Fences Act 1, Scenes 3 - 4

Cory returns from football practice and asks if Rose has talked to Troy about the football recruiter. She tells him that she will talk to him about it, and she urges him to finish his chores before Troy returns. Just as Cory goes into the house to fix himself a sandwich, Troy returns from the shop and begins to flirt with Rose. She chides him playfully, and he asks after Cory. Troy asks his son to come out and help him with the fence. He criticizes Cory for going to practice without working on the fence with him, and they begin to work on the fence together. Cory asks Troy why they don’t own a TV, and Troy tells him that he isn’t interested in getting one even if everyone else has one. He tells Cory that he would rather use the same money to tar the roof, and he refuses to take credit for the TV. He proposes to chip in $100 if Cory can manage to secure the other $100 that is needed for the TV. They discuss sports, and Troy criticizes the teams that refuse to play African American players. Cory counters with examples of successful players that are African American, but Troy believes several other more deserving players haven’t received any opportunities. He believes that he is one such player, as he believes he can still outplay some of the major league players that are currently active. 

The discussion moves to the recruiter who's going to come from North Carolina to talk to Cory about having him play for the college. Troy discourages him from treating athletics as a viable career path because of his own experience. His only conditions for allowing Cory to play football are that Cory keeps up with his chores and continues with his job at the local store. Cory reveals that he had given up his regular shift because he needed to go to practice after school, but he promises to work on the weekends. This severely angers Troy, and he reprimands Cory for giving up his job. He forces Cory to return to the local store to win back his job and asks him to focus on learning a trade. Cory dejectedly agrees and turns to leave but before doing so he asks his father why he doesn’t like him. Troy hates the question and tells him that Cory is his responsibility, which has nothing to do with whether he likes him or not. Troy tells Cory that he shouldn’t worry about being liked by people but rather concentrate on ensuring that he is receiving what he deserves. After he leaves, Rose comes out to talk to Troy and she wants him to let Cory play because he is only trying to emulate Troy by playing sports. Troy wants Cory to have no life like his and wants him to learn a trade because there is no future for their people in sports. Rose asks him why he doesn’t admit that he had been too old to play in the major leagues. She believes that the world is changing and that Troy needs to keep up. He tells her that he has nothing left to give them, as he is working to his bones just to give them the life they have now.

Two weeks later on a Friday evening, Cory runs off to his football practice without cleaning his room. Just as he leaves, Bono and Troy enter, Troy is wearing formal clothes as he has just had his meeting with the commission. He and Bono are both in a genial mood because not only did they not fire him, but they promoted him to a driver. Their celebration is interrupted by the arrival of Lyon, who is visiting to return the money that Troy had lent him. Tory is reluctant to accept it and just wants him to put it in the bank. Lyon insists on returning the money and gives it to Rose, who informs him about Troy’s promotion. They playfully criticize Troy for not being able to read or have a driver’s license despite being promoted to the position of a driver. Gabe enters, and chats about Judgement day and chasing hellhounds with Lyon. Troy tells them that he had visited Cory’s workplace and learned that he had been lying about getting his job back. Lyon is happy for Cory and believes that a football career would be a good path for him.

They get to talking about their parents, and Troy talks about his terrible relationship with his father. He describes him as an evil man, who ate before his children. He was a sharecropper who became more deeply indebted to his white landlord with each harvest. Life was hard for Troy and his ten other siblings, but he appreciates his father for not abandoning his children. His father stayed with his children even though his mother left since no woman could stand to be with a man for too long. Troy finally left home at age fourteen, when his father found him naked with a young girl. He whipped Troy and tried to rape his girlfriend, so Troy attacked him. He woke up in a horrible condition, having been brutally beaten and abandoned. Troy walked several miles to the nearest city, where he experienced much hardship in securing honest work which caused him to turn to crime. He met Lyon’s mum and had him, which meant that he had to rob more people. Troy ended up killing a man with a knife, and so he was sentenced to jail for 15 years. He met Bono in prison and learned to play baseball. Upon his release, he discovered that Lyon and his mother had moved on. He found Rose and found an honest job for himself. Lyon is shocked by Troy’s history, but he has to leave when he receives a call from his partner, Bonnie. Cory returns home in a horrible temper, he is very upset with Troy because his coach didn’t let him play because Troy had rescinded his permission. Cory accuses him of being jealous, and Troy tells him that this is his first strike and that he ought to be more careful around him going forward.

Analysis

In the second half of Act 1, the story turns to examine Troy’s behavior through his history, and how it impacts the relationships in his life. Troy feels deep resentment against the athletic establishment that refused to give him his due despite his evident skill. He refuses to accept that the attitude towards African American players has changed because he believes he is still capable of outplaying the current star athletes. Rose points out that Troy needs to admit that he was too old to play for the Major Leagues but he adamantly refuses to do so. Cory believes that Troy’s reluctance about his career in football stems from jealousy rather than his desire to shield Cory from the racist athletic establishment. Both of these reasons appear to be true, Troy most certainly believes that African Americans are not treated fairly in sports and so wishes to prevent Cory from experiencing the disappointment that he felt. On the other hand, the play is set in the 1950s, the decade in which the civil rights movement began to brew. Cory cites the example of several athletes that were able to find success in sports despite their race. Troy does not acknowledge these developments, and this aspect of his behavior could be motivated by jealousy.

Troy’s relationship with his sons is rather combative and adversarial, especially with Cory. This dynamic exists because of Troy’s relationship with his father, and his experience of being turned out by him. Troy realizes at a young age that his father does not see him just as his responsibility but also as his competition. This is demonstrated in Troy overcoming the fear of his father when he attempts to chase Troy away and rape his girlfriend. Troy carries this view of the dynamic between a father and son into his relationship with Cory. He purposefully hinders Cory’s journey to college as an athlete because he believes that Cory will outdo him and thus subvert his position.