Legacy to his family.

Troy's legacy without a doubt has to be his lasting effect on his family. Be that on Rose, or Cory, or his young daughter Raynell. Regardless of Troy's methods, his intentions seemed clear, and from at least one stand point, he succeeded in shaping his children to be their own person.

Throughout this play, Troy began to shape his legacy. It began in the first act even, when we got a glimpse into the kind of husband he might be. At first his legacy did not appear to be a positive one, and indeed for much of the play he seems to be the antagonist unto himself. However as the play comes to a close we gain the understanding that while his methods may have been questionable, his result on those around him is undeniable. He was good enough that Rose did not leave him, Cory became his own man and Lyons eventually got a job.

Somewhat unrelated, but nonetheless important to remember, from the beginning of the book Troy is accused of being a liar even though in his initial description, it says Bono seeks to emulate his honesty.

Troy's relation to Cory is a very important example of his legacy. Troy's own father was a terrible man, which meant that Troy's views on dealing with his son were a little skewed, that said, he only wanted to see his son have success. Sports were a red flag to him, with his own experience in baseball, he did not want to see Cory screwed over the same way by football. By the end of the book, following his death, we learn that Cory went and became a marine, and thus became his own person, showing that regardless of his method, Troy was successful in making his a success.

With Lyons, Troy's impact is less obvious. It's never made certain whether or not the acquisition of a job by Lyons was due to Troy's influence.

Lastly, there is Rose. Troy's wife stayed with him even after learning he had cheated on her and fathered another child. His legacy is lived on by her, as the conversation with Cory at the end of the book shows that he is similar to his father, and she tells him he must attend his fathers funeral.

Troy as a Man

The book (play) begins describing Troy as a large man, whose personality is defined by his size, and his blackness. The book opens describing his relationship with his friend Bono, mentioning Troy's honesty, strength, and capacity for hard work. Through the first conversation between he and Bono we can start to see what sort of man Troy is.

Starting with Troy as a husband, as he and Bono are speaking, Bono mentions how Troy eyes women and bought one a few drinks. Troy counters this by pointing out that since marrying Rose, Troy has been faithful to her. He seems to be a loving, if perverted and pushy husband, as seen on page 6 where he tells Rose to "Go on and powder up." Which she promptly tells him not to start that now, indicating he behaves commonly in this manner.

Troy's abilities as a father seem to come up a bit short, at least by modern standards. His eldest son, Lyons, is a bit of a bum, claiming to be a musician. Lyons commonly comes by to take money from his father and never pays him back, but Troy, regardless of his complaints and protests, eventually gives him the ten dollars he is asking for anyway. When it comes to his youngest son, his intentions are a bit more fatherly. Cory wishes to play football professionally, but Troy doesn't wanna see him lose his job over it, nor does he want him to have to go through the pain that Troy went to when trying to play Baseball.

In modern day our society expects a man to take care of his family, to be kind, to be a gentlemen. Troy falls short in everything but taking care of his family. He is not necessarily kind, and his behaviour could today be seen as abusive.

I think overall Troy is a good man. He has a strong moral sense of self, and doesn't wanna see others hurt the way he has been. He falls short in how he treats others though, regardless of his intention.

Tim Hanks

In order to explore August Wilson's legacy we must first look at what he did.  August Wilson was an American playwright often associated with Pittsburgh, New York, and Seattle. Wilson's works, available as a box set known as The Century Cycle, "Constitute a singular 20th century panorama of the African-American experience". This boxed set of works cover topics of race and show a picture of the working class of America. Many of Wilson's works, if not all, were written from personal experience, saying that he had lived through many of the problems that people today faced. "They were like his autobiographies".

Overall, August Wilson's legacy is huge. His works showcased a lot of modern problems, even though many are set in past decades. His topics of race and working class conditions touch on issues of race and power in today's society. Due to his legacy, he has had Broadway's Virginia theater named after him.

Wilson's legacy intersects power, race, and language in America. The problems he wrote about persist today, and are just as relevant then as they are now.