Troy As A Tragic Hero In August Wilson's Fences

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The leading character of Fences, Troy Maxson, is a hard working African American man living in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With great talent, Troy once had dreams of becoming a professional baseball player; but by the time the leagues integrated he was too old to continue playing, this resulted in Troy settling down with his wife Rose in a two-story brick home on the edge of the city with his children and his brother Gabriel. He worked for the sanitation department lifting heavy garbage into the truck each day, a tough laboring job for a man in his 50s. August Wilson, The writer of Fences, illustrates Troy as a quite stubborn man; but Troy was intelligent, he had a good heart and took care of his family, Troy is a tragic hero that lives his life thinking the world revolves around him. His apparent personality flaws lead him on a down spiraling path.…show more content…
Troy’s past mistakes and failures greatly influence his outlook on life and his relationship with his sons in this story. As a father he thought it was more than enough to just provide for his family, he lacked relationships with his children and love for his wife which reflects the very relationship he had with his own father. Troy did not like his father, who was mean and didn’t show any love towards him. Without his good qualities to counterbalance against his bad ones, Troy would just be an evil antagonists intentionally ruining his families lives. But because Troy is made as a tragic hero we realize and infer how much harder life was for a black man. He was faced with lost opportunities due to discrimination and we can learn a lesson from his failure instead of paint him as a
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