Fences Short Analysis

Troy is a tragic hero because he has a flaw of arrogance [Arrogance - thinking that he knows everything and still ends up making mistakes]. During the opening of the movie everything is going most right within Troy’s life. He has a wife who cares for him, a son doing well in school, and is doing well financially by holding a trashman job. His arrogance within his personality leads his to a less than ideal situation for the people in his life. Because of his arrogance he thinks he can get away with cheating on his wife and still be in a working relationship. Because of his arrogance his son is in a negative mentality against his father and is not allowed to continue football into college. He even thinks that without a driver’s license that his promotion to truck driver means something. In each of these situations he is the one who is declaring what is right and wrong and not deciding other factors of what is currently happening. He does not take into consideration other people’s opinions or feelings when deciding upon an outcome. He has a callous and pervasive attitude towards others and its shows within the conflict of his family. His arrogance leads to his downfall because even though he may be a hard worker, he is not able to collaborate successfully.

To pinpoint exactly what the theme is within Fences there should be an effort to clarify why certain elements are not as pronounced. The best example would be that of race. While Troy is living during a time before the civil rights movement this aspect plays little in how the story progresses. There is a presence for the struggle of African Americans within society by Troy being exited when he became the first colored garbage driver. However, other than that there is little focus on that because most of the characters within the story are the same race. The same line of reasoning goes for gender roles. While they do exist during the time the story is told it does not play an important role in developing how the story progresses. Rose stays as a homemaker and Troy gets money from working. This theme of gender roles plays into the setting rather than the theme. The most important theme would be that of family and the American Dream. The entire conflict within the story arises from familial bonds. Troy has conflict with his son Cory from him play football. Gabriel has slight conflict with Troy from moving into a neighbor’s house. Lyons has conflict with Troy because he was not his father figure during the time he was a kid. Troy and Rose naturally have marital conflicts due to differing opinions on how to handle Cory’s future as a football player. The American Dream plays into this family conflict because Troy is trying to reach his idea of the American dream. He is able to have a child and wife to support with a house and food because of his job. If he was not trying to reach some form of American Dream then he would be a lowly garbage man without dependents to support. However, he has a stubborn and arrogant idea of the American Dream that leads him to have personal conflict with his own family.

There is a figurative and literal definition of a fence within this story. Literally, Troy (and his son) is taking the time of cutting up slabs of quality wood to give privacy and security to their backyard. Fences are usually used as a form of privacy barrier to keep other neighbors from peaking in on you during outdoor activities or at-least to stop them from walking into the property. Figuratively, Rose is trying to create a “fence” around her family to keep them together. She notices the conflict between Troy and his son and doesn’t want them to have a falling out. Rose is trying to create this figurative fence of keeping the family together.

The setting is important in the story because it defines of the characters act and are going to react in certain situations. For example, the different gender roles between men and women has Rose make different decisions then she otherwise might. She is currently has no means to support herself and is inferior to her husband. Instead of helping Cory directly (since she can’t sign the football papers), she has to indirectly influence Troy and his thoughts to make him change views. For Troy, the setting defines his situation in life. He might or might have not killed the man he stabbed but because of racial court bias he was imprisoned for a portion of his life. Being a colored man, is was hard for him to recover. Even now, the best job he can get is a garbage man driver after all these years have passed. The setting, in essence, creates part of where Troy is allowed to and not allowed to progress in life.

Troy is resentful of his past about sports because he was not given a fair shake and allowed to play in the big leagues. He is resentful of not being able to go pro within the sport. This is why he does not want Cory to continue to play football. He knows that Cory is good at the sport and is envious of his abilities and the future success that he may achieve. A father is usually going to raise a son that can do thing better than them by giving past experience. However, Troy does the opposite and tries to hinder his son. Troy is continuing the cycle of father-son abuse that he has to experience as a child.

The resolution of the play was very appropriate for wrapping up what the family was going through during their life. The ending with the light shining down upon the family is giving a sign that there is hope for their future. The major conflicts for the family were never exactly resolved but that is not as important for the future. If Corey does have a son, he identified what made his father an extremely bad influence. He labeled his father as a “dark presence” within the house crushing his soul. From how he was describing the situation he did not enjoy growing up and wouldn’t want to make the same mistake.

The story’s theme is a focus on family and the American Dream. While Troy tries his best to hold these ideals dear his arrogance leads him to destroy both. If he was able to better empathize with other individuals and take into serious consideration other people’s thoughts then he wouldn’t have ended up in a desolate situation. This story is to remind everyone that no one is perfect but that you should be censoriously self-aware of your personal flaws and how they may hinder you in the long run. Troy did not do this and therefore ended up where he least wanted to be. When he thinks he is right at all times he can never solve the problems that are currently happening to him and can only see the consequences when things turn bad or for the worse. He died never resolving the issues that he created within his life.