Fences

Troy Maxson, the main character of Fences written by August Wilson, could be perceived to be racist, but I do not believe that he is. I feel he uses the words “nigger” and “cracker” very loosely. During his era, it was not an obscene word or phrase. He never speaks harshly about either race, really, but uses a matter of fact tone. He tells of being more concerned with whether or not the person is being good and fair to you, and not the color of their skin. He tells his son, Cory, to not worry about whether someone likes you, but make sure they are “doing right by you.” He never tries to teach his children to be against any particular color of person, but tries to instill in them an ethic to work hard, and not look for people to hand them anything in life. He looks for equality in races, and believes there should be no difference between people based solely upon race. He speaks seldom about sports, and in particular how he played baseball, and should have made it to the major leagues. During Act I, there is a discussion between Troy, Bono, and Rose that I found inspiring. While conversing about what Troy “could have been”, Bono made the statement that “Times have changed…You just came around too early.” Troy responded that it should not matter what color you are, if you are a good ball player then you should be able to play ball. I wholeheartedly believe in that statement.  I can appreciate how Wilson portrays the ugliness of the times without being rude and harsh. He did a magnificent job of telling the truth, and not truly making someone racist against one another. The play gives the reader an opportunity to truly see the truth of the situation for the black community during the 1950’s era and earlier.