A great deal to be explored
Beryl Clarke, Contributor

Last week, we discussed the deteriorating situation between Cory and his father. In fact, things 'had come to a head' when they had an angry confrontation in their yard. I am sure you have been talking over that unfortunate development which led to Troy ordering his son to leave home.

The altercation is the climax of a disintegrating father/son relationship. Here we see that both parties believe that they have reason be mad with the other. What reasons can you find for their attitude? Let us look at some possible reasons for their resentment.

TROY

1. He has pulled himself up from very poor and desperate circumstances, turning his life around by hard work and determination.

2. He is bitter at the circumstances that have caused him to use his brother's money to 'put a roof over his head'.

3. He has intervened in Cory's life to save him from being disappointed in his dream of becoming a successful football player.

4. He has provided Cory with a stable home, clothing, food and shelter.

5. He is not an absentee father.

6. He is doing his best, but his son does not respect, appreciate or understand him.

7. Although his wife is caring for his daughter from an illicit relationship, he is a 'womanless man'.

CORY

1. His father is not very approachable; in fact, Cory is nervous about him.

2. His father is high-handed in taking decisions which concern him (Cory).

3. His father has shattered his dream of success by taking away his opportunity to go to college on a football scholarship. Cory feels that Troy has done this because he does not want his son to be more successful than he, Troy, is.

4. He realises that his father's infidelity has destroyed his parents' marriage and he has, therefore, lost respect for him.

I want you to remember that Troy has been keeping score of Cory's misdemeanors against him. You know how he loves to use terms from his favourite game and, up to this point, he noted that his younger child has two strikes and so he considers their bitter argument, the third and final one. If Cory had been playing a baseball game, he would have 'struck out', and since he has now committed a third transgression in his father's book, he had to go, leave home, find somewhere else to live!

The following scene is the final one of the play and it follows our climactic Act 2 Scene 4. Troy is dead and Cory, who is now serving his country in the Marines, comes home. The audience would have been eager to learn about him - what he had been doing. He meets his sister, Raynell, and the other members of his family. Of interest is his mother's effort to get him to forgive his father. This scene resolves questions that are raised in the drama and one such relates to the state of affairs between Troy and Cory. Although his father is dead, Cory still feels his powerful 'presence' and finds it annoying. He is not softened by his brother's reference to their father's belief in his ability to do well. Cory is a grown man, a corporal in the Marines. He is considering getting married, yet he still has a sense of inferiority, a feeling that he is still walking in his father's shadow, almost being stifled. He recalls how, in his childhood, he was not allowed to be himself because Troy had such control. He, therefore, decides, in an act of defiance, an open declaration of independence, that he will not attend the funeral and it takes his mother's will and insight to change his mind.

Here are a few questions that you should work on this week.

a. How do we know that 'Cory decides' to go to the funeral?

b. How does the metaphor 'fences' relate to Troy and Cory?

c. Do you think that Rose is a strong woman? What evidence is there in the play to support this?

d. What do we learn about the family from the way Gabriel is treated and how Raynell is accepted?

There is a great deal to be explored in Fences but time does not allow. Please ensure that you consider the contributions or roles of Lyons, Gabriel, Bono and Raynell.

Be good to others and to yourself. God bless!