, then that’s what he will do. 

Troy

Troy

When looking at Troy I believe you have to look at all parts of him. I believe he is a good guy, with the honest and right intentions. He works hard to provide for his family and he is a little sneaky at times. With the accusations from Bono to Troy about eyeing another woman and buying her drinks. “Bono: I aint saying that. I see where you be eyeing her.
Troy: I eye all the women. I don’t miss nothing. Don’t never let nobody tell you troy Maxson don’t eye the women. Bono: You been doing more than eyeing her. You done bought her a drink or two. Troy: Hell yeah, I bought her a drink! What that mean? I bought you one, too. What that mean cause I buy her a drink? I’m just being polite” (Wilson, 3). This could portray him as somewhat dishonest, it seems wrong to buy another woman a drink when he his married. But Bono and troy go on to mention how he has never chased any girl since he was married to Rose (Wilson, 4). Something that shows his leader mentality is the talk about the roof and the TV with Cory. His son mentions to Troy that they should buy a new TV and they’re only 200 dollars. Troy basically laughs and explains the importance of a dollar and that the roof would cost 264 dollars to fix if it breaks this winter. Cory said he would simply buy the TV and fix it when it breaks later (Wilson, 32). This shows Troy’s responsibility towards his family and shows that he puts them first. Also at the end of act one scene three when troy says tiredly that he gives all he has to possibly give and he has to find the strength to go to work every day (Wilson, 40). This shows that he puts his family before himself even. All because he is a man with a responsibility and takes care of business.  

Wilsons legacy

August Wilson was an exceptional play write keeping true to what he was passionate about. Always kept to the same topic. The African American life and how it was during that time. He based most of his plays on his own experience. Even the good ones, where he had to switch schools because he wasn’t challenged enough. Wilson has over a dozen awards for his work from the tony award to the National humanities medal award by the President. Something that really stands out as his legacy is his 10 play cycle of the 20^th century. (NPR podcast) He is the first African American to complete a full cycle, all the others died before they could finish (Center for African American culture). That’s a major achievement for anyone let alone an African American at the time.  These plays shows what it was like for an African American to live in that time and how he grew up and strived to be great. It greatly goes with power because he is getting a theatre named after him because of his work and is the first African American to have a theatre named after him. That’s a very big achievement and not anyone could just get this for the first time. This further connects with race and language because he is the first African American with such prestigious awards for his works. And with such a meaningful topic and something that everyone in the nation at that time had something to do with, everyone could relate. They were either the cause or victim of the madness and they realized through Wilsons eyes.