Family Responsibility in August Wilson's Fences
This essay analyzes the theme of family responsibility in August Wilson's play Fences, focusing on the protagonist Troy Maxson. Despite his deep sense of duty as a provider, Troy repeatedly undermines his own family through infidelity, pride, and emotional distance. The essay examines how Troy's affair damages his marriage to Rose, how his complex relationship with his son Cory reflects fear and misplaced love, and how Troy unconsciously replicates the trapped life of his own father. Rose's role as the moral anchor of the family and the symbolic significance of the fence are also explored. Together, these elements reveal how responsibility and self-destruction can coexist within a single character.
- Introduction: Troy Maxson introduced as flawed father and husband
- Troy's Infidelity and Its Cost to the Family: Affair and illegitimate child damage family bonds
- Pride, Fear, and the Father-Son Conflict: Troy alienates Cory through pride and hidden fear
- Troy as Provider: Duty Without Wholeness: Troy's financial duty contrasts with emotional failures
- The Weight of Inherited Responsibility: Troy unknowingly replicates his father's trapped life
- Rose, the Fence, and the Boundaries of Love: Rose and the fence symbolize family loyalty and loss
- Conclusion: Responsibility as Troy's pride and downfall
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What makes this paper effective
- The essay consistently grounds its argument in direct quotations from the play, letting the text speak for itself while maintaining analytical commentary around each passage.
- It holds the central tension of the play in focus throughout: Troy is simultaneously a devoted provider and a destructive force in his own family's life, and the essay never flattens this paradox.
- The discussion of inherited family patterns — Troy echoing his own father's trapped existence — adds a layer of thematic depth that elevates the analysis beyond surface-level character description.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates thematic textual analysis: identifying a single organizing theme (family responsibility) and tracing its expression across multiple characters, relationships, and symbols throughout the play. By connecting Troy's behavior to Rose's symbolism and his father's legacy, the essay shows how a unified theme can be illuminated through multiple narrative lenses.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens by establishing Troy's contradictory character, then moves through specific dimensions of the family responsibility theme: his affair and its aftermath, his conflict with Cory, his identity as provider, his unconscious repetition of his father's life, and finally Rose and the fence as symbolic containers for the theme. The conclusion briefly restates the thesis, tying the thematic analysis back to the play's emotional core.
Introduction
"Death ain't nothing but a fastball on an outside corner" (Wilson 10).
Troy Maxson is not a model father or husband by any means. In August Wilson's Fences, the theme of family responsibility runs through every relationship and every conflict in the play. Throughout the drama, the importance of Troy's family occupies an all-important place in his life. His sense of responsibility to his family is paramount to him, even though he does not always show it, and they do not always know it.
Troy's Infidelity and Its Cost to the Family
Troy alienates his wife, who loves him deeply, by siring an illegitimate child with his mistress, who dies giving birth. Rose, Troy's wife, agrees to raise the child, but the love between the two is forever damaged, and Rose will no longer give Troy all of her devotion. As Troy pleads with her: "Rose... I'm standing here with my daughter in my arms. She ain't but a wee bittie little old thing. She don't know nothing about grownups' business. She innocent... And she ain't got no mama" (Wilson 78). Troy has damaged the family with his thoughtless and selfish act, and they will never be the same.
Pride, Fear, and the Father-Son Conflict
Part of Troy's problem with his family stems from his massive pride and ego. While he is intensely proud of his family and his ability to provide for them, he continually rides his son Cory, alienating him just as he alienated Rose. He sends Cory away, ostensibly to make him a man, but deep down he may fear Cory — fear that the boy will become more of a success than Troy has ever been, and thus more of a "man." As Troy declares: "You a man. Now, let's see you act like one. Turn your behind around and walk out this yard. And when you get out there in the alley... you can forget about this house. See? Cause this is my house" (Wilson 86). Cory leaves, and the two do not meet again. Troy dies, and it takes his death for Cory to truly understand the complexities of his father.
Troy as Provider: Duty Without Wholeness
Troy always manages to find his way home, carrying with him his weekly sack of potatoes, lard, and his $76.42 paycheck: "It's my responsibility!" he tells Cory. "A man got to take care of his family" (Wilson 38). This declaration is the core of the play and of its relationship to family. While Troy is paradoxical in his affair and in his treatment of his son, he is adamant about his ability to provide. He is the complete opposite of the stereotypical absent Black father that recurs in so many stories — he is always there, and his family can rely on him, even if he is not the perfect father figure.
He was irresponsible in his affair, but because he takes responsibility for his newborn daughter, he still sees himself as a responsible adult and parent. What he will not do is take responsibility for looking inward — for discovering what motivates him to destroy his own relationships. It is this outward sense of duty to his family that creates much of the pride he holds in himself, and that drives him to push Cory in ways he believes, however misguidedly, serve only the boy's benefit.
Conclusion
Wilson's play explores the responsibility of family through many different angles. Troy's responsibility is his pride, and his ultimate downfall. Throughout the play, the importance of Troy's family occupies an all-important place in his life. His responsibility to his family is paramount to him, even though he does not always show it, and they do not always know it. In the end, it is precisely this blind, proud, self-defeating love that makes Troy Maxson one of the most enduring and complex figures in American drama.
References
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: New American Library, 1987.
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