Fences, a play by August Wilson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fences, a play by August Wilson - Research Paper ExampleThis great disenchantment sets the tone of the play. troy weight is a tragic figure beset with waves of bad fortune, a victim of his time but as much his let fault. troys tragic life is made more poignant by the author painting him as a tragic hero. Troys myopic interpretation of things and his unwillingness to adapt to reality are his two biggest flaws, blinding him and leading to his ultimate undoing. Troy is presented with opportunities to make peace with the other char human actionioners and get himself at critical crossroads but sadly he chose to remain in his fabricated world and his tragedy. The onset of act one, scene one provides the stage setting of the big disenchantment in Troys life, that of his thwarted dream, resulting in his leading a mundane existence as a garbage collector. Troy has once been a promising baseball player in his prime, but he has been stripped of his chance to make it big in the Major Leagu es because of his color. Troy could not reconcile with the fact that he is too old to play in the Leagues when it finally opened up to black players and this residual bitterness and impudence distorted most of Troys perspective on things and people and reinforced his belief that he is a victim of his time. Despite this, Troy has neer let go of his identity as a ball player. He continues to use baseball jargons to reflect his world view as in act one, scene one where he says Death aint nothing but as fastball on the let outside corner. To his credit, Troy has fought back to come to the fore as a literary hero at the beginning of the play, where the other characters seem to revere him as the sole provider for the family and a fighter for comparability at work. Troys flaws, however work against him. His narrow-minded perception has evolved into a dual set of standards over time in judging himself and others. This stinkpot be seen in Troy carrying himself around with excessive imp ortance as the breadwinner but belittles of the work and accomplishment of others as in act one, scene three, I do the best I can do. I come in here every Friday, I carry a sack of potatoesyou all gunstock up with your hands stretched out at the doorI give you my sweat and my blood I aint got no tears. To Troy, sr. son Lyons chosen vocation as a jazz musician is simply a stunt in playing Chinese music and not serious work. Troy deduces this as the reason Lyons returns home to borrow money from him. As for Cory, his break into professional football hits a raw nerve in Troys thwarted dream. Troy could not accept that times have changed for black sportsman and Cory could actually make a career out of it. Cory brings up the achievement of black players like Clemente and Aaron and Kouflax, but Troy deflates their contributions. When Troy is losing out his argument to Cory, he throws the punch line, I aint no Sandy Kouflax in act one, scene three.. Instead, he wants Cory to stay at a t rouble instead of pursuing football. Corys giving away his job at A&P supermarket is seen by Troy as an act of defiance against him. Troy therefore imposes his authoritative presence on Cory in act one, scene three where he sabotages Corys opportunity by telling Corys coach that he can no longer play on his team. Troys shortsightedness prevents him from seeing the further ramifications of his act. Troy reasons that by sabotaging Corys chance would teach his son to obey his wishes. Instead it has set the wheels to act to