Father+and+Son+Relationships


=Father and Son Relationships= ====   ==== //In the play ////Fences //// by August ////Wilson ////, the three father-son relationships that are introduced are seemingly complex and abstruse. However, it is clear and definite that the relationships established between ////Troy //// and his father, ////Troy //// and Cory, and ////Troy //// and ////<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lyons ////<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> are not love-driven relationships. In each, the son tries to escape and break off from the constraints the father sets up. Nevertheless, in the end, these attempts to escape prove futile as the father seems to have an everlasting effect on the sons, creating a cycle of actions that both the father and son undertake in the course of their lives. //

"// Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain't cared nothing about no kids. [...] But I'll say this for him...he felt a responsibility toward us." // // (I,iv, pg 50) //

 * Troy 's father has influenced the way Troy treats his children even though Troy tried to escape his father by leaving home at a young age.
 * While Troy looks down on his father disparagingly, he still acts in the same way towards his children as his father did towards him. Therefore, Troy is being hypocritical.
 * Just like Troy and his mother left Troy's father because they "couldn't stand that evilness" (I,iv,pg.51), Troy's actions similar to his father foreshadows a parallel result. Consequently, Rose and Cory eventually leave him.

II. TROY & CORY
== Troy is unwilling to let Cory live a life Cory envisions, resulting in a very strained relationship between the two. Although Cory tries to break free of his father's motives, he ends up living a life where his father seems permanently present. ==

> //"**Just cause you didn't have a chance! You just scared I'm gonna be better than you, that's all."** (I,iv, pg. 58)// > // " //**// I can't drag Papa with me everywhere I go. I've got to say no to him. One time in my life I've got to say no //**// ." (II,v, pg. 96) //
 * // "I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get //.”** //(I,iii, pg. 39)//
 * Troy and Cory's relationship is bitter and tense, primarily caused by Troy's bitter and hostile attitude that stems from his past. Troy blames racism for keeping him from reaching his dreams, and he can't seem to let go of this resentment. Therefore, when Cory follows Troy's path in sports, Troy denies his son the opportunity to achieve what he couldn't.
 * It is apparent that Troy is both jealous and protective of Cory--he is afraid Cory will achieve what was denied of him, but also wants Cory to veer away from the racism Troy faced.
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-font-kerning: 0pt">   Troy 's intention of protecting Cory from the likelihood of having his dreams crushed is genuine; however, his means of doing so are extreme. Troy is constantly trying to shape Cory into the person he wants him to be, rather than allow him to explore possibilities and make his own decisions in life.
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"> Troy is too stubborn to awaken to the reality of things, and thereby unable to accept that racial discrimination has been somewhat alleviated since he was Cory's age. Their different perceptions on playing sports (baseball and football) in a supposedly racist society causes their relationship to become even more estranged.
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"> Although it seems as though Cory is determined to escape from what his father wants, he still takes the same path his father went on. This ironic situation is shown through this statement made by Troy, who wants Cory to not become like him. Cory throughout the play is also trying to pursue this individuality, but ends up chasing after his dreams in a sport, just like Troy.
 * Cory faces a battle inside him as he tries to form a unique identity separate from his father; however, Troy is resistant to Cory's attempts at individuality.
 * Troy's efforts to restrain Cory from being an individual character makes Cory take on drastic measures in an effort to become the person he wants to be.
 * These drastic measures includes verbal violence, as seen here. Troy restrains Cory from pursuing his dreams so much that it builds up to a point where Cory points out the truth that Troy is so afraid to hear. Even though they are both into sports, it acts as a barrier between them from ever becoming close.
 * This confrontation results in Troy counting numbers until Cory "strikes out", further adding tension to their relationship. Again, baseball, seen through the reference to "striking out" serves as a tension builder in their relationship.
 * As Cory and Troy 's relationship degenerates throughout the course of the play, Cory himself also changes. He begins as someone full of hope and opportunity, but eventually becomes as disillusioned just as Troy was.
 * It is evident that Troy has an empowering effect on Cory--Cory ends up in the Marine Corps instead of achieving his football dreams, just as Troy ended up also not pursuing his baseball  dreams.
 * When Cory refuses to attend his father's funeral, he seems to become more like his father who was also unwilling to face the truth.

//**"I come by to see you...ask for ten dollars and you want to talk about how I was raised. You don't know nothing about how I was raised."**// //(I,i,pg.18-19)//
 * Lyons weekly ritual of going to Troy to ask for money on payday shows a complex relationship between the two.
 * Lyons essentially grew up in a single-parent household because during Lyon 's youth years, Troy was in prison. Consequently, it seems as if Troy 's long-term absence away from Lyons during those years has built up some guilt inside of him, and tries to compensate this by providing money to his now grown-up son when he needs it.
 * Although Lyons seems to disapprove the way Troy raised him, he still goes to him for money. This contradictory act by Lyons shows that Troy still seems to have an impact on Lyons 's life although they were not together for most of it.

//** “( Lyons ** **: [Going into his pocket.]) Say, look here, Pop...”** (I,iv,pg. 46) //
 * Even though Lyons is already a grown-up man (34 years old), he still depends on his father who provides him money.
 * Here, Lyons is trying to prevent himself from taking more money from his father and depending on his father too much by returning all the money he borrowed from him. This act of "going into his pocket" and giving back all the money Lyons owes Troy is a gesture of independence and freedom, as if Lyons is removing all reliance and dependence he has on Troy out of himself.
 * Ironically, even though Lyons tries to push his father away, he still turns out to be much like his father. Instead of achieving his dreams as a musician, Lyons ends up in jail, just like his father.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 宋体; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes"> ==== The father-son relationships presented in the //Fences// can best be shown as the water cycle. Water is an essential part of life, and no matter how far we try to escape from it (if we dare), it is inevitable that water is present everywhere. This prevailing presence of water also links in with the relationships between the fathers and sons in the play. Because of the way Troy ’s father treats his family, his actions drive Troy in leaving the house in attempt to escape. Despite his efforts to escape from his father, his father seems to have an undying effect on Troy, as seen with the way Troy treats his family, which also drives his own family members to desert him. Due to Troy ’s harsh personality that was developed from his father (and developed from the past), his relationships with his sons are complicated. Troy ’s narrow-mindedness causes both Cory and Lyons to push him away from their lives; however, Troy seems to have a powering impact on both sons’ lives, with them ending up very much like Troy. Just like when water from a body of water evaporates into the air, it must return back down to Earth eventually. This repetition of events with water is similar to the relationship between the fathers and the sons in //Fences//, suggesting a cycle of actions between them regardless of the sons' actions. ====