Introduction
In any normal setting, family and society conflicts are inevitable, whereby people misunderstand one another. People have different perspectives on how they view different life instances. Notably, what seems to be correct to one might be wrong to another, leading to a conflict. In playwriting, developing a conflict is essential as it helps to lead the reader to the climax of the story, hence making it interesting. There are different forms of conflicts in the community, including individual vs. society, individual vs. himself, individual vs. family, and equally, individual vs. death. Troy seems unaware of the present society, considering that he operates as though he is in the past slavery era, hence a critical conflict source. He opposes everything that his children, Lyons and Cory, want to pursue in life. Connectedly, in the short story “Fences,” the conflict between Troy and his Family is vivid, as exemplified when he argues with his son Cory, his wife Rose, Lyons, and with his late father.
Troy vs. Cory
Troy represents the present Society, whereby parents argue with their children to the extent of fighting. In the short story “Fences,” Troy quarrels with his son, Cory, to the point of fighting. Skeptically, when Troy tells his son that he will not participate in the football league, Cory tells him that he is a “crazy old man”(Wilson, 2017, Act 2, Scene 4, line 87). Cory swings with the baseball bat but does not hit him because he would have probably killed him. Troy manages to take the bat while standing over him in this agonizing struggle and kicks him out of the house. When Rose urges Troy to tell Cory that he loves him, he refuses, insisting that he is doing everything as a father to keep his children comfortable. Understandably, Troy’s way of handling Cory embraces skepticism since he does not want him to engage in playing football. He is jealous of his child, internally basing his decision to stop Cory from pursuing his career because he was equally not allowed to play baseball. Therefore, the Troy vs. Family conflict is evident because of his fight with Cory.
Troy vs. Rose
The conflict between Tory and their family is evident, basing his verbal engagements with his wife, Rose. As presented in the text, Rose scolds Tory that he yearned to enjoy life with other men but decided to be loyal to him because of “the vows that she took” (Wilson, 2017, Act 2, Scene 2, line 21). Understandably, the disagreement between Troy and Rose commences when she realizes that his husband is unfaithful because he has been having a secret affair with Alberta, who died due to maternal complications while giving birth. However, she wholeheartedly decides to take care of the infant, Raynell, who has been left by the deceased mother (Rawson, 2019). Significantly, it becomes evident that Troy causes the trouble and that Rose is a nice lady, concerned about the well-being of her family. Rose’s decision to adopt Raynell and urging Troy to assure his love for their son Cory critically indicates that she likes making peace and harmony among her family members. Thus, it is worth noting that the conflict in the short story “Fences” is between Troy vs. Family, considering his misunderstanding with Rose because of cheating.
Troy vs. Lyons
Troy develops a communication breakdown with his family, considering the way that he handles Lyons. According to Mashaiekhy and Pishkar (2018), Troy treats characters in a way that exemplifies inequality instead of acting more as a father figure. In the text, when Lyons asks for ten dollars from his father, Troy, he laments the awkward way Lyons was “nurtured since childhood” (Wilson, 2017, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 17). He responded by challenging his father for being absent since childhood, considering that Troy was jailed for fifteen years. What pains him most is that he primarily depends on his girlfriend, Bonnie, while pursuing his music career and hoping that he will make it in the industry one day. Troy’s sentiments about how Lyons was raised when he asks for ten dollars are offensive since a loving father cannot think of saying to their children despite the disturbance magnitude a specific child can cause. Troy misses the strong bonding with his children, a scenario that is costing his relationship with them. Therefore, Troy vs. family conflict is evident due to the deteriorating relationship with his son, Lyons.
Troy vs. Father
Troy describes his later father’s understanding in the reader’s mind that there is a conflict between the two. The character opines that his father was evil to the extent that no woman would “stay with him for long” (Wilson, 2017, Act 2, Scene 4, Line 3). Understandably, Troy is angry at his father, considering that he has lived to embrace loneliness without his mother’s presence. According to Bourgin et al. (2019), psychology dictates that the environment has a massive impact on a person’s behavior. Arguably, Troy’s father was a slave, hence presenting the argument that the harsh restrained environment might have engineered his aggressiveness under the control of the slave masters. On the same note, Troy emulates his father’s character, who says that despite being evil and whose behaviors could not allow a woman to stay, he was “supportive to his eleven children” (Wilson, 2017, Act 2, Scene 4, line 53). He tries to emulate the same behavior, but his approach leads to his bonding with his children and wife deteriorating. Hence, the conflict between Troy and his Family is evident because he describes his late father.
Conclusion
Conclusively, it is paramount to note that conflicts are normal in any societal setting. In August Wilson’s short story “Fences,” the conflict between Troy and his Family is vivid, as exemplified when he argues with his son Cory, his wife Rose, Lyons, and with his late father. Conflicts are part of life, and what determines how well a family can live is how one tries to resolve the disagreements. Troy’s main reason for developing conflict with his family members is that he does not understand the current Society. He tries to embrace the same harsh family management strategies his father was using during the slavery era. Moreover, Troy’s behavior is typically influenced by his early childhood environment. He sees family and children as people he needs to provide for material necessities instead of spending more time with his children and wife to enhance the bonding between them. People must incorporate excellent critical thinking skills to solve problems. Therefore, the Troy vs. family conflict develops a critical interpretation that parents need to embrace fidelity, take good care of their families, and equally be understanding as a way of solving diverse feuds.
References
Bourgin, D. D., Peterson, J. C., Reichman, D., Russell, S. J., & Griffiths, T. L. (2019). Cognitive model priors for predicting human decisions. In International Conference on Machine Learning, pp. 5133-5141.
Mashaiekhy, M., & Pishkar, K. (2018). Absurdity of Wilson’s Female Characters’ survival, success, spirituality, and their siren position. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 5(4), 210-223.
Rawson, C. (2019). August Wilson Estate, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and August Wilson House establish August Wilson Century Cycle Awards. August Wilson Journal, 1, 1-4.
Wilson, A. (2017). Fences. In L. Kirszner & S. Mandell (Eds.), Portable literature: Reading, reacting, writing, (9th Ed.) (pp. 1270-1331). Cengage Learning.