Roles and Characters analysis of characters in the fences

Troy Maxson

Roles and character analysis of  Tory Maxson

Troy is a hardworking, middle-aged family man, has a commanding presence and a big personality. He is a fifty-three-year-old African-American; the main character, the protagonist, of the play; works for the sanitation department as a garbage man and later a driver. He is also a talented baseball player.  He is husband to Rose, father to Lyons, Cory, and Raynell, and brother to Gabriel. Lives with his wife, Rose, and son, Corey, in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.

Troy is by turns funny, provocative, inspiring and hurtful, but one thing he will never be as long as he draws breath is silent. There is plenty of brag and bluster in his speech, as well as flecks of profanity and poetry. He tells tales and busts chops with unflagging energy, at times testing the patience of Rose, Bono, and his other friends and relations.  Troy begins the play by entertaining Bono and Rose with an epic story about his struggle with a personified Death, or Devil, character. Another example of Troy's ability to live in a fictitious world is his denial to his best friend, Bono about the reality of his extramarital affair with Alberta.  Troy also aggressively disagrees with Lyons' decision to be a musician and Cory's decision to play football in college, as well as Rose's habit of playing the numbers.

 He had a rough childhood and left home at age 14. He was an excellent baseball player and might have had the skill to play in the major leagues if he hadn't spent his prime years in prison. He is a responsible family breadwinner, bringing his wages home to his wife. To shield his son from heartbreak, Troy refuses to help him achieve his dream of playing college football, which only pushes Cory away from him.  He plays the dominant role in his over thirty-year friendship with fellow sanitation worker, Jim Bono.

 Although Troy loves his wife, Rose, he has an affair with Alberta, who becomes pregnant. Troy's years of hard-work for only meagre progress depress him. Troy often fails to provide the love and support that would mean the most to his loved ones. Troy's last name, Maxson, is an amalgamation of Mason and Dixon, after the Mason-Dixon line, the name for the imaginary line that separated the slave states from the free states. Troy's name symbolically demonstrates Troy's character as one who lives on a line between two opposing ideas. Troy is a tragic hero; he is dedicated to a fault to providing for his family and to making sure his sons have better lives than he has had. He was once a great baseball player in the Negro Leagues, but he was too old to join the Major Leagues when they were integrated. His past mistakes and failures greatly influence his outlook on life and his relationship with his sons.  Troy swings the baseball bat in the air, taunting Death. He died of heart attack. It seems pretty clear to us that Troy Maxson is the protagonist of Fences. He's the centre of every scene. Even in the last scene of the play, after ite's dead, all anybody can do is talk about him.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF TORY MAXSON

 Troy is a responsible man whose thwarted dreams make him prone to believing in self-created illusions. Fences is largely Troy's story. What all of the play's characters have in common is a complicated relationship with Troy. Troy's character creates the large and small conflicts with everyone else in Fences. Troy totally drives the action of the play; his deeds and misdeeds keep the drama going. It's Troy who puts his brother away in a mental hospital. It is Troy who has an affair. And it is Troy who crushes his son's dreams of college football and kicks him out of the house.

 A lot of these actions aren't particularly nice. Though Troy definitely has good qualities, a lot of what he does is bad, bad, bad. He's a great example of how the protagonist doesn't always have to be a "good guy." With Troy Maxson, August Wilson created a deeply flawed and deeply intriguing main character. As a former baseball star in the Negro Leagues. Troy's athletic ability diminished before the Major Leagues accepted blacks. Troy is a tragichero who has excessive pride for his breadwinning role.

Troy instigates conflict as a result of his ability to believe in self-created illusions and his inability to accept others' choices in life when they differ from his own philosophy. Rose often contradicts his stories about himself and versions of what happened in the past. Troy goes to Alberta to escape the responsibility he feels at home. But mostly, Troy makes no secret of his illiteracy, he uses language as a tool of analysis, a way of explaining what's on his mind and figuring out the shape of the world he must inhabit. Troy is bitter about the experience and about what he has lost. In reaction to the deprivation he experienced at his own father's hands, Troy is a hard worker and does all he can to care for his family. Troy however fails his family members in many ways due to poor choices based on past experiences. Troy's history is equal parts southern and northern, half-full of hope and half-filled with dis-appointment. He was once at the top of an exciting career opportunity as a ball-player that nose-dived into a life in a dead-end job.

 The son of an unsuccessful sharecropper, Troy provides a bridge to the Maxson family history in the south and to the effects slavery had and continues to have on generations of black lives. The south and the north define Troy's history and this duality drives a dividing line between him and his sons, Lyons and Cory, who grew up believing that they could achieve their dreams without unjust restraint. Through song and story-telling, Troy's character serves as the family.griot, a traditional role in African cultures as a paternal oral historian whose stories provide an understanding of the context of their loved ones' lives. Another duality is Troy's hypocrisy. Troy demands that his loved ones live practical, responsible lives while he has the freedom to have an affair, rebel against racist practices of his employers by protesting the limitation of black workers as lifters not drivers on the trash trucks. Troy refuses to see life in any way presented to him but the way he perceives events in his own head. That's a perfect way to describe almost everything Troy Maxson does. Though he used to be able to knock a baseball out of the park like it was nothing, he constantly “misses the mark” in his personal life. Like most tragic heroes, Troy does whatever he thinks is right. Even though the people around him warn him that the things he's doing may have tragic consequences, he stubbornly pursues his own course of action.

 Troy Maxson is a classically drawn tragic hero. He begins the play loved, admired and getting away with his secret affair. But eventually, Troy's death leaves many negative attributes as an inheritance for his family to sort out and accept.  For one thing, like every tragic hero, Troy has a clear-cut case of hamartia. This word is commonly translated from the Greek as "tragic flaw”; however, nore direct translation is "missing of the mark."

CORY MAXSON

Roles and character analysis  Cory Maxson

 The teenage son of Troy and Rose Maxson. A senior in high school, Cory gets good grades and college recruiters are coming to see him play football. Cory is a respectful son, compassionate nephew to his disabled Uncle Gabriel, and generally, a giving and enthusiastic person. He is an ambitious young man who has the talent and determination to realize his dreams. In one scene, we see Cory try over and over to engage his father in an conversation about baseball, but Troy constantly shoots him down. Cory has a relationship of conflict and violence with Troy. He believes that Troy is trying to hold him back in life by refusing to sign papers that would allow him to go to college on a football scholarship. Troy insists that Cory get a real job and be responsible. Cory accuses his father of doing this out of jealousy, saying, "You just scared I'm gonna better than you, that's all” (1.4). On some level, this may be true. Troy never admits this, though. He tells Rose, “I got sense enough not to let my boy get hurt playing no sports” (1.3). Cory comes of age during the course of the play when he challenges and confronts Troy, hisnfather, and leaves home. We see Cory return home on the day of Troy's funeral wearing a Marine corporal's uniform. Stage directions tell us, “His posture is that of a military man, and his speech has a clipped sterness" At first, Cory tells his mother he's not going to Troy's funeral. He sees this as his last chance to "say no" to his father (1.5). Rose goes off on her son, saying that being disrespectful to his father isn't going to make him any more of a man. She advises her son, "That shadow wasn't nothing but you growing to yourself. You got to either grow into it or cut it down to fit you” (1.5). She continues, saying that she's trying to raise Raynell, Troy's illegitimate daughter, the same way Troy raised Cory: "I'm gonna give her the best of what's in me" (2.5). Cory finally changes his mind after sharing memories of his father with Rose and Raynell. Troy and Cory have had very different lives. In comparison to Troy's harsh childhood, Cory's has been pretty easy. He hasn't had to struggle as much as Troy did. When Troy was younger, racial discrimination was even worse than during the 1950s, when the play is set. We are still in the time before the Civil Rights Movement, but some advancements have been made. For example, professional sports teams have been integrated. This fact gives Cory a real chance at a sports career, while his father had none. All these factors add up to make Troy a much more bitter character than his son. Though it's easy to demonize Troy, it's important to realize that many of his actions are the result of his harsh upbringing Though Cory is a nice guy, he doesn't cause anything to happen; that's Troy's job in this play.

SIGNIFICANCE  OF THE CHARACTER OF CORY MAXSON

 As the play begins it appears Cory is really trying to be like his father. Rose even points this out to Troy, saying, “He's just trying to be like you with the sports" (1.3).  Later on in the play, we actually see Cory pick up Troy's bat and attempt to hit the rag ball in the front yard the way his father does. It's pretty ironic that Cory tries to be like his father by playing sports, because this is precisely the issue that tears them apart. Cory does not understand his father, but he does try to please him. When Troy refuses to meet with the college football recruiter, Cory is furious with his father. Ultimately, Cory needs to leave the house in order to make his own way in the world and escape his father's shadow. In Troy's mind, he doesn't halt Cory's sports career out of jealousy, but out of a fatherly urge to protect his son. We have a feeling that Troy puts an end to Cory's football dreams out of both his own bitterness and an urge to protect his son. It's just these sorts of incongruous collisions inside characters that make them complex. Though Cory is a nice guy, he doesn't cause anything to happen; that's Troy's job in this play.) The father/son battle at the climax is revealing. When you see the protagonist of a play fighting someone near the end, there's a high probability that that person is the antagonist. In this case, our protagonist, Troy, dukes it out and defeats none other than his son, Cory. This climactic battle makes it pretty clear that Fences has a case of one of the most likeable antagonists ever. It definitely seems like Cory has been through a lot since Troy kicked him out seven years We learn in this scene that Cory plans to get married soon. It seems like he's definitely to becoming his own man, but he's still haunted by his father. In the end, we're given hope that Cory will be able to find some middle ground. It seems likely that he'll be able to take the good things his father taught him and, perhaps, leave the bad things behind. It could be that the violent cycle of father-son rivalry that began between Troy and his father and continued with Troy and Cory may just be over. This moment of hope comes when Cory and Raynell sing a song that Troy used to always sing about a dog named Blue. When the two sing "Blue laid down and died like a man/Now he's treeing possums in the Promised Land" it seems pretty clear that they're really singing about Troy  When Cory sings, “You know Blue was a good old dog," it seems he may be finding peace with the shadow of his father (2.5). 

ROSE MAXSON

ROLE AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF ROSE MAXSON

Rose is Troy's second wife, whom he married after being released from prison. She is the mother of his second child, Cory. She is a forty-three year-old African-American housewife that is ever- dutiful Troy maintains an affectionate patriarchal relationship with Rose, demanding respect from her as the head of the household and primary breadwinner, though he is greatly influenced by her realistic take on the changing world.  Rose is a loving and supportive wife. She does everything she can to make him happy. Rose's request that Troy and Cory build a fence in their small, dirty backyard comes to represent her desire to keep her loved ones close to her love. Unlike Troy, Rose is a realist, not a romantic longing for the by-gone days. She is no doormat. She doesn't let Troy walk all over her, she always calls him on his crap. When he makes inappropriate sexual remarks in front of company, she tells him that's not cool. When he exaggerates stories,  she sets him straight. When she learns about his affair, she tells him off, saying, "You always talking about what you give...and what you don't have to give. But you take too. You take...and don't even know nobody's giving!" (2.1.122).

She has high hopes for her son, Cory, and sides with him in his wish to play football. After Troy cheats on her, Rose is heartbroken because she has given her all and made sacrifices as his wife. When Troy brings home Raynell, his child with Alberta, Rose agrees to care for her; but she will no longer be a wife to Troy. She devotes herself to the church. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF ROSE MAXSON

 Rose's name, like August Wilson's mother's name, Daisy, is the name of a flower. Rose is some ways what you might expect of a 1950s-era housewife. She's always at home, cleaning or cooking. And, most important for a housewife of the time, she stands by her man. Even though Troy can be a jerk, Rose sticks by him for most of the play.  Flowers, seeds and planting comprise a motif that Wilson uses in Fences to represent nurturing, loving, kindness, and care because of the parallel qualities these attributes share with all living things that need nurturing to grow or change, like love and patience and forgiveness. Rose Maxson exemplifies these traits of compassion in all of her relationships, especially as a parent For Rose, the symbol of the fence has a protective meaning. She craves safety and security. These are the things she believed she would get from a relationship with Troy. She goes out of her way to please Troy and gives him wise advice on dealing with other people. Rose is beloved by the other characters, who see her as kind and sensible. Unlike Troy, Rose is a fair judge of character. She puts her faith in her husband and son and hopes for a better future while not begrudging the stagnant present situation. Rose's acceptance of Troy's illegitimate daughter, Raynell, as her own child, exemplifies her compassion. As a natural mother, she can't help but want to nurture and care for the baby. For the rest of the play, we see that Troy and Rose are totally estranged. Yet, she still leaves food in the kitchen for him, and he still pays the bills. But it's clear that, emotionally, Rose has severed her ties to her husband. Troy has lost the loving wife he once had. 

GABRIEL MAXSON

ROLE AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF GABRIEL MAXSON

 Gabriel, or Gabe, is Troy's brother. He's the only sibling Troy is still in touch with, though they grew up in a large family. Gabe suffered a traumatic head injury in World War II that left a metal plate in his head. Gabriel wanders around the Maxson family's neighbourhood carrying a basket and singing. He often thinks he is not a person, but the angel Gabriel who opens the gates of heaven with his trumpet for Saint Peter on Judgment Day.

Troy used Gabriel's disability cheque from the army to buy the house in which the play takes place. At the time of the play, Gabe has moved into his own apartment, a fact that weighs on Troy. Just before the play begins, Gabriel has moved out to live with a lady named Ms Pearl. Gabriel is afraid that Troy is mad at him for moving out because now Troy no longer gets the disability cheque. Troy denies this. However, later in the play, Troy has Gabe committed to a mental hospital and again starts receiving half of Gabriel's cheque. Because of his head injury, Gabriel thinks he is his own Biblical namesake - the Archangel Gabriel himself. Gabe spends a lot of time chasing hell hounds and reminiscing about all the lovely biscuits he's shared with St. Peter. After Troy dies, he tries to open the gates of heaven with his trumpet 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF GABRIEL MAXSON

Because of an injury suffered during battle in World War II, Gabriel is out of touch with reality acts in a childlike manner and believes he is the Archangel Gabriel, waiting for St. Peter to open the gates of heaven for all of the saved. Though Troy believes his brother should be free, Troy eventually signs papers to put Gabriel in an institution. Troy says it wasn't about the money, but we think this seems pretty suspicious.  Gabriel is the wise fool, a character who often sounds silly or nonsensical, but who often knows more about the characters around him than they know about themselves. When he talks to his brother Troy in riddles about hellhounds and St. Peter in Act I, Scene Two, Gabe seems to observe Troy's fates with clarity. He tries, in his playful language, to warn Troy of his tragic fate. When Troy dies, Gabriel prays for his brother to be received in heaven. 

Jim Bono

ROLE OF THE CHARACTER OF JIM BONO

Jim Bono is Troy's friend, co-worker, and drinking partner. They have been together for over thirty years. Jim Bono is usually called "Bono" or "Mr Bono” by the characters in Fences. The two men met in prison, where Troy learned to play baseball. Troy is a role model to Bono. Bono is the only character in Fences who remembers, first-hand, Troy's glory days of hitting homeruns in the Negro Leagues.

Now they work together as garbage collectors. Every Friday night after work they sip gin, drink beers and tell stories together in the Maxson family's backyard.  Less controversial than Troy, Bono admires Troy's leadership and responsibility at work. Throughout the play, Bono tries to steer Troy away from the seductive Alberta, but Troy ignores him. By the end, their friendship is lost due to Troy's destructive decisions.  He is married to a woman named Lucille, who is a friend to Rose. Bono is a devoted husband and friend. Bono's concern for Troy's marriage takes precedent over his loyalty to their friendship. What's interesting though, is that by the end of the play Bono and Troy don't really hang out anymore. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF JIM BONO

Bono remembers Troy's past and serves as a moral compass for Troy in his relationship with his wife, Rose.  While Bono looks up to Troy, he is ultimately disappointed in him for cheating on Rose, whom he admires.

The Friday - night drinking sessions we see make it pretty clear that Bono is second in command of the pair. Mostly, he sits around and nods as Troy talks and talks. Bono admits that he's always admired Troy, and that he's learned a lot by following him. He says, "I done learned a whole heap of things about life watching you. I done learned how to tell where the shit lies. How to tell it from the alfalfa" (2.1.38). Bono also tells his friend, "You done learned me a lot of things. You showed me how to not make the same mistakes...to take life as it comes along and keep putting one foot in front of the other" (2.1.38). With lines like that, it seems like Bono is definitely the sidekick in this situation. It's never said outright, but it appears both friends have strained relationship because of Troy's affair with Alberta.

From the very first scene, Bono is trying to steer Troy away from this sexy lady. Troy, however, doesn't listen and has the affair anyway. The last time we see the two friends together, it's clear they don't chill anymore. Troy's promotion to driver has separated them at work, and Troy's betrayal of Rose has separated them on a personal level. It seems the affair damaged Bono's admiration of Troy. In the end, Troy hasn't just lost his family, he also lost his best friend. 

Lyons Maxson 

CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF LYONS MAXSON

Lyons is Troy's eldest son, fathered before Troy's time in jail with a woman Troy met on the streets before Troy became a baseball player and before he met Rose. Lyons is an ambitious and talented jazz musician. He grew up without Troy for much of his childhood because Troy was in prison. Lyons, like most musicians, has a hard time making a living in Pittsburgh. For income, Lyons mostly depends on his girlfriend, Bonnie, whom we never see on stage. Lyons does not live with Troy, Rose and Cory, but comes by the Maxson house frequently on Troy's payday to ask for money. Often asks his father for $10, which he reluctantly gives to him, though he does not expect it back. Ultimately, Lyons does pay Troy..Lyons is interested only in music and does not want to get a regular job like his father..Lyons, like Rose, plays the numbers, or local lottery. Lyons jazz playing appears to Troy as an unconventional and foolish occupation. Troy calls jazz, “Chinese music," because he perceives the music as foreign and impractical His girlfriend Bonnie leaves him after he lands in jail for counterfeiting cheques.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF LYONS MAXSON 

 Troy had Lyons when he was still homeless and squatting in a shack by the river. Lyons's mother moved on to another man while Troy was in prison, so Troy has never been much of a father to Lyons. Pretty much all Troy contributes to Lyons's life is the occasional ten dollars that Lyons comes to borrow on Troy's payday.  Interestingly enough, Lyons doesn't seem particularly bitter about any of this. He just seems to accept things as they come. Even though Troy won't even take the time to come see Lyons play music (the real pride of Lyons's life), he still seems to respect his father. Their activity in the numbers game represents Rose and Lyons' belief in gambling for a better future. Lyons' humanity and belief in himself garners respect from others. Troy's complicated relationship with Lyons encompasses his admiration for his sons to do something he loves with his life, but contempt for his refusal to be a breadwinner and responsible head of household. The almost easy-going relationship between Lyons and his father is starkly different from the tense rivalry between Cory and Troy. 

Raynell Maxson

CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF RAYNELL MAXSON

 Raynell is Troy's daughter, fathered out of wedlock with Alberta, Troy's mistress.  Alberta dies in childbirth and leaves Troy to raise Raynell. Rose agrees to raise his husband's daughter for her sake, not for his.  Later, Raynell plants seeds in the once barren dirt yard. Raynell is the only Maxson child that will live with few scars from Troy.  Raynell meets Cor, and they share a song Troy taught them.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHARACTER OF RAYNELL MAXSON 

The audience only sees Raynell as an infant and then as a small girl just before Troy's funeral. Rose agrees to take care of the baby because Raynell is innocent. Ultimately, Rose is happy to have a chance to raise Raynell. Her innocent need for care and suppor convinces Rose to take Troy back into the house. She is the only Maxson child who hasn't been hurt by Troy. Raynell's garden is symbolic for new hope for the future. The shared song represents the positive values parents and older generations pass.on to their young. 

MINOR CHARACTERS

Alberta -

 Troy's buxom lover from Tallahassee and Raynell's mother. Alberta DIES while giving birth to Raynell. She symbolizes the exotic dream of Troy's to escape his real life problems and live in an illusion with no time.

Bonnie -

 Lyons girlfriend who works in the laundry at Mercy Hospital. She is a responsible woman who subsidizes Lyon's life as a musician.

Mr Stawicki -

 Cory's boss at the A&P.

Coach Zellman -

 Cory's high school football coach who encourages recruiters to come to see Cory

play football

Mr Rand -

 Bono and Troy's boss at the Sanitation Department who doubted that Troy would win his

discrimination case. He promotes Troy to driver.

Ms Pearl -

 Gabe's landlady at his new apartment; she lives near the Maxsons and rents Gabe a room.

Lucille - 

 Lucille is Bono's wife.

Brownie --  

A co-worker of Troy and Bono and an object of ridicule.