Skip to main content

What are the obstacles that prevent Troy from having what he wants?

In Fences, social problems along with a lack of emotional connection all represent obstacles that prevent Troy from having what he wants.


Troy believes he is socially marginalized.  Racial prejudice and institutional bias are factors that prevent him from achieving what he wants.  Troy feels that there is a challenge in being a man of color in America.  For example, he feels that racial integration of baseball helped to ruin his chances of pursuing his dream as a major league ballplayer. Additionally, he feels that racial bias prevents him from advancing in his job with the sanitation department. For example, Troy confronts his boss as to why whites drive the trucks but "the colored" are lifting the trash.  Troy feels that racial discrimination will never allow him to get a "paper job," a profession that affords him more money and greater social respect.  He believes that racial prejudice impedes him from the wealth and social status that could allow him to be happy, preventing him from having what he wants.


Troy is also denied from having what he wants because of emotional alienation. On many levels, Troy is divided from happiness because he is unable to emotionally bond with his family.  He feels that his family uses him for money and cannot give him what he needs.  This can be seen when he remarks to them,  "You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain't got no tears. I done spent them."  Troy feels that his family weighs him down, and this burden separates him from what he wants.  At the same time, when Troy talks about his own father being "trapped," he intimates that he himself experiences the same reality. Troy's entire desire to build the fence is a symbolic way to separate himself from a group of people who he feels will never be able to give him what he needs.  As a result,  Troy feels that his relationships with his family will never be able to yield what he wants.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more