Home
& Family Socratic Discussion
Part
1:
Troy lives safely (Ordinary World, Limited
Awareness)
Troy finds Alberta (Big Change, Consequences,
Experimenting)
Troy steals second (Self Actualization, Mastery)
Part
2:
1. The
description of Troy as “a large man with thick, heavy hands” promotes a
powerful character. The audience sees
Troy as a force to be reckoned with, because words like “thick”, “heavy” and
“large” are normally associated with things that are strong. The second part of the stage directions—“it
is this largeness that he strives to fill out and make an accommodation with”--
almost foreshadows his goal throughout the play, by stating that Troy wants a
large life. He wants to live a life that
pleases him more than his ordinary rituals.
2. I
think that the character of Troy Maxson is believable and realistic. Many people would categorize him a bad
father, but I think that he is the best dad that he knows how to be. His affair with Alberta is because he feels like
he has played it safe his entire life, which is a concept that leads many
people to cheat on their significant others today. Troy also hard on his children, especially
when it comes to Cory and his decision to play football, because he wants their
success, like any other parent.
3. Bono
holds the role of Troy’s conscience throughout the play. He is a loyal follower and a close friend of
Troy, but his relationship with the main character is much deeper than
that. Bono helps Troy make decisions and
tries to show him right from wrong, because he truly cares about his friend; he
even tells Troy that he loves him. This
role as a conscience is clearly shown in Act 2, scene 1, when Bono advises Troy
not to mess things up with Rose, “a good woman” because of his affair with
Alberta.
4. Troy
is not a hypocrite when it comes to his assertions regarding family
responsibilities. He stays with Alberta,
because she makes his feel free, but also because they have a child
together. When Alberta dies, he feels
that he has a responsibility to take care of his innocent child. This is not much different that his
relationship with Rose and their children.
He tells Cory, “It’s [his] job. It’s [his] responsibility! You [Cory]
understand that? A man got to take care of his family” (1.4.181-182). Troy recognizes that he has a responsibility
to provide for the family that he has made, but he does not believe that he has
to have an emotional connection to them.
5. Cory
is convinced to go to Troy’s funeral during his conversation with Rose. She tells him that, “[Troy] wanted [Cory] to
be everything he wasn’t… and at the same time he tried to make [him] into
everything he was” (2.5.133-134). After
this, Cory finally realized that everything Troy did to hurt Cory was to keep
him from hurting himself. His acts
weren’t selfish, but protective. To grow
up, Cory must forgive, not hate and become stuck in the ways of Troy. Attending the funeral might suggest that Cory
will grow up to be better than his father.
He has said “no” to Troy by refusing to hold grudges like those that
shaped Troy’s life and thoughts.
6. The
climax of Fences was when Alberta
dies during childbirth and Troy vows to face death head-on. Before this event, Troy is happy with his
life, despite his falling-out with Rose and his multiple confrontations with
Cory. In his mind, he has come a long
way from living a safe life with Rose to stealing second. Alberta’s death is his breaking point, that’s
eventually leads to his own death.
7. Blues
is a style of music that relates troubling experiences faced by African
Americans. Fences is an account of a broken family, which is fitting for the
blues style. This influence is also seen
in Troy’s song about his old dog Blue.
The diction of the play fits with the casual slang-like wording of many
blues songs.
8. Gabriel
is a very interesting character in the play.
As Troy’s brother he provides another example of Troy’s assertions about
family. Troy looks out for his brother
and credits Gabe for his ability to own “a pot to [pee] in”, yet there is still
no emotional connection between the two characters. Gabe is also a very pure character, because
of his disability; he sees the good in everyone. This is essential to the play, because it
gives the audience a different view of Troy.
In the last scene of the play, he calls out and asks his dead brother if
he is ready to ascend to heaven, characterizing Troy as someone worthy of the
afterlife (a very different view as seen throughout the play).
9. Gabe’s
biblical references to the hellhounds, St. Peter, his role as an angel, and the
gates of heaven provide a greater degree of consequence for all actions taken
during the play. Troy’s name is also a
mythical allusion to the Battle of Troy, which began after infidelity between
the king and queen of Sparta. This
reference is clearly seen in the internal battles that take place after Troy’s
infidelity to Rose. Troy references many
cultural allusions to the history of race in baseball, which shapes his beliefs
and ultimately his relationship with his son, Cory.
Part
3:
1. A
house is an establishment in which people, usually family or friends live. A home is the permanent dwelling in which
family members come together. For Cory,
the place that he lived was most likely just a house. In it he felt to sense of permanence or
belonging, and the love he received from Rose was probably overshadowed by what
he felt from Troy. This was especially
apparent when he asked Troy, “How come you ain’t never liked me”
(1.3.156)? A house becomes a home when
there is warmth associated it—when someone can walk into the house and be
surrounded with a sense of security, tradition, and acceptance. In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke,
this familiarity lies in the tradition of dancing around the kitchen with her
father until she fell asleep. She says,
“The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like
death” (1-3). The girl in the poem has
made a connection between her father’s scent and the joy of dancing with him,
which makes this small gesture seem like home.
2. Suffering
or success of one family member can greatly impact the others. A success can bring a prosperous time to
other family members and create a shared joy.
As seen in “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, suffering can negatively affect
other family members. Plath was tormented
by the vision of her father. He passed
away when she was eight, leaving her to attempt to find ways to recollect his
memory. Her marriage to Ted Hughes, a
man similar to her father, showed her that he wasn’t worth her time. She says, “Daddy, daddy, you [hated person],
I’m through” (80). The suffering that
Plath’s father caused her led her to commit suicide and to leave her two
children motherless.
3. In
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the speaker of the poem has a tradition
of dancing around her kitchen with her father.
She quotes that, “You beat time on my head/ With a palm caked hard by
dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt” (13-16). The familiarity of her father’s worn hands
and whiskey breath creates a feeling of warmth and safety—so much so that the
speaker falls asleep to these cues often.
Traditions like the one displayed in this short poem create a sense of
security by establishing a norm for members of a family.
My Questions:
1. Analyze
the statement that genetics does not make a family
a. Rose
take cares of Troy and Alberta’s baby, because she realizes that the baby is
innocent and needs love in order to grow up and live a decent life. Even though she does not truly accept Troy’s reason
for the affair, she still values her original dream of a family where no one
has to clarify who they are talking about when they say “mom” or “dad”. Although she is not Raynell’s biological
mother, she will still raise her as if she were. As in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke,
tradition and love, not genetics makes a family
2. Evaluate
the role of “tough love” in parenting
a. Troy
is definitely a clear example of a parent who implements tough love. He never shows an emotional connection to his
children during the play. His
relationship with Cory is the most prominent.
Troy stops Cory from playing football, because he does not want his
dreams to be crushed. He kicks Cory out
of his house to teach him that being a man in putting actions to your
words. Troy’s actions may seem harsh,
but he truly wants the best for his son.
By pushing him, Cory turns out better for it. This concept is also in “Slam, Dunk, &
Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa. “When Sonny
Boy’s mama died/ He played nonstop all day, so hard/ Our backboard
splintered. The speaker doesn’t mention
any of the boys providing sympathy for their friend. They let him play, to work it out on his own,
because that’s what they knew he needed.
3. Evaluate
“letting go” as a theme of growing older
a. In
order to finally grow into his own person, Cory must finally say no to his
father. Rose makes Cory realize that
holding a grudge against Troy won’t make him a man, because it would make him
the same man that his father was. In
order to finally grow up, he must forgive all that Troy did to him. Similarly, Sylvia Plath must let go of her
father in her poem, “Daddy”, in order free herself of him. She has devoted so much of her life to hating
him and trying to find a piece of him that she lost when he dies, that she
forgot to live her own life. In order to
stop the torment, she finally says, “Daddy, daddy, you [hated person], I’m
through” (80).
