Fences: Love and Husband Troy

August Wilson is known for incorporating four over line themes in his works. His work Fences, is no exception. In the Marshall Miles Lewis Talks with August Wilson interview, Wilson claims that themes in the 1900’s were “ultimately about love, honor, duty, betrayal- what I call the Big Themes” (Lewis 1028). Honor is showed when a son who was mistreated by his father comes back to pay his respect for his father’s death. Duty is presented by when a friend must end a friendship in order to keep his marriage strong. The theme love is presented by a mother who is trying to keep her family together, while her husband Troy, presents the theme of betrayal and is tearing their family apart. While all of these over line themes are incorporated in the book, betrayal is the one that Wilson expresses the most. Rose was always nagging Troy to build the fence and he never really understood why she wanted it.”Go on, Troy! You / supposed to be putting up this fence” (1.3.980). The fence for Rose meant security. It would be an easier way for her to keep her family together, especially Troy and Cory. Even the character Bono realized that “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build / fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you” (2.1.997). This action of hers shows the theme of love. Troy was always leaving and going to work and not returning home until later at night. After discovering that Troy was fathering a child with another woman, she still wanted Troy to build the fence so that he wouldn’t go wandering off with other women. Even though Troy had a tougher version of showing his love compared to Rose, he still loved his family. Many readers first think that Troy was jealous of Cory and his once in a lifetime opportunity. Or that Troy didn’t want Cory to become more successful than he was. However, Troy never understood that times had changed compared to when he was younger and was in a similar position. “The white man ain’t gonna let you get / nowhere with that football noway. You go on and get your book-learning / so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars” (1.3.983). Considering he went through such a disappointing phase, he didn’t want his son to go through the same exact feeling. Instead of just telling his son how he really felt, he decided to just keep him away from football. This then caused Troy, to put up a “fence” between him and Cory. Even though Troy cheated on Rose, he always said “I love this woman. I love / this woman so much it hurts. I love her so much…I done run out of ways of loving her” (1.1.975). The reader knows that Troy didn’t know Alberta as long as he knew Rose, after losing her while giving birth to their baby; he realized that death can take anyone away that you care about. That is where he got the motivation to start building the fence. He told death “I’m gonna build me a fence around what / belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side” (2.2.1005). Due to Troy’s past, he had a bad habit of betraying the people who were the closest to him. This led betrayal to become a reoccurring theme throughout the play. It first started when Troy’s father knocked him unconscious while he was taking advantage of a girl that he was interested in. Troy told his son Lyon’s “I layed there and cried. I didn’t know what I was gonna do. / The only thing I knew was the time had come for me to leave my daddy’s / house” (1.4.992). After that event, Troy decided to leave his home at the young age of fourteen. While adventuring on his own, he discovered that he had the potential to become a very skilled baseball player. This gift of his got him as far as the Negro Leagues, but because he was “born at the wrong time” he wasn’t able to join the Major Leagues. This disappointing news led Troy to think that he was betrayed by the population of white men. Next the reader discovers that Troy’s son Cory, was also blessed with a special talent. He was given the opportunity to play football in college. However, because Troy doesn’t want Cory to go through the same disappointment that he went through, so he decides to protect his son. Cory then tells the reader that “Papa done went up to the school and told coach Zellman I can’t play / football no more. Wouldn’t even let me play the game. Told him to tell the / recruiter not to come” (1.4.995). Without realizing that times had changed, he crushes Cory’s dream and success. While the story continues, a young man named Gabriel is introduced as being Troy’s brother. Gabriel had fought in World War II and during the battle he took some kind of impact straight to the head, causing severe brain damage. As a result of the injury, Gabriel then received checks from the government. Knowing that Gabriel couldn’t live on his own, Troy ended up taking him under his wing to help him survive. Rose claimed that “Gabe was in no condition / to manage that money. You done what was right by him. Can’t / nobody say you ain’t done what was right by him” (1.2.979). However, Troy ended up using Gabriel’s money to pay for his house without his permission or acknowledgment. Another example of betrayal that is presented throughout this play involves his brother again. Gabriel always seemed to get himself into trouble and landed himself in a jail cell waiting for Troy to pick him up. In order for Gabriel to get released, Troy had to pay a fine of fifty dollars and sign paper work that he claimed he didn’t know how to read. The reader then finds out that Gabriel is then sent to a mental hospital. Rose says that “You did Gabe just like you did Cory. You wouldn’t sign the paper for / Cory…but you signed it for Gabe. You signed that paper” (2.1.1004). Isn’t a coincidence that when he was living with Troy, Troy spent Gabe’s pay checks, but when he lived with a friend he used them on his own? Or after Troy signed this mysterious “release” paper, Troy would start receiving half of his paycheck? That is up to the reader to pick what Troy really meant to do during this situation. The last and final presentation of betrayal in this play was when Troy cheated on his wife. After all the drunk Friday nights, and taking care of children that weren’t hers, Rose didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Troy might have made several mistakes throughout his life, but he did serve some duties as being a father, a brother, and a husband. Troy’s duty as a father was to provide for his kids. Lyons the eldest son, always came to Troy on his payday and asked to borrow money. Even though Troy gave his son a hard time, he knew that his son was going through a difficult time due to the career path that he chose. “You living the fast life…wanna be a musician/…running around in them clubs and things…then, you learn to/ take care of yourself” (1.1.974). Troy also knew that Lyons was a lost cause and the only thing that he could do to help was to give him money when he needed it. Even though one son was a lost caused, he wasn’t going to let his other son Cory go down the same path. That is why he didn’t want Cory to follow a similar path as him. He wanted him to make his own unique path and to be successful at whatever he did. Another character that showed the theme of duty was Troy’s good friend Bono. They met each other while both of them were in jail. Bono was the only one that witnessed Troy’s amazing baseball skills. One night when Bono was getting ready to leave Troy’s house he told him “Hell, I love you too…but I got to get home see my woman. You got / yours in hand. I got to go get mine” (1.4.994). This was Bono’s hint to Troy that he was a lucky man to have a woman like Rose, and he should keep things the way they are. However, Bono had to make the tough decision of ending their strong friendship. The reason for this was because his wife Lucille, was friends with Rose and Bono knew Troy’s secret. He knew that is marriage was very important and deserved more attention than a friendship that was being filled with lies.
Honor was a theme that made readers think more about the characters and their actions. After Rose found out about Troy’s affair, she remained in the same house as him, and continued to be his wife. However, what she did do was that she stopped having sex with him. This showed that Rose was honorable and loyal towards their marriage. One other way that Rose demonstrated honor towards Troy, was when he asked her to take in the child that he created with another woman. She told Troy that “I’ll take care of your baby for you…cause… / like you say…she’s innocent…and you can’t visit the sins of the father / upon the child” (2.4.1006). Another way that honor was present throughout this play was with Cory. When Cory was growing up, Troy seemed to be stricter with him compared to his older brother Lyons. All Troy wanted for Cory was for him to be successful, but instead he ended up pushing Cory away from him. After having a fight with his father, Cory made the brave decision to leave home. At the end of the play, the reader finds out that Cory entered himself into the Marines and returned home to attend his father’s funeral. He claims that the only reason why he came home was because he thought he couldn’t “drag Papa with me everywhere I go. I’ve got to say no to him. / One time in my life I’ve got to say no” (2.5.1015). After Rose gave Cory a lecture about his father, he finally made the decision to go. She explained to him that Cory will be a better man than he was because of the mistakes that Troy made during Cory’s childhood. It seems that the theme of betrayal is the one that stands out the most compared to the other themes throughout this play. However, all the “Big Themes” that Wilson incorporated into Fences, allowed the reader to pick what theme was important in their opinion. Wilson did an outstanding job of showing that the actual fence in this play can symbolize different things for several characters and maybe that is why there were so many themes.

Works Cited
Lewis, Miles Marshall. “Miles Marshall Lewis Talks with August Wilson.” Ridl and Schakel 1027-29.
Ridl, Jack, and Schakel, Peter, eds. Approaching Literature. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2012. Print.
Wilson, August. “Fences.” Ridl and Schakel 963-1018.

Cited: Lewis, Miles Marshall. “Miles Marshall Lewis Talks with August Wilson.” Ridl and Schakel 1027-29. Ridl, Jack, and Schakel, Peter, eds. Approaching Literature. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2012. Print. Wilson, August. “Fences.” Ridl and Schakel 963-1018.