

But then, what other choice does she have? She admits that when Troy takes pieces of her, it is because she gives those pieces out of her own choice. Others, however, have seen Rose as occupying a feminist position she does remain a housewife and mother but only because she makes the choice for herself. Some have seen Rose as the prototypical 1950s housewife, disappearing into her husband and leaving no room for her own self to flourish.


Scholars have been divided on Rose's role in the play. Is Rose's character an example of feminism or an example of the repressed role of women in society? Troy is more concerned with an emotional fence that never permits his sons to understand his love for them. Rose attempts to keep her family within her fence by being a good and faithful wife. Jim Bono best sums up the play's overarching metaphor by explaining to Troy, "Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in.” Both Troy and Rose Maxson attempt to build emotional fences throughout the play. His battles with his sons resonate across racial and cultural lines as universal human experiences.Įxplain the play's principal metaphor of the fence. Wilson deftly creates a character who is a flawed and identifiable hero, through his responsibilities to family and his inabilities to live up to his own high expectations. Though his life is dictated by the particulars of the African American experience of the early twentieth century, his failings as a man as well as his small measures of redemption are applicable to all people. Troy Maxson is a character of universal type. Why is Troy Maxson considered an "everyman" character? He is not able to enjoy the victory that he helped bring about. Troy dies, however, in 1965, the year of the greatest legislative triumph of the Civil Rights era.

They have been maligned by white transgression in the past and yet have been able to procure a small portion of the country's booming wealth for themselves. Troy Maxson represents a previous generation that now watches the world move on around them. The setting of the play is important because the 1950's represents a time of great upheaval in race relations in the United States. Why is the setting of the play important? Troy does not have the play's last word instead, it is the fool, the representation of innocence, that finally offers Troy deliverance. He unsuccessfully tries to blow his trumpet and when that does not work, dances his brother into heaven. While the audience knows that this is not literally true, the final scene shows that Gabe becomes the play's figure of redemption. Why does Gabriel carry a trumpet around his neck?īecause of a head injury, Gabriel believes that he is the angel Gabriel and that he is able to open the gates of heaven with his trumpet.
