fences

disgusted

how does Troy feel about his son playing college football?

musician

lyons is a struggling

Troy

It is soon learned that _____ used Gabe's disability wages from the Army to buy his house.

fence

A few hours later, Cory returns from football practice. Rose tells him that Troy is furious that he did not help him build the _______ in the yard.

15

After coming to Pittsburgh as a young man, Troy killed a man while trying to rob him and went to prison for _____ years.

Alberta

Bono and Troy begin to build the fence and Bono chides Troy for his scandalous relationship with a woman named ______.

Blue

Cory and Raynell sit on the front porch and sing Troy's old blues song about his dog, ____

Marine's

Cory comes into the yard dressed in a _____ uniform

Troy's funeral

Eight years pass. It is 1965 and Rose, Lyons, and Bono gather in the Maxson home for ____

"That's the way that go!"

Gabe enters the yard. It had been uncertain as to whether the mental institution where he lives would let him come, but he arrives with his trumpet, ready to blow Troy into heaven. He tries to blow the trumpet but no sound comes out. Undeterred, Gabe starts to dance, pushing Lyons away from him. As he dances, the gates of heaven open for Troy and Gabe tells them all, _________

head

Gabe suffered a _____ injury in World War II and now believes he is the angel Gabriel.

money

Lyons asks his father for

laziness

The next day Troy and Rose get into an argument over his son's apparent _________.

Raynell

Rose has been raising _____, Troy's daughter.

trumpet

gabe carries a _____ around his neck to blow and open the gates of heaven.

alberta died in childbirth

Six months pass by. Troy is going to see his newborn child when the hospital calls to tell him ____

whiskey

Troy Maxson and his friend Jim Bono share stories and a bottle of _____ on a Friday night.

Negro Leagues

Troy had once been a star in the _____________, but he was heartbroken by his barrier from the majors. He sees no better future in sports for his son.

responsibility

Troy hates his father but respects his sense of _________ to his family.

Death

Troy is enraged and begins engaging a personified ___ in conversation.

14

Troy tells the story of his own father, and how his father beat him and kicked him out of the house at _______ years old.

lyons

Troy's older son

rose

Troy's wife

football

Troy's wife, Rose, tells Troy that their son Cory is being recruited to play college _______.

driver

Two weeks later, Troy and Bono come home from work and report how Troy confronted his boss and received a promotion to be the ______ of the garbage truck.

having an affair, father of an illegitimate child

When Bono leaves, Troy admits to Rose that he is

troy (This quote, spoken by Troy after he hears the news that his mistress has died giving birth to his daughter, is a reminder to the audience that Troy's struggle is not just with his son or his wife but also with forces beyond his own earthly power. Wilson uses archetypal themes from classical Greek theater to depict the struggles of Troy Maxson. In this case, it is the struggle between heaven and hell over the soul of one man. Troy is in a constant battle with death throughout his entire life. It is a battle for his own destiny and the right to control his own fate.)

quote "Alright...Mr. Death. See now...I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? I'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. See? You stay over there until you're ready for me. Then you come on. Bring your army. Bring your sickle."

troy (In this conversation between father and son, Cory unearths Troy's deep seeded emotions towards his family. Though he does love his family, and his tenderness and concern are on display in other scenes, Troy has come to a point in his life where he finally becomes broken by the responsibility of caring for them. Responsibility, in Troy's world, is the most noble calling of a man. This responsibility, however, has caused Troy to become a bitter man. He cannot "like" his son because of his own desire that Cory not become like him.)

quote "Cory: How come you ain't never liked me? " Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you?"

gabriel (Gabriel Maxson speaks the play's final line. After Troy dies, Gabriel shows up at the house with his trumpet, ready to "tell St. Peter to open the gates." As he tries to blow his trumpet, no sound comes out and Gabriel begins a strange dance. It is a dance of grief and trauma but also a foolish dance. Wilson turns the traditional ending of the play on its head; the protagonist, Troy, does not have the play's final word. Instead, it is the "fool," Gabriel, who ends the play with a simple declaration that fate has finally taken its man. Gabriel does not let anything keep him from redeeming his brother and sending him into heaven.)

quote "That's the way that go!"

lyons (This line is spoken by Troy's oldest son, Lyons. Troy chides Lyons for being lazy and poor and for not wanting to get a real job in the sanitation department or with some other company. Lyons spends his nights in the jazz clubs as a musician. Troy, however, has only a limited say in how Lyons lives his life because Lyons was raised by his mother while Troy was in jail. Though Troy teases his oldest son, the audience sees that Troy begrudgingly respects his son for being his own man and for doing what he loves even at the expense of stability. It is a choice that Troy feels he was never able to make.)

quote "You and me is two different people, Pop."

troy (Troy speaks this line to his youngest son, Cory, as they work together to build the fence that Rose has been asking for around their yard. Troy is troubled by Cory's interest in sports and the opportunity that he is being given to play football on scholarship at a college. Troy feels that his own years playing professional baseball in the Negro Leagues was time wasted; that the white powers of control conspired against him and prevented him from being recognized as the great player that he was. In response to this disappointment, Troy demands that his son give up a dream that he believes will only break his heart.)

quote "You go on and get your book-learning so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can't nobody take away from you.

rose (Rose Maxson speaks these lines to her son Cory after Troy's death. Cory struggles with being released from his father's hold. Cory finds that his father's control extends beyond the grave. In this scene, Rose attempts to offer some measure of redemption for her husband. Here, she sums up Troy's conflicting relationship with his sons. He strongly desired that his sons not be forced to endure the disappointment that he himself faced during his life, yet he also could not stand for Cory, the boy he raised, to overtake him as patriarch.)

quote "Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't...and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don't know if he was right or wrong...but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm."

bono (This line occurs during a conversation between Troy and his friend Bono. Here, Bono succinctly sums up the overarching metaphor of the play. Though Troy initially asks why Rose would want to build a physical fence, Bono understands the symbolic importance. Rose builds her symbolic fence to keep her husband and her son together. She attempts to keep her family inside the home. Troy, on the other hand, builds symbolic fences of dedication and responsibility, aspirations so high that neither he nor his sons can live up to them. These fences push people away and, in the end, Troy loses his wife and son because of the lofty standards he cannot reach)

quote Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in.

1957

the play begins in

freedom vs. protection

theme The fence in August Wilson's play serves as a symbol of conflicting desires. In one sense, Troy and Rose seek to build a fence to keep the world out of their lives. Rose's desire for a fence symbolizes the way in which she seeks to protect her family. She knows that Troy's checkered past is always there and that he is, perhaps, only moments away from making decisions that forever affect her and her child. Rose's fence seeks to keep the family in and the dangerous world out. It is a symbol of protection. Though Troy seeks to protect his family and his way of life, the fence also becomes a symbol of discontent in his own life. In his confrontation with Rose, Troy exclaims that he has spent his whole life providing for the family. He has been the protector and defender of a quiet, normal life. The fence, therefore, does not protect Troy but instead keeps him from achieving his ultimate desire for individuality and self actualization.

the ideal of responsibility

theme Troy Maxson is a man who takes seriously his responsibility for his family. His seriousness also becomes his greatest liability. Troy is a man caught between his own desire for freedom, embodied in his affair with Alberta and his fathering of an illegitimate child, and his fierce sense of loyalty to his wife, children, and brother. Troy's sense of responsibility comes from his own father's bitter care for him and his siblings. His father's loyalty to his family can be seen as poisonous; his father's betrayal poisons his own relationship with Corey. Ultimately, Troy becomes his father. He abandons Rose for another woman and stubbornly refuses to repent for his sins. He also abandons his own brother and son, severing his relationships in his own quest for freedom. Troy demonstrates the idea that responsibility becomes as much a liability as a virtue.

the american dream

theme Troy Maxson is the embodiment of an African-American generation, growing up in the post-World War II era, that finds itself finally able to realize the American ideal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Troy has become more successful than his father, who remained a poor sharecropper and never owned his own land or property but, instead, paid all his wages and his life to an unjust land owner. Troy has bought his own house (though he feels guilty about the methods of payment). And in his sexual relationships he has embodied the freedom of a man to follow his own desires in a pursuit of happiness. Troy Maxson embraces his desire to be an individual. This pursuit of the American Dream, however, is not without conflict. Troy cannot envision a generation doing more than his own accomplished. He cannot imagine his son achieving an even greater dream, and he cannot imagine a life unburdened by responsibility to family. In this way, Troy remains chained to his expectations of what a man can accomplish in the world.

gabe (gabriel maxon)

troy's brother

quit football, work at grocery store

what does troy demand from cory?

troy was in jail

when was lyons born?

august wilson

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