Summary of Fences by August Wilson

 MAJOR EVENTS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE 

THE SUMMARY OF PAGE 4

 THE SETTING REVEALS TROY AND FORESHADOWS KEY ACTIONS IN THE PLAY (P. 4)

The play begins with detailed stage directions. The play opens in the Maxson family's yard. Their ancient brick house is set off of an alley in a city neighbourhood.There's a wooden porch that needs to be painted really badly. Some old beat-up chairs sit on the porch.There's a half-built fence around the dirt yard. Tools and lumber sit in a pile. A ball made of rags hangs from the tree. A baseball bat leans against the tree. It's 1957. Troy Maxson and Bono enter the yard in the middle of a conversation. Both men are black. Troy is described as a big guy. Bono has been Maxson's best friend for thirty-three years. ( It's Friday night - payday. It's the one night of the week where the two friends drink and hang out. Troy and Bono are dressed for their jobs as garbage collectors. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 4

The set description provides several clues to the heart of Troy Maxson's character. Fences takes place in the front yard of Troy's "ancient two-storey brick house." The house is a source of both pride and shame for Troy. He is proud to provide a home for his family. He is also ashamed because he realizes that the only way he could afford the house is through his brother (a mentally unstable World War II veteran) and the disability cheques he receives because of it, (b) Why does the wooden porch need paint? Well, in practical terms, the porch is a recent addition to the house. Therefore, it could simply be seen as a task not quite finished. However, the porch is not the only thing in dire need of attention. Troy's wife of eighteen years, Rose, has also been neglected. Troy has spent time and energy on both his wife and the porch. However, Troy ultimately is neither committed to his marriage nor to the unpainted, unfinished porch, leaving each to the mercy of the elements. The set pieces of incomplete fence, tools and lumber provide the literal and metaphoric activity of the play: building a fence around Troy's property.

 Baseball is an important prop placement at the beginning of the play. Both Troy and his teenage son Cory (a football star in the making - if it wasn't for his embittered father) practice swinging at the ball. Later on in the play, when the father and son argue, the bat will be turned on Troy, though Troy will ultimately win in that confrontation. Troy Maxson was a great baseball player, at least according to his friend, Bono. Although he played brilliantly for the "Negro Leagues," he was not allowed to on the "white" teams, unlike Jackie Robinson. The success of Robinson and other black players is a sore subject for Troy. Because he was born at the wrong time," he never earned the recognition or the money which he felt he deserved. Baseball serves as Troy's main way of explaining his actions. When he talks about facing death, he uses baseball terminology, comparing a face-off with the grim reaper to a duel between a pitcher and a batter. When he bullies his son Cory, he warns him: "You swung and you missed.

That's strike one. Don't you strike out!" Troy confesses to Rose about his infidelity, he uses a baseball metaphor to explain why he had an affair. Troy met Bono while in prison. Bono remembers Troy's past and serves as a moral compass for Troy in his relationship with his (Troy's) wife, Rose. While work is a recurring motif in the play, the action takes place exclusively at home, during rare times of leisure. Bono is Troy's best friend and drinking buddy. Several scenes of the play revolve around Troy and Bono's conversations in Troy's backyard while drinking on Friday nights. The final details mentioned in the setting description reflect Troy's later years as a hard-working garbage man. August Wilson writes, “Two oil drums serve as garbage receptacles and sit near the house." For nearly two decades, Troy worked from the back of the garbage truck alongside his friend Bono. Together, they hauled junk throughout the neighbourhoods and alleyways of Pittsburg. But Troy wanted more. So, he finally sought a promotion - not an easy task due to the white, racist employers and union members. Ultimately, Troy earns the promotion, allowing him to drive the garbage truck. However, this creates a solitary occupation, distancing himself from Bono and other friends (and perhaps symbolically separating himself from his African-American community)

SUMMARY OF PAGE 4 TO 8

 TROY AND BONO DISCUSS TROY'S COMPLAINT TO MR RAND ON RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AT WORK AND TROY'S SUSPECTED LOVE AFFAIR WITH ALBERTA (PP. 4-8)

 The play opens on a Friday evening. Troy and Bono's payday. Their responsibilities as garbage collectors are done for the day. Troy, a powerfully built fifty-three-year-old black man, and Jim Bono, his long-time friend, drink and banter on Troy's porch. Bono looks up to Troy, his co- worker in the sanitation department. Troy recounts a story about a co-worker named Brownie who lied to their boss, Mr Rand about having a watermelon in his hands, and trying to hide the watermelon under his coat. Both Troy

and Bono think that Brownie's embarrassment about the watermelon was stupid.

The two friends discuss Troy's recent meeting with their boss, Mr Rand. Troy has asked Mr Rand, their boss, why the black (African-American) employees aren't allowed to drive the garbage trucks, but only to lift the garbage. Bono is eager to hear the latest news of Troy's conversations with Mr Rand and the commissioner of the union about his complaint. Troy says that Mr Rand told him to take the complaint to the union the following Friday. Bono worries that Troy will be fired for stirring up trouble, but Troy is unconcerned. The conversation shifts to a woman named Alberta who spends time at a bar where Troy and Bono hang out. He seems concerned that Troy might be having an affair. Bono also points out that he's seen Troy walking around Alberta's house. Bono reprimands him for not being completely faithful to his wife, Rose, but Troy denies messing around with Alberta. Troy insists that he hasn't "eyed" women since he met his wife, Rose. Bono agrees. But Bono pushes the issue further by revealing to Troy that he has seen Troy walking around Alberta's

house when Troy is supposedly at Taylor's. Troy gets mad at Bono for following him around. Bono asks where Alberta is from, Tallahassee, says Troy.  His friend comments that Alberta is "big and healthy." She's got "big old legs and hips as wide as the Mississippi River" (1.1). Troy says that legs don't matter. It's "them hips (that) cushion the ride!... Like you riding on Goodyears!" (1.1) 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 4 TO 8

Troy and Bono's weekly ritual of drinking affords them the opportunity of catching up on each other's lives and sharing stories. The exposition in this first dialogue informs the audience that Troy and Bono are close friends and confidants who work together. It establishes their closeness and strong bond. Bono agrees with Troy's negative opinion of their co-worker, Brownie, and shows that he sticks up for Troy at work; it is also a sign that he is a loyal as well as attentive friend. It is also through their conversation that we are drawn into the world of the play by gathering information.

 The social activism in Troy is demonstrated here; he stands for equity and social justice. He despises the racist practices at his job and attempts to change them. Being the first time such a protest will be registered, Bono is genuinely worried for his friend, but Troy is less bothered of the consequence of his action, he's just looking for equality and feels like he deserves it. Once again, Bono doesn't want his friend to jeopardise his marriage through infidelity and cautions him seriously about Alberta. Bono's disapproval foreshadows a conflict in the play. For hiding the fact about his illicit relationship with Alberta, Troy shows that he knows his actions are wrong and cannot own up to his friend. Furthermore, for having relevant information about

Alberta reveals that he knows her well beyond his claim. Troy then betrays his affection for Alberta by defending her "big old legs and hips as wide as the Mississippi River". For him, her big hips make the ride on “Mississippi River" better and more pleasurable.

SUMMARY OF PAGE 8 - 11

ROSE AND TROY REMINISCE ABOUT HOW THEY MET AND SHE WON HIM FOR A HUSBAND (pp. 8-11) 

Rose, who is ten years younger than her husband, enters and meets Troy and Bono talking. Troy's wife asks what they are talking about. Troy tells her it's “men talk” (1.1). She and Troy tell Bono about the ways Rose has changed Troy for the better as a married man. Rose asks Bono if he wants supper. He tells her he'll eat supper at home. He's looking forward to his wife's pot of pig feet. Troy says he wants to go eat pig feet with Bono. He teases Rose, asking if what she's cooking can top it. She's got chicken and collard greens cooking. Troy tells his wife to go back inside so the man-talk can continue. He makes sexually suggestive remarks to Rose, teasing her, saying she needs to go inside and “powder it up” so she'll be ready for him later on that night (1.1). Rose tells him not to talk like that. Troy affectionately puts his arm around his wife. He says that when he first met Rose, he told her he didn't want to marry her; he just wanted to be her man. He prods Rose to tell Bono what she responded. Rose says she told Troy, "if he wasn't the marrying kind, then move out the way so the marrying kind could find me" (1.1). Troy says he thought this over for two or three days. Rose corrects him, saying he came back the same night. Jokingly, Troy tells Bono that he promised to put a rooster in the backyard. This way he'd know if any other men were sneaking out the backdoor when he came home from work.

Rose tells him not to talk like that. Troy says the only problem was when they first got married, they didn't have a backyard. Bono talks about the first house he and his wife lived in. There were only two rooms with an outhouse in the back. It was freezing cold when the winter wind blew. He wonders why they stayed there six years. Bono says he thought only white people could get better things. After discussing where to shop, Rose prefers the supermarket (A&P) where prices are more reasonable, while Troy prefers the comer store (Bella's) where they know him and treat him well. The only good thing about the A&P is that the grocery store gave his son, Cory, a job. Rose's devotion to her husband is contextualised, in part, because her life without him would be

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 4 TO 11

no good. She also recognizes that Troy has a good spirit despite his faults. Rose represents the choices (and lack thereof) for African-American women in 1957. She has the inner strength to love Troy and to care for him and his children. Troy's marriage makes him a better man than his previous street lifestyle. He also recognizes the need to take responsibilities and build a home together.

Marriage should be a deliberate choice, Rose has no space for unserious proposals. That's why she defines herself within the boundaries of family. Troy is being protective of his woman and would not want any intruder. Bono sharing his own experience brings variety to the challenging backgrounds of African- Americans of that era. The friendship Troy and Bono share also represents African-American brotherhood and the intimacy such relationship of masculine bonding creates. Life and quality of living is also a choice, the good life isn't reserved for white people alone. Troy prefers to patronize fellow community members' businesses to doing so for the white-owned supermarkets. This option is still probably his reaction to the discriminatory attitude of the Whites towards Blacks. Troy is, however, happy that Cory got a job at the A&P, where he can start to look out for himself", especially as money has been tight around the house since Troy's brother,

Gabe, moved out.

SUMMARY OF PAGE 11 TO 13

 CORY'S DREAM AS A FOOTBALLER; PARENTS' CONCERN FOR CORY'S FUTURE (PP. 11-13)

Rose mentions that Cory has been recruited by a college football team. Troy wants Cory to give up on football because the white man will never let him get anywhere with it. He believes that Cory should keep the job he has at the A&P and "get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living."

 Bono comments that if Cory is as good at football as Troy was at baseball then the boy will do alright. Troy says that despite his skills at baseball he's still poor. His wife tells him that times have changed since he played baseball - now black people are allowed to play in the major

leagues

 Bono says that Troy just "[came] along too early" (1.1). "There ought not never have been no time called too early!" says Troy. He talks about how his batting average was way higher than Selkirk's, a guy who played right field for the Yankees back then.

Rose comments that people just had to wait for Jackie Robinson to come along. Her husband says, "Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody" and that he "know[s] teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make!" (1.1) Troy complains that it should never have mattered what colour you were. If you were good at baseball, they should've let you play. He believes that minorities will never receive the same deference given to white players. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 11 TO 13

Troy thinks his son ought to be learning a trade instead of focusing on sports. He has no faith in organized sports, he was a great ball player as a younger man, but never had a chance to play in the major leagues. He is still haunted by the denial he suffered in the hands of whites who never gave him opportunity to play in major leagues despite his distinguished talent in playing baseball.

 Rose and Bono try to convince Troy that things have changed. The significance here is not to use the past to judge the present; what obtained at one time might change within the future. Troy played baseball in his youth, but it was before the days of Jackie Robinson and baseball's

integration. Troy couldn't advance to the big leagues because of his race. Baseball, Troy says, never got him anywhere. “Ain't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of because of the sport. It is part of the dynamics of life that what has less value yesterday may assume higher value today. Troy with all his baseball talent never got to play in the major leagues because the "colour" of the player was a factor then. But that discriminatory consideration no longer exists today. Troy is still very unhappy about the colour discrimination he suffered at the expense of his talent. He fears the same fate may befall his son in football and doesn't want a repeat experience. He is concerned that his children should do better in life than himself. Cory's dream is attainable, yet Troy wil not recognize that. He is blind to the changes that are taking place in society. On the other hand, Troy is far from being passive about the discrimination

that touches him personally. He despises the racist practices at his job and attempts to change them. But when it comes to his son, he has a blind spot; he can't see the point of striving for  higher attainment. This conflict deepens as the play progresses.

Summary Of Page 13

 DEATH PERSONIFIED - MR DEATH (pp. 13)

 Troy takes a long sip of drink; Rose reprimands him saying, “You gonna drink yourself to death." Her comment throws Troy into a long epic story about his struggle in July of 1941 with death. He tells Bono and Rose that they cannot teach him anything about death. “Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner... That's all death is to me." Troy turns the time when he was sick with pneumonia in Mercy Hospital into a fanciful story about his fight with a character named Death. He says that he struggled with death for three days and eventually won the wrestling contest. Troy refuses to go easy; Death will have to fight to get him in the end  Rose says all this was a hallucination of Troy's when he had a really bad case of pneumonia. Troy tells them that he grabbed Death's sickle and threw it over a hill. He wrestled Death for three days and nights until Death finally gave up. Death told Troy that he would be back. Troy realizes that Death will get him someday, but he's not going out without a fight. Bono remarks that Troy has "got more stories than the Devil's got sinners” (1.1). Troy says he's seen the devil too. 

 SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 13

 Troy signifies that he is no longer afraid of death because he's already faced it. He talks as if he can take on anyone or anything, including death. His near-death experience with pneumonia has made him fearless. He personifies it as Mr Death, an opponent he can wrestle with. This is another point of conflict in the play - Troy and Mr Death confronting each other.

Troy talks as if death is a person who can be conquered.  

 SUMMARY OF PAGE 13-23

Lyons - His borrowing anties and make dream (pp. 13-23)

Lyons asks again for the ten dollars insisting that his girlfriend, Bonnie, is working at one of the hospitals and that he will have the money to pay Troy back. Troy gives him a hard time about it, saying Iyons ought to get a job and offers to get him in with the sanitation department. Lyons says the work wouldn't agree with him and that he is going to keep making music because it gives.his life meaning He dis Troy. "You and me is two different  people, Pop." When Lyons talks about his music. Troy turns the topic to the time he bought furniture, on credit, from the devil.

Troy implies that Lyons' mother did a bad job raising him. Lyons tells his father that he should've been around when he was growing up then maybe he would've been raised better. Rose encourages Troy to give Lyons the ten dollars. Her husband tells her to give it to Lyons. She says she will, as won as Troy gives her his earnings for the week. He hands his money to her and she gives Lyons the ten dollars. Lyons tells them both thank you and leaves abruptly. Bono tells Troy that Lyons will be alright. The boy is still young" Troy tells Bono, "The boy is thirty-four years old" and doesn't have a real job Bono decides to go home to Lucille and the pig feet she made for dinner. Troy puts his arm around Rone and says how much he loves her. He tells Bono that soon he and Rose will be getting it on, and drunkenly brags that they'll probably still be getting in on come Monday morning. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 13 TO 23

Lyons is a struggling jazz musician,"more caught up in the rituals and idea of being a musician than in the actual practice of the music." Troy knows that Lyons is coming to ask him for money and teases him in a mean-spirited way.

 Troy continues his saya about Death, changing the times and situations in which he met Death and the Devil. This includes the time he met a door-to-door salesman that Troy claims is the Devil, For Troy, any obstacle or difficult moment can be equated to death or the devil Rose appears to be the custodian of all the facts surrounding Troy's tales and always comes handy to straighten bis stories. The Christian in her abhors careless use of 'Death' and 'Devil'. She cautions Troy to be more concerned about what God is going to say on judgment day. Lyons thinks Troy's belief that he has seen the Devil is as ridiculous as Troy thinks it is for Lyons to pursue music. Lyons claims he can't get a decent job and won't consider manual labour. Lyons is simply not ready to let go of his dream to be a musician. Lyons' declaration that jazz music gives his life meaning invites Troy to reflect since he feels that his life has had no other meaning beyond responsibility for others. Lyons accuses Troy of knowing little about the way he was raised because Troy was in jail

for most of Lyons' childhood. This position suggests emphatically that his father has no moral ground to criticize his upbringing when he was not available to live up to his responsibilities.

 Troy's comment indicates that his older son, Lyons, is not responsible and it worries him. In the end, after each day's activity, men return to their women for warmth. In other words, women are soothing complements for men. It further signifies the love that exists between Troy and Rose on the one hand, and between Bono and Lucille on the other. 

SUMMARY OF PAGE 23 TO 27

 PROTECTION, DREAMS AND HOPES; CORY'S WORK ETHIC (PP. 23-27)

 It is Saturday morning, the scene opens with Rose hanging her laundry in the yard and sings softly, “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day/Jesus, I want you to protect me as a I travel/on my way."

 Troy and Rose talk about the lottery game that Rose and Lyons play. Troy tells Rose that everyone at work thinks he is going to get fired, but he does not think it will happen.

 Troy is grumbling about people who play the lottery and people who squander their winnings. Rose tells him that Miss Pearl won a little money in the lottery the other day. She complains that the people who really need it never win. Troy tells her she shouldn't mess around with the numbers - it's a waste of time. Rose points out that a guy named Pope bought a restaurant out of the money he won. Troy feels as though Pope has sold out the black community by giving poor service to his black clientele while catering to white people. The numbers, Troy says, "Ain't done nothing but make a worser fool out of him than he was before."

Troy grumbles about Cory being lazy. Rose tells him that Cory went to football practice, but Troy swears he only wanted to avoid working on building the fence in their yard. Troy insists that Cory "ain't done a lick of work in his life.” Rose tells Troy to go back into the house and get a new cup

of coffee to correct his mood. Troy grumbles that he is the one to always take the blame for other people's shortcomings. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 23 TO 27

Rose's hymn to Jesus asking for a “fence around me every day” is a symbol of protection and of family unity, but for Troy, as we will learn, the fence can also represent a cage. The song, an African-American spiritual hymn, represents the metaphor of the play. The song also combines the uniqueness of the African-American religious experience with Rose's domestic desire to establish a safe and happy home with her husband and son. There is a historic tradition in African-American religion of travel and movement. Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Southern black slaves often identified with the exodus of the Hebrew Bible. Fences, however, is a play about the tension between this historic value of exodus and the mid-twentieth century American ideal of settling into a home with a family. In this opening scene, Rose's song is an outer expression of an inner conflict. When Rose says Troy is worried about losing his job, she probably echoes the readers' concem. Troy's conflict with his supervisor creates dramatic tension, but it's also a clue that leads nowhere The conflict threatening to destroy Troy comes not from outside but from within himself and his family.

 The numbers or lottery offer a chance and hope to Rose. Troy, on the other hand, sees gambling as foolish. For him life is about working hard and taking responsibility. Taking risks is a waste of time and leads to nothing. Later scenes will reveal the situational irony here: Troy takes the biggest chance of all by secretly having an affair. The dialogue between Rose and Troy regarding gambling and Cory's work ethic is an example of the value that Troy puts on self-reliance and responsibility. Troy also openly condemns Pope who benefitted from playing the lottery because he is unable to appreciate the fact that the man is attempting to better his life through his luck, even though both he and Rose know he is technically correct in his diagnosis of the social ill of "the numbers." There is an association for Troy in gambling and in Cory's scholarship to play football. Troy sees both games as a person's loss of control over his own destiny. It is a mistake that Troy decides never to make again and one he does not want for his son too. Troy's criticism of Rose's enjoyment of playing lottery which Lyons also enjoys, displays his sense of responsibility in his reaction to Rose's hobby, but equally provides evidence of his selfish treatment of Rose. Rose had humoured Troy when Troy went on for several minutes about his battle with the Devil in Act I, Scene 1, but Troy cannot give Rose an inch when she talks about

numbers, an activity that she enjoys as much as Troy enjoys telling his stories. This argument between them about the numbers is an example of how Troy is insensitive to Rose's needs. Shenwill later accuse Troy of taking and not giving," which is reflected here. Troy is so concerned with his own survival in his stagnant, disappointing life that he fails to perceive the ways in which his loved ones have learned to cope. Playing numbers is an escape, a simple luxury and pleasure of Rose and Lyons that serves the same purpose to them as Troy's escape in his affair with Alberta.

It is therefore ironic that Troy complains about the cost of Rose playing numbers and the loss and risk involved when his gamble with Alberta eventually proves much more expensive. Lyons and Rose playing numbers represent their individual gamble in life to put their faith in unstable hopes. Rose invests her life in Troy who has lost a significant amount of potential than when they first met. Lyons gambles with a career in music, a difficult and extremely unconventional path trod at

that period. Rose's positive attitude towards playing the numbers connotes that she does not have regrets about her losing gamble with Troy, but keeps her hope alive in a better, more fulfilling

and richer future. On the other hand, Troy prefers to see himself as practical and miserly. He is in denial about his extramarital affair and does not see the potential cost to his stability and family he is risking, to the point that he thinks a small wager placed by Rose or Lyons is foolish.

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 27 TO 31

 ABSURDITY IN AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIFE IN AMERICA (PP. 27-31)

 Gabriel, Troy's brother, comes down the alleyway. He hears Troy's voice and stops. Troy sees Gabriel in the alleyway. He's got a metal plate in his head from injury he got in World War II. Gabe believes that he is the archangel Gabriel. He carries a trumpet on a string around his neck

and also carries a basket full of fruits and vegetables. He starts to sing that he's got plums for sale. Rose asks him what's in the basket. It turns out Gabriel doesn't actually have any plums; he  just likes to sing about them. He says that tomorrow he'll have enough plums "for St. Peter and everybody" (1.2). He thinks Troy is mad at him because he moved out of the house to live in Ms Pearl's basement. Troy says he's not mad at all. Gabriel brags that he's got two rooms and his own door. He proudly shows off his key.

Rose asks if he wants some breakfast. He tells her he just wants some biscuits. He says that when he was in heaven, he and St. Peter ate biscuits every day. Sometimes St. Peter would go off and sleep, telling Gabriel to wake him up if Judgment Day came. Rose leaves, saying she'll makenGabriel some biscuits. Gabriel tells his brother that he saw his name in St. Peter's book. Troy tells him to go inside and eat. Gabriel says he already ate with Aunt Jemima. He tells Troy that he sold some tomatoes and now he has two quarters. Soon he'll buy a new horn so that St. Peter can find him on Judgment Day. Gabriel stops suddenly, thinking he hears some hell hounds. He runs off after them, singing about Judgment Day.

Rose re-enters. She says that Gabriel ought to be in a hospital, where they can take care of him properly. Troy says Gabriel shouldn't be locked up. He complains that his brother got half his

head shot off in the war and only got three thousand dollars afterward. Troy used that money to buy his house and seems to feel guilty about it. Rose says he shouldn't feel bad; he took care of Gabe in the house as long Gabe wanted to be taken care of. Troy starts to head out of the yard. His wife asks him why he's been going off every Saturday, especially since he's supposed to be working on the fence. Troy says he's going to a place called Taylors' and that he'll finish the fence later. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 27 TO 31

 Gabriel contributes to the world of Fences by representing absurdity, and specifically absurdity in an African-American life in America. A common theme in African-American literature has been the concept that to be African-American in the United States is to live in a state of absurdity because the government that supposedly represents you (a citizen) has a history of denying you the rights it promises to insure. Gabriel exemplifies this duality. He fought in a war and lost a

part of his brain while his brother was denied access to play with players of his level in the Major Leagues because of the colour of his skin. The Gabe character is a descendant of the wise fools in Shakespeare whose language sounds

nonsensical at times, and at other times provide insight and wisdom. Gabe speaks in child-like phrases and song lyrics. He lives in a world that is half imaginary and half based on the reality before his eyes 10 He physicalizes a warning and a consciousness for Troy, which Tre does not heed. Gabriel, besides playing the role of clown to provide some measure of comic relief, also functions as a provider of background and summary information to the audience in order to show them how they should react to a particular moment of the play. He brings a back story (as a soldier) of contributing the ultimate act of responsibility and sacrifice - giving his life to his country. His presence is also a constant reminder to Troy that larger forces are at work in his life and that he is not always in control. Living in a house purchased with Gabriel's disability pay makes Troy feel ashamed. In spite of his.hard work, the only way he is able to provide a roof over his family's head is through his brother's disability cheques. While purchasing the house with the money is the right thing to do for all of them, Troy's pride takes a hit.

 Gabe's recent move out of the Maxson house to an apartment in Ms Pearl's house also affronts Troy's manhood because Gabe who cannot hold down a job or live in reality has managed to provide a home of his own for himself, a feat that Troy has failed to accomplish. Troy faces the reality that once again he is unable to provide fully for his family without the help of his disabled brother. Because of Gabe's presence, we slowly learn that Troy is not the all-powerful patriarch that he claims to be.  In spite of Gabriel's brain injury, he seems to see many things clearly. He is aware of Troy's shame and resentment. He also claims that he has seen Troy's name in St. Peter's book of judgment -a detail meant to comfort Troy but also an unsettling foreshadowing of his death. Gabe's story about seeing Troy's name and Rose's name in different places in St. Peter's book signifies that Troy is a sinner and Rose is going to heaven. Gabe's song, "Better Get Ready For the Judgment," and his hallucination that hellhounds are in Troy's yard warn Troy to change his behaviour but unfortunately, he does not hear the message. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 31 TO 43 

 CORY'S FOOTBALL CAREER AND CHANGING WORLD THAT TROY DOESN'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND

(PAGE 31-43)

Cory comes home from football practice on Saturday afternoon. Rose tells him that Troy was upset about Cory leaving the house without doing his chores or helping him with the fence. Cory tells Rose that every Saturday Troy says he needs his help with the fence but he never ends up working on it. Instead, he says he goes to the bar, Taylor's. Cory goes inside to eat lunch and do his chores. Troy comes home, supposedly from Taylor's, but can't remember the score of the game. He sneaks up on Rose, scaring her. He is very affectionate with Rose and makes some comical sexual advances, but Rose tells him, "Go on...I ain't studying you." Troy calls for Cory and then picks up a board, starting to saw and build the fence. When Cory comes out, Troy demands to know why he did not finish his chores before leaving the house that morning. Cory doesn't answer but only picks up a board and begins to saw.  Cory and Troy work on the fence. Cory asks Troy if they can buy a television. Troy would rather buy a new roof because it would insure their future security. Cory thinks it would be fun to watch.the World Series on TV. Troy wants to know how much a TV costs and Cory replies they are

two hundred dollars and "That ain't much, Pop." Sarcastically, Troy tells him, "Naw, it's just two hundred dollars." He points to the roof of the house and explains how it has been ten years since the roof was tarred. When the snow comes, it will seep inside. The moisture will rot the wood and soon it will be leaking all over them. He asks Cory how much he thinks a roof costs but Cory doesn't know. Troy tells him, "Two hundred and sixty-four dollars...cash money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be thinking about the roof..." Cory insists that Troy isn't as poor as he makes out to be, but Troy tells Cory that all he has to his name is seventy-three dollars and twenty-two cents in the bank. Cory tells him he could buy the TV on credit, but Troy says, “I ain't gonna owe nobody nothing if I can help it. Miss a payment and they come and snatch it right out your house." He cuts Cory a deal; if he can get a hundred dollars he will put the other hundred down on a TV. Cory insists he will show his father that he can get the money.  Troy and Cory have a friendly argument about the status of black players in the Major Leagues.

They talk about the Pirates, Pittsburgh's baseball team. Troy says that he doesn't think about the Pirates because they have an all-white team except for that Puerto Rican boy...Clemente." Cory tries to convince Troy that black players such as Hank Aaron and Wes Covington are playing more in the big leagues, but Troy dismisses this idea. He tells Cory that he could hit forty-three home runs just like Hank Aaron right now. Cory insists he couldn't and Troy says, "We had better

pitching in the Negro leagues. I hit seven home runs off of Satchel Paige. You can't get no better than that." Troy finds weakly argued excuses to deny that baseball is treating black players fairly and changing for the better. He tells Cory that he is done talking about the subject. Troy disappoints Cory by not agreeing to sign the permission papers for Cory to play college

football. A coach is coming from North Carolina to recruit Cory, but even with the knowledge of how far the coach is travelling to see his son, Troy will not change his mind. Troy wants Cory to work  at the A&P supermarket instead of going to football practice. Cory breaks the news to Troy that he has already given away his job at the A&P during the football season. Mr Stawicki, Cory's boss, is keeping Cory's job for when the season ends. The two have a contentious back-and-forth over Cory not calling Troy "sir," and Troy asserts his authority over the boy: "Nigger, as long as you in my house, you put that sir on the end of it when you talk to me!" Troy reminds him that he takes his responsibility to his family seriously, that he works hard and puts "up with them crackers every day" in order to do so. Cory begs Troy to change his mind, but Troy refuses. He orders Cory to go back down to the A&P and get his job back. Cory asks Troy why he never liked him. Troy responds by explaining his belief that his role as a father is to provide shelter and food and the gift of life to a son and nothing more. Troy demands that Cory speak to him respectfully with the word "sir," and gives Cory the third degree, making Cory treat him with a military-like respect.

Rose asks Troy why he will not let Cory play football when Cory is trying to follow in his father's footsteps. Troy tells her, “I don't want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get." This means moving away from sports. Rose points out that what Cory

wants more than anything is Troy's approval. Troy explains that when Cory was born, he decided he would not allow Cory to pursue sports in order to spare Cory from a fate like his own. Rose tries to get Troy to admit that he was too old to play for the Major Leagues and that times have changed since the years Troy was prohibited from the Major Leagues because of the colour of his skin. Troy will not agree with Rose. He tells Rose that he is trying to give everything he has to his

family and he can't change or give anything else but his hard work and responsibility. Troy feels that his financial support is more than enough.

SIGNIFICANCE 31 TO 43

Tory continues to want to instil family discipline and a sense of responsibility in his children. especially Cory. That's why he is upset that Cory abandoned his morning chores for football training, Troy and Cory's argument over the need to purchase a television versus a new roof is in good spirits. But Troy's pragmatic view on the television issue emphasizes his inability to empathize with anyone else's lofty dreams but his own. That Troy offers to provide half of the money for the television is a fair and balanced proposal, and also shows that he is compassionate. It is noteworthy that Troy does not go head over heels and offer to buy Cory the television, but by offering to pay half if Cory can come up with half of the money, Troy emphasizes the kind of responsibility-instilling parenting he believes in, which is meant to ultimately encourage Cory's work ethic, while supporting his son in realizing a dream. Troy also thinks that this proposal will encourage Cory to earn the money and make father and son partners.

 The back and forth argument over the television by Troy and Cory is an interaction that seems typical for a father and son. A child wants, and a parent is more concerned about bills. This conversation takes place while they are building the fence. One reason Rose wants the fence is to keep everyone together. Therefore, the initial exchange is a promising one, as father and son seem to be collaborators. Their conversation about the television set is both an example of father-son bonding and a sign of just how much the world is moving on without Troy. The television set is a symbol of the success of modernity and the ability of African-Americans during this time to advance (however limited those advancements might be) in social and economic ways. Troy and Cory's conversation also solidifies their positions as two men separated by a generation but sharing a common passion. Cory showed his persistence in proving to Troy that buying a television would be a good investment and goes on further to attempt to convince Troy that baseball, and thus, the world, has changed since Troy's time as a ball player. The television, as Cory describes it, is fundamentally changing how people interact with the world. His argument that they got lots of things on TV" is his way of telling Troy that the world outside of Pittsburgh is much bigger than Troy remembers it. It is a recognition that the world has changed and continues to be changed. Cory understands his own future is dependent on Troy's understanding of this change and being able to convince him of this is paramount if Cory is to ever play football in college Troy, however, is resistant to the idea of the television. It is not just that he fears the world's advancement, but it is also that he does not quite understand it and refuses to deal with it. Troy prefers to keep his thoughts on the domestic scene. He reminds Cory that the price of the TV is almost what it would take to re-tar the roof. Troy uses the example of the TV to shame Cory for not taking his own domestic responsibility seriously. A conversation that begins as a simple

father-son lesson in economics turns into an argument in which Troy fights to strip his son of his future manhood and Cory further develops his deep hatred for his father. Troy and Cory's father-son relationship succumbs to its first major blow while working together on Rose's fence. The blow to their relationship is not yet a physical affront, but an irreconcilable difference. Cory has taken care of insuring his job at the A&P for after football season and gets good grades in school, but Troy does not acknowledge these responsible acts. Instead, Troy only sees the ways Cory does not live up to Troy's vision of how Cory should live his life. Troy's hypocrisy becomes evident to Cory over the course of his conversation with him as they build the fence  Troy insists however, that Cory keep his job and give up football. Troy's bitter experience blinds him to the opportunities football can provide for Cory. Furthermore, Cory is being responsible as his father has taught him: he makes good grades and has made arrangements to work when the football season is over. But because Cory does not go about things the way his father wants him to, Troy interprets Cory's actions as disrespectful and short-sighted. In reality Troy is the shortsighted one; he does not see beyond his own world. Just as Troy is trying to climb the ladder at work (by becoming a driver), Cory is trying to move up the economic ladder. Troy sees only how sports let him down and believes organized sports will continue to let down people of colour. The argument between Cory and Troy in this sequence also reveals Troy's deep disappointment with his own sports career. This is probably one of the reasons Troy is so obstinate about signing a paper for Cor's scholarship recruitment. Troy played in the Negro Leagues, the segregated baseball league, and he boasts to his son that he and his teammates back then were better than almost all of the white or black major leaguers of the present. Troy feels as though he never really got his chance to show his true talents to the world. He can find no specific cause and so develops his own deep mistrust of the power held over African-Americans by white America. This distrust is what fuels the passion in one of the key scenes of the play. After arguing that Cory should get his "book-learning" so that he "can work...up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses" instead of playing football (which Troy obviously sees his son is passionate about), Cory asks his father why he never liked him. Troy is surprised by the question and, instead of answering in a loving way, becomes cruel and militaristic with his son. He demands to know what law says he has to like him. Troy's life l lesson to his son is valid - a person must accept the responsibilities given to him, but his delivery of this advice is hurtful to both Cory and Rose and further alienates them from him.  Over all, Troy touches on the theme of responsibility, a topic that emerges in nearly every conversation with his children. The obsession with responsibility overshadows any other concern Troy may have for his children. Though Cory recognizes Troy's dedication to the family, he clearly feels unloved. Troy believes he is giving everything he has. He is stung to learn that the needs of family do not end with a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their bellies. 

SUMMARY OF PAGE 44 TO 62 

 TROY IS PROMOTED TO BE THE FIRST BLACK GARBAGE TRUCK DRIVER; UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF

AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE (PAGE. 44-62) 

It is two weeks later and on another Friday. The phone rings and Cory picks it up and has a conversation about his football spikes (football shoes) with a friend, Jesse, on the other end of the line. Cory tells his friend that his old spikes aren't any good. Cory is in a rush to get to the football game, and Rose implores him to clean his room so that his father won't know he is out watching football. Cory leaves.  Troy and Bono come from work and make their way to the porch. Troy announces his promotion: he is to be the first African-American sanitation driver. Troy had gone to the union with his complaint over not being allowed to drive the garbage truck. Bono was sure that Troy would get fred over the incident, but instead Mr Rand had been forced to let Troy drive the truck. Troy calls and teases her that "You supposed to come when I call you, woman." Rose bristles at this and low tells het he once had an old dog named Blue that used to get uppity like that." Rose reminisces that they used to sing about that old dog and that Cory used to sing with him. Troy ons enters and Trey remarks that there was a story in the paper about how the police had raided

Sets one of the clubs that Iyons plays music at. Lyons tells him that he has no part in the mbling poing on there, and Trey only remarks, "They got some rogues...." Rose tells Lyons that his daddy got a promotion to drive the truck. Bono remarks that this would be a good thing the sister knew how to drive Been tighting with them people about driving and ain't even ot a license Troy is certain that he'll be able work all that out Troy is sure that yous is about to ask for more money, but instead Lyons pulls out ten dollars and Hies to pay they back. They tells lyons that he should put the money in the bank and refuses to take it Rose takes the money instead. Gabriel enters telling everyone they should get ready for the rectement day and gives Rose a rose. Lyons asks Gabe if he's been chasing hellhounds and fighting the devil and Gabe readily agrees that he has. Lyons tells them he has to get to his gig. and he asks if Troy would like to come down and hear him play. Troy tells him, "I don't like that

Chinese music. All that noise Rose and Troy begin talking about Cory's recruitment and Lyons wants to know what school he is going to They tells Bone that he went down to the A&P and talked to Cory's boss and that he knows Cory has been lying to him about getting his old job back. Lyons tells Troy that Cory is rowing up and trying to fill his daddy's shoes Bono tells the story of his own father, a drifter

searching for the "New Land." He never stayed in one place long enough to actually be a father. Troy reminisces about his own father. His father was a sharecropper raising eleven kids on his own. He was more worried about getting them bales of cotton in to Mr Lubin" than caring for his kids. Troy's mother left the children when Troy was young and never returned. His father didn't know how to do anything but farm, and though he was "good for nobody he always felt a responsibility for his kids and made sure they had a roof over their heads and food in their mouths

Troy tells of how when he turned fourteen he started "sniffing around Joe Canewell's daughter." One afternoon, Troy left his plowing early and went to the river and started "fooling around" with the girl by the river. His father found him and started beating him with leather straps, chasing him away. His father then tried to sleep with the girl himself. Troy saw this and started to fight his father. When his daddy faced him, he could see why the devil had never come to get him...cause he was the devil himself" Troy's father beat him into unconsciousness and his old dog Blue woke him, licking his face. Troy left his house and "right there the world suddenly got big. And it was a long time before I could cut it down to where I could handle it." Troy says that he lost touch with all his family, except for Gabe, and that he hopes his father is dead. Lyons tells his father that he didn't realize he had left home at fourteen years of age. Troy says that, at fourteen, he walked two hundred miles down to Mobile, where he caught a ride with a group of black men heading to Pittsburgh. They all thought they were heading towards freedom but Troy found out that conditions were even worse in Pittsburgh than they had been on the farm. Eventually, he made it to a city and met Lyons's mother. To survive and support Lyons and his mother, Troy had to steal. He was shot in the chest while trying to rob a man. Troy killed the man with a knife and was sent to prison for fifteen years. This is where he met Bono. Troy learned to play baseball in prison and he met Rose several years after that. Lyons asks Troy to come down to the club and hear his music, but Troy refuses and finds several excuses not to go. After Lyons leaves, Troy puts his arm around Bono and tells him that he has known him longer than anyone else and that "a man can't ask for no more than that." Troy tells him that he loves him and Bono gives his love back, and departs. Cory enters the yard, upset. He throws his football helmet on the ground and tells Rose that Troy went to his coach and told him Cory couldn't play football or get recruited. The coach wouldn't let Cory play. Cory is upset because “That was the one chance I had.” Troy and Cory resume their argument over working at the A&P. Cory accuses Troy of being afraid he would do better than he did. Troy pulls Cory in close and tells him he has made a mistake; "you swung at the ball and didn't hit it. That's strike one...Don't you strike out!" 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 44 TO 62

The author's choice to set the action on another Friday re-establishes the pattern of Troy and Bono's habitual behaviour and offers a useful backdrop to compare how far the plot has progressed since the play started. The return of the setting to Troy and Bono's payday creates the feeling that their life has a continuous pattern, a homecoming, and a cycle. Bono and Troy's excitement exceeds the enthusiasm they shared in the first scene. Troy's promotion rouses a renewed energy

from both men. The repetition of the setting emphasizes the uniqueness of the exciting news of Troy's promotion and his success in challenging the racist practices of his employers because it helps to illustrate the infrequency with which great, life-changing events occur in their lives. It is to be noted too that this scene begins and ends with confrontation. The first confrontation is a fruitful one for Troy and his family while the final one further destroys the domestic threads holding the family together. Troy and Bono enter the yard recounting how Troy stood up to his

boss, Mr Rand, and has now become the first African-American garbage truck driver in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. This is a good thing for the family since Troy will be able to work longer and bring in more pay. In a way, Troy can finally feel that his persistence in standing up to the unseen forces of the white world is now paying off for him like it never did during his baseball career.

 Although Troy is proud of the promotion, it does not impact his view of how things work. In spite of evidence that racial inequalities are sometimes corrected, Troy holds stubbornly to views shaped long ago, when he was an unloved child of a bitter father and then a desperately struggling young man. Troy gets the promotion even though he does not have a driver's license. This information makes us wonder if Troy's promotion will go through when his supervisors find out he can't drive? This detail provides another bit of dramatic tension. It appears that Wilson'sbaim is not to expose discrimination in society but rather to document the internal conflict of one

man and show its ripple effect on his family. Troy proudly tells the assembled group of his father's dedication to his family, even though he was a mean and bitter man. But his relationship with his father ended when his father had caught him having sex with a young girl and chased Troy away, only so that he could have her for himselfnTroy fights his father, is beaten badly, and leaves home to begin his journey up north. Troy proudly feels as though he took what was best from his father -- his sense of loyalty and dedicationnto his family. The irony is that Troy also has taken his father's bitterness and cruelty. Unlike Bono, Troy has not learned from his father's mistakes. As if to illustrate this point, Troy subtly rejects Lyons in two ways. First, Troy refuses Lyons's repayment of the earlier loan, by accepting the money, Troy would likely make Lyons feel responsible; but Troy refuses to make this gesture. Additionally, Troy again refuses Lyons's invitation to see him play at a club - another rejection of Lyons's life choices. Troy seems incapable of considering things from his son's perspective. The reveries Troy and Bono spin about their childhood experiences of their fathers also contribute to this suspension of the forward momentum of the tragic action. They increase the nuances of character by providing a revealing back story that informs our understanding of Troy and Bono's life compared to the lives of men a generation younger like Cory and Lyons.

Lyons appearance in the scene and his love of jazz reminds Troy of how different things were for Troy. Troy refers to Lyons' passion - jazz music - as “Chinese music" because jazz music is a modern phenomenon beyond his comprehension. His use of the word, "Chinese" to describe jazz music is a derogatory remark that backfires on Troy because it says more about his own failure to appreciate an ingenious invention by people of his own culture (and his lack of appreciation for

Chinese culture) than it insults Lyons.

Similarly, Lyons and Bono expose other weaknesses of Troy when they tease him for being illiterate and unable to drive. Wilson makes an argument here that Troy's lack of education and lack of worldliness or cultural literacy contribute to his black and white decisions about others' lifestyles and therefore, act as additional components to the roots of Troy's conflict with other characters in the play.

Troy and Bono's memories provide Lyons with an unwritten history of his culture. Slavery displaced many African-American families. Slave owners often forced African-Americans to live far apart from parents, spouses, siblings, and young children by selling some family members to distant plantations. Troy and Bono's fathers were likely born into slavery or slave-like conditions. Their fathers' parents were almost definitely born into slavery and may not have had a nuclear family to model as an adult. The family units in Bono and Troy's lives were fractured by wandering parents who sought solace in escape from parental responsibilities, a lack of commitment, a zealous work ethic and/or violence. Cory accurately depicts Troy's unwillingness to meet the recruiter as limiting his opportunities.

Cory sees his father's actions as those of a frightened old man with a threatened ego. Troy says he only wants to teach Cory responsibility. If Cory felt Troy cared about him beyond his basic needs, he might judge his father more favourably. Instead, Troy's intransigence only pushes Cory away. Troy's ominous declaration of “strike one" (of three) ensures a worsening conflict between father and son. The confrontation between father and son however marks the beginning of Cory's own passage into manhood. 

SUMMARY OF PAGE 62 TO 75

 BONO GIVES REASONS WHY ROSE WANTS THE FENCE; TROY ADMITS HIS AFFAIR WITH ALBERTA

(PAGE 62-75)

 The next morning, Cory hits the baseball tied to the tree in the yard. When he sees Rose, he tells her that he isn't quitting the football team no matter what Troy says. As Cory goes into the house, Troy and Bono come to the yard. Gabriel was arrested for disturbing the peace, and Troy paid fifty dollars fine to get him released. Troy and Bono believe that the police arrest Gabriel often because it is easy for them to take him and it makes them a quick fifty dollars.

 Bono and Troy work on the fence together. Bono complains that the wood is too hard and difficult to saw through. Bono asks Troy about his relationship with Alberta again. Bono says that they have done got tight," or closer to one another. Troy denies Bono's accusation. Cory joins them and cuts through the wood easily.

 Cory and Troy do not understand why Rose wants a fence built. Bono does know why, and explains to Troy and Cory that Rose loves her family and wants to keep them safe and close to her love. Bono tells Troy and Cory that people build fences for two reasons: "Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in." Bono does not mention Troy's mistake of having an extramarital affair in front of Cory but shares his opinion on what Troy should do through his explanation of the fence. Bono implies that Troy should respect Rose's love and be loyal to her love instead of pushing her and Cory away from him. 

When Cory goes into the house to look for a saw, Bono confronts Troy more explicitly about his affair. Troy finally admits to Bono that he is indeed having an affair with Alberta. Bono wants Troy to stop the affair before it's too late and Rose finds out. He implores Troy to hold on to Rose, saying that he doesn't want to see him mess up. Bono bets Troy that if he finishes building the fence for Rose, Bono will buy his wife, Lucille the refrigerator he has promised her for a long time. Bono decides to go home and not help Troy with the fence anymore. Rose asks Troy about what happened with Gabe at the station. Troy tells Rose about the fifty dollars and a hearing in three weeks to determine whether or not Gabe should be recommitted to an asylum. Troy explains to Rose that Gabe was arrested "for howling and carrying on" after he chased some kids away who were teasing him. Troy and Rose argue over whether or not Gabe needs more supervision. Troy tells Rose that he has something to admit to her. He circuitously tries to explain his affair with Alberta and finally tells her he has fathered a child with the woman. Rose is stunned by the news. Gabe enters, holding a rose he tries to give to Rose. Rose asks Troy why he is coming to

her with this after eighteen years of marriage. Gabe keeps interrupting their conversation, trying to show off his new quarter and explaining how Troy came and rescued him from the bad men downtown. Rose sends him inside for a piece of watermelon.

Rose tells Troy she might have expected this kind of behaviour five or ten years ago but not now. She angrily tells him she has "tried to be everything a wife should be...Been married eighteen years and I got to live to see the day you tell me you been seeing another woman and done fathered a child by her...My whole family is half." Troy tries to be realistic about the situation, telling her there is nothing he can do and that “we can talk this out" but Rose is indignant. Troy tells Rose that Alberta gives him a different sense of himself, that he "can step out of this house and get away from the pressures and problems... be a different man." Troy says he has been in a pattern, trying to be responsible for his family, and that along the way he forgot about himself. He tries to use baseball analogies to explain his circumstance and that he has fooled the world by bunting when he met her. "I stood on first base for eighteen years and I thought...well, goddamn it...go on for it!" Rose can only tell him he should have stayed in her bed.

Rose tries to explain her own hopes and dreams, how she buried all her feeling in him and held on to him even through her darkest times. She tells Troy he gives to them, but he also takes from them as well. This makes Troy very upset and he grabs Rose's arm. Rose yells at Troy because he is hurting her arm. Cory hears the noise from inside the house. He comes outside and surprises Troy by grabbing him from behind. Cory punches Troy in the chest, knocking Troy to the ground, Both Troy and Cory are surprised at Cory's actions. Troy lunges at Cory but Rose holds him back.

Troy collects himself and yells at Cory instead of hitting him. Troy tells Cory that he now has two strikes on him and that he better not strike out and leaves the yard.

Significance

(a) Cory's awkwardness with the baseball bat is a metaphor for his own feelings of inadequacy in living up to his father's expectations. Though Cory excels in football, his father's swing does not come naturally to him. The playwright visually captures the classic tension between father and son. The son desires to overtake the father and yet in Troy Maxson's life, there is no room for anyone but him. Cory feels limited by his father and unable to escape his shadow, which dominates the house. Troy feels confined in the house because of his obsession with responsibility.

Bono further elaborates on the play's chief metaphor. In handling the wood for the Maxson's fence, Bono is surprised that Troy didn't get soft pine wood. Troy responds that the hard wood he bought may just last forever. This exchange highlights Troy's own unreasonable feelings of invincibility. He compares his own life to that of the fence he is building, meant to be a symbol for Troy's emotional hardness. Troy's fence becomes not just a barrier to his relationships with his family but also a monument to his failings as a father and husband.

Bono sees Rose's fence as a defining symbol of her qualities as a wife and mother, correctly fearing her family's relationships are falling apart. Bono, an outsider but frequent guest, can see Rose trying to protect the family and what they have. A fence, symbolically, will keep the Maxson family together. This is all Rose wants; a purpose she has dedicated her life to. Bono observes that the fence is symbolic of both the negative and positive aspects of the Maxson family. His

reference to the people who build fences to push people away from them is indirectly aimed at Troy who, with his affair, will eventually hurt his wife and who is already in the midst of hurting his son Cory by preventing him from a hopeful future. We never learn the practical reason why Rose wants the fence built. Perhaps she wants Troy and Cory to bond while making a fence together. Perhaps she thinks it is a way to keep her eye on Troy. Wilson never allows us into that part of Rose's thinking, so the fence, like Bono's description, leaves the observer to interpret the meaning of the fence for themselves. Troy is embarrassed that Bono has to explain to him Rose's purpose. His embarrassment and Bono's sincere concern encourages Troy to tell the truth about the affair with Alberta. Troy takes up with Alberta as a way of freeing himself from responsibility. In a reversal of roles, Bono now offers advice and instruction to his friend, even repeating Troy's words back to him: "You responsible for what you do.” Their relationship, like all of Troy's important relationships, is on the verge of great change. Troy's actions have been revealed as hypocritical and selfish. He has lost his way and soon will lose his family.

Troy's admittance of unfaithfulness to Rose is ironical. It is with some irony that Troy has such a difficult time telling Rose that he is going to be a father since she could question whether he has been much of a father to Cory or Lyons. The tone of the play now becomes angrier and more sorrowful. Rose cries out to her husband that she tried to be everything for him that a wife should be.

We now see Troy for the truly selfish person that he is. The first act of the play was spent with Troy waxing eloquently, if harshly, on the necessities of responsibility and duty to family. It is clear now that those words were hollow. When Rose tries to reach out to him, Troy only retreats further into himself, claiming that he was with Alberta because she gave him feelings that his family could not give him. Troy is now a man of inconsistency. It is important to note the choice of language that Troy reverts to after admitting his affair. Troy attempts to explain his actions in the mode of a baseball announcer. This only underscores his self-centeredness, however. Troy creates a game out of his life and places himself as the star player. He uses baseball analogies to try and explain the kind of life that was handed to him versus the kind of life that he desires for himself. The analogies, however, fall flat and Rose is unconvinced. Rose tries to explain to him how his selfishness takes from her and Cory as well, but Troy is not willing to hear this.

 Troy's clinging to baseball analogies in some ways shows he has never moved past this disappointment in his life. As Rose has often pointed out, he was too old to play baseball by the time he got out of prison— an idea he has always rejected. A part of him isn't mature enough to accept true responsibility for his choices.

In physically grabbing Rose, Troy reaches out to her symbolically as well, but his gesture comes too late and only makes things worse. Cory's actions show that he will stand by his mother. He has been trying to throw off his father's yoke, and Troy's affair gives him another reason to want to. With Troy's declaration that Cory now has strike two, the tension rises still further. Cory attacks Troy to protect Rose, defying the obedience Troy has aggressively demanded of Cory which lays the groundwork for a culminating incident caused by Troy's mistakes. 

SUMMARY OF PAGE 76 TO 80

ALBERTA DIES AT CHILDBIRTH AND TROY CONFRONTS MR DEATH (PP. 76-80)

 It is six months later. Troy walks out of the house and Rose stops him. She has not had a conversation with Troy for six months, though he is still living in their house. Rose speaks to Troy for the first

time by asking him if he is planning on coming home after work the next day, Friday. Troy has been going to Alberta's house every Friday after work, even though he still says that he goes to Taylor's. Troy tells Rose that he plans on going to Taylor's. Rose asks that Troy come

straight home. Troy explains that he wants to have some time to himself to relax and enjoy life. Fed up with Troy, Rose warns Troy that she does not have much more patience for his behaviour. Troy discloses hurtful news to Rose that he is actually going over to the hospital to see Alberta

who went into labour early. Rose matches Troy's bad news. Gabriel has been taken away from Miss Pearl's that afternoon to

the asylum because Troy signed papers granting permission for half of Gabe's money from the government to go to Troy and half to the hospital. Troy is confused and hurt. He had thought that the papers he signed were the release forms to allow Gabe out of jail. He had made a mistake

in sending Gabe away because he could not read the papers that he signed. Troy denies having signed the papers, but Rose saw Troy's signature on the document. Rose is furious at Troy for not signing the papers so Cory could go to college to play football and then signing the papers for Gabe to be locked up in a mental hospital. Rose warns Troy that he will have to answer to his misdeed. “You did Gabe just like you did Cory," she tells him. "You wouldn't sign the paper for Cory...but you signed for Gabe." She tells him that he signed his brother's life away for half his money. The phone rings and Rose leaves to answer it. She returns a moment later and tells Troy that Alberta has had her baby. Troy is excited and wants to know the gender. Rose tells him that it is a girl and Troy tries to leave to go see her. Then, Rose tells him that Alberta died having the baby.

Rose is worried about who will bury her, but Troy is defiant.

Troy asks Rose for some space. He walks around the yard and enters into "a quiet rage that threatens to consume him." He has a conversation with "Mr Death" and tells him that he will build a fence around his yard to keep what belongs to him. Troy dares Death to confront him "man to man," still confident that he would win. Death can bring his army, but Troy tells him that he "ain't gonna fall down on my vigilance this time." 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 76 TO 80

 At this point the family has been completely shattered. Troy and Rose have become like roommates who barely speak. Yet for Troy things seem not that different from how they ever were: He

continues to take care of his responsibilities as he sees them by coming home from work every night and giving his paycheck to Rose. Yet Troy's insistence on spending time at the bar so he can "have a little time to himself" fools no one. It is obvious he will be going to see Alberta. Rose will simply have to find her own pleasure in life. By insisting that Troy comes home after work, Rose tries to salvage what little spousal bond she has with Troy. Rose isn't the only one Troy has left behind. Gabriel is noticeably absent, and Troy has neglected that relationship as well. Possibly Troy tells the truth when he says he didn't know what he was signing, since he can't read. Yet this claim is at odds with Troy's usual self-portrayal as someone who is powerful and in control. Earlier he accepted a job as a driver despite not having a license nothing was going to stop Troy. Now he rejects responsibility for an arrangement that benefits him. The truth is that Troy has more obligations with Alberta and a baby on the way. Just as when Lyons and his mother first came into the picture, Troy cannot handle his obligations. It appears that Troy has gone against his own principles, selling his brother out to gain control of his disability pay. Troy's illusionary world bursts when the phone call from the hospital discloses that Alberta died in childbirth, and Troy is now responsible for a healthy baby girl. Ironically, Troy's escape from responsibility produced a huge responsibility, his baby, Raynell. The peak of Troy's mistakes occurs after Rose sticks up for herself and tells him the truth of her sacrifice and commitment to Troy even though she has been disappointed with their life. Troy takes out his anger on Rose because of his anger about Alberta's death and his frustration with himself for failing Gabe, Rose is put in the difficult situation of bearing the news of Alberta's death. Her worry about who will bury the woman foreshadows the ways in which Rose takes on Alberta's responsibilities in life, namely raising her daughter. In this turn of events, it is Rose that is shown to be the truly responsible member of the Maxson family. While up to this point we had only seen Rose as the passive domestic partner, it is clear now that Rose is truly the foundation of the family. This becomes truer as she takes Raynell as her own.

News of Alberta's death leads to another confrontation between Troy and Mr Death. The fence Rose wanted built to keep the family in has never been built; with the family shattered, it no longer has any purpose in Rose's eyes. But Troy now wants the fence to keep Death out. Troy puts up walls and draws clear relationship boundaries when it comes to his family. Now he is trying to do the same thing with Death.

 Troy's conversation with "Mr Death" is a dramatization of his fear of dying. In several instances, most notably his bout with pneumonia, Troy casts himself as narrowly escaping death. For Troy, death is something that is always near to him. Only through his wits is he able to escape it. Alberta's death is a kind of wake-up call for Troy. It is a realization that he has fallen down on his duties as a man and as a human being. Troy's fence now becomes a fence of safety. Instead of keeping his family away from him, his fence is now meant to hold everyone inside. 

SUMMARY OF PAGE 81 TO 82

TROY BRINGS HOME HIS MOTHERLESS DAUGHTER, RAYNELL (PP. 81-82)

It's three days later. Rose is sitting on the porch, listening to a ballgame. Troy brings home his motherless baby, Raynell, wrapped in blankets. There's a long, awkward silence. He sits on the porch singing Troy tells his wife that he's holding his daughter. He says the girl is innocent and doesn't have a mother. Rose brushes Troy off and goes back inside. Troy sits down on the porch with Raynell. He bemoans the fact that neither of them has a home now. Troy sings Raynell a lullaby; a blues song about a man begging a train engineer to let him ride the train in hiding, for free.

 Rose comes back out on the porch. Troy tells Rose that the baby has no mother, but Rose is indignant. Talking to the baby, but speaking loud enough for Rose to hear, Troy says that he feels no guilt for what he has done because, “it felt right in my heart." He pleads with Rose to take in the baby because she is family and is all he has. Rose concedes and tells Troy, "this child got a mother. But you a womanless man." 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 81 TO 82

Troy finally has no choice but to bear his burden in hand. Troy shows a tenderness absent till now He is vulnerable and has nowhere to go. It's ironic that Alberta appealed to Troy because she enabled him to escape responsibility. Now with Alberta gone, Troy has the greatest responsibility of all - raising a motherless child. He realizes that he can't handle this responsibility and reache out to Rose, for whom the child is a symbol of Troy's betrayal. The baby is the only person left in Troy's world who will listen to Troy with an open mind. The porch used to be an arena for Troy's viewpoints and Troy's vision of the world. Now all Troy may have left in the world is his baby who does not know any better but to listen to him and depend on his love. Initially, Rose walks away from Troy. His audience has disappeared, and he is left alone on the porch with just the baby. When Troy talks to the baby, he intends for Rose to hear his words. Even though he needs Rose's help, he has no regrets about what has occurred because, as he says, "it felt right in my heart." For a man referring to his heart, he shows little understanding or appreciation for other people's feelings. The lyrics of Troy's train song mimic his predicament with Rose and Raynell. He is homeless unless Rose takes pity on him and takes him in which, after his betrayal of her trust, would also be an act of granting a free ride to a manbwho has more than spent his chances for forgiveness. Moreover, Wilson's choice in writing Troy a song based on an experience with a train follows a literary tradition in African-American literature and an oral tradition in African-American spirituals of associating trains with moments of significant life changing experiences. Specifically, trains have come to represent a crossroads in a person's life in the African-American tradition. Frequently, these references to trains also have a religious connotation. In African-American spirituals, trains often meant a ride to heaven and a ticket away from the troubles of life on earth. 

Rose takes pity on Raynell, since "a motherless child has got a hard time." This is true not only of Raynell, but also of Troy himself. Troy said earlier he was born with two strikes against him apparently referring to his absent mother and cruel father. Rose may recognize that with a more loving parent, Troy might have been a more loving person. Rose will give Raynell the type of life she would want for her own child. Rose taking Raynell as her own daughter is powerful in expressing both what Troy has gained and lost during the play. Troy has obvious affection for his child. The fact that he has owned his fatherhood and taken in the child shows that he is not completely heartless. However, he is also powerless and can do nothing but ask for Rose's help. Troy's selfishness remains just below the surface during all of this and he cannot help but protest by explaining why he does not apologize. The motif of fathers and sons returns when Rose says, "you can't visit the sins of the father upon the child." This saying has religious overtones and is a precursor of Rose's turning away from Troy and towards the church. The cycle of misery bestowed by fathers on their children will stop with Raynell. The cycle that began with Troy's father and focused exclusivelybon responsibility will not go on Rose also makes a religious reference with her justification for accepting Raynell as her own child. She attributes her reasoning to her understanding that Raynell is innocent even though she was born out of a sinful partnership. Rose rejects Troy as her partner because she takes seriously the Biblical commandment that decrees, "Thou shalt Not Sin," but finds forgiveness for the child born to her sinful husband because of her belief that “when the sins of our fathers visit us/we don't have to play host/we can banish them with forgiveness/as God in his largeness and laws. To Rose, it is a godly act to bring Raynell into her home and a blessing to behold in the midst of her pain.  Troy's infidelity is a symbol of the destruction of the American Dream. Wilson's play is, in effect a critique of that dream. Though the American Dream has been defined in many different ways.

 Wilson uses his play to show the audience the ways in which the American Dream has been defined for the African-American community by forces outside of that community. Troy's life would seem to be following that dream - he is slowly rising into the middle class, he has a family, and even owns his house which will soon have a picket fence. This dream is an impossibility, however. It is Troy's flaws that destroy this dream. 

Summary of page 83 to 92

 TROY AND CORY BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY AND CONTROL (PP. 83-92)

 Two months later, Lyons comes calling to pay Troy back twenty dollars that he owes hím. Rose is preparing to go to church and tells Lyons that Troy will return shortly. Cory enters just as Lyons is leaving and Lyons tells him he is sorry to have missed his graduation ceremony because he had a jazz gig. Cory says he is trying to find a job now. Cory goes to the tree and picks up the baseball bat and swings at an imaginary pitch. Troy enters and the two eye each other before Troy goes into the house. It is Troy's payday. Rose is more independent. Troy heats up his own food for dinner and Rose feels she can come and go without reporting to Troy when she is coming back or what she is doing. Troy drinks without Bono and sings a blues song to himself about an old dog named Blue. Bono stops by the house.

They are no longer close friends. Bono and Troy do not work on the same trash route anymore now that Troy has been promoted to drive a truck in Greentree, a white neighbourhood. Troy and Bono catch up with each other. They talk about their hopes for an early retirement and their wives. Rose is more religious now and more dedicated to her church. Troy invites Bono to stay and drink like old times, but Bono plays dominoes every Friday with other men at a man named Skinner's house. Troy and Bono acknowledge how each man made good on his bet; Troy finish d the fence for Rose and Bono bought Lucille the refrigerator. Troy and Bono half-heartedly agree to meet up someday at Bono's house. Bono goes to his domino game. Troy continues to drink and sing by himself.  Cory comes back and steps over Troy on the porch without saying excuse me. Troy picks a fight with Cory. Cory isn't afraid of Troy. Troy asserts his manhood and role as father by forcing the respect issue with Cory who disrespectfully refuses to say “excuse me” to his father. Troy insists that Cory leave the house and provide for himself since he does not respect him as the man of the house and the breadwinner who provides for Cory. Troy flaunts how long and how much he has provided for Cory, but Cory refuses to give Troy much credit for the material things Troy gave him because Troy gave so little loving care to Cory and made him fear his own father.

 Cory brings up Troy's recent failings with Rose and lets Troy know he disapproves. Troy again insists that Cory leave to be out on his own and go as far to say, "You just another nigger on the street to me!" Cory angrily retorts that Troy never did anything for him except “try and make me scared of you." He tells him that Rose is scared of him too and this angers Troy even more. Cory dares him to fight. Cory points out that the house and property from which Troy is throwing Cory out, should actually be owned by Gabriel whose government cheques paid for most of the mortgage payments. 

Troy physically attacks Cory. Cory swings at Troy with a baseball bat but does not hit Troy because he would probably kill him. Troy taunts Cory and then gets the bat away from Cory in a struggle. Troy stands over Cory with the bat and kicks Cory out of the house with finality. Cory leaves, saying he'll be back for his things. Troy tells Cory that he will not let Cory inside, but that he will leave Cory's belongings on the other side of the fence. Cory leaves.  Troy swings the baseball bat, taunting Death to try to face him. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PAGE 83 TO 92

 This Friday night is different from others. Several things are different now. Troy is alone with his bottle. Bono comes by but only to say a quick hello. Bono used to look up to Troy. But, since Troy's betrayal of Rose, Bono does not see his old friend in the same way. The bond between them has been severed. Bono, who used to adore Troy and play the follower to Troy's lead in the friendship, now has a social life independent of Troy. Bono has a new group of friends who celebrate payday without Troy. Troy and Bono no longer work on the same trash route. Troy's promotion has landed him a job driving a truck in Greentree, a white neighbourhood. Souring the sweetness of the promotion, Troy's new job is lonely because he has no one to talk to during the day. 

 Rose no longer has time for Troy. Whereas before Rose came when he called and joined him in a dinner she made for him and anyone else who was around, Rose now does her own thing. She leaves food for him in the oven and goes off on her own. She doesn't even think Troy deserves to know what time she will be home. In fact, loneliness defines every aspect of Troy's life. He is alone at work, on payday afternoons and weekends, as well as with his family and in his love life. Troy's actions have come back to haunt him. His onversation with Bono attempts to catch-up and heal an irreparable friendship. After a few months, Bono and Troy seem like strangers to each other, grasping onto aspects of each other that they used to know well. The sequence between them creates sympathy for Troy and for Bono. There is an unspoken understanding between them. They both know that if Troy had heeded Bono's advice to stop his affair, life would be better for Troy now.

When Cory tells Lyons he is looking for a job, we realize that things might have been better for Cory if Troy had signed the recruitment papers. Cory leaves the yard the minute Troy enters it. He has nothing to say to Troy, whom he blames for everything. Father and son can hardly see eye to eye again. When Cory enters again, the fight between father and son is inevitable. Although Troy is the instigator of the altercation, Cory is ready to let go of his frustration. Troy reiterates the old theme of how he has given Cory "everything": that is, a place to sleep and food to eat - as if that is all a child needs. Cory is disgusted with his father and has a list of grievances, including the way Troy treated Rose and how he held him back. Just like his father before him, Troy has a physical confrontation with his son, which leads to the son leaving. The battle in front of the yard between Cory and Troy represents a complete destruction of the African-American dream. Cory is blunt in forcing Troy to confront his own inadequacies and yet it is Troy who is still the more powerful man. In this encounter, Troy who was singing his father's song before Cory came up, copies the very actions he so despised in his father. He becomes his father. He kicks Cory out of the house just as his own father kicked him out of his boyhood home. In a cycle, Troy has become the thing that he hated most For Cory, leaving his father's house is his entrance to manhood, just as it was for Troy when he left his father's house.  Troy swinging the baseball bat and taunting Death to confront him signifies a renewed belief in his strength because he defeated Cory. Troy is now ready for death but he has to fight a hard fight when death comes.