Prejudice In The Play Fences

Words: 686
Pages: 3

During Troy Maxson’s lifetime, in the play Fences by August Wilson, he experiences prejudice several times such as: witnessing his father experience it during his childhood, in his job and while he played baseball, his experiences are the reason why he is hostile with Cory. Troy doesn't like the idea of Cory wanting to pursue his dream of becoming a professional football player because he believes he will be discriminated. He has come to this conclusion through time with his different experiences with prejudice.
Troy’s father was a failed sharecropper like many during that time period after slavery. He worked for his boss, Mr. Lubin, who was the farm landowner. Troy's father had a debt he owed to Mr. Lubin, which is the reason why he worked so much. Back then white farm landowners let black slaves or slave descendants work on their farms in order to pay off any debts they had to the whites. This is known as a form of prejudice. Troy viewed working to provide for his a family more as a responsibility rather than a debt, which is why he wanted Cory to work more and learn to provide.
In his job working as a
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He believes that he was not able to make it not by his abilities but by his sling color. Not many famous athletes were skin colored during his time period. Troy believes that the best way of keeping Cory from living through the same things as him is to prevent him from playing football. Troy does not want Cory to experience having his dreams crushed by knowing that the only thing keeping him from playing what he really loves is his skin color and background. However, Cory does try to convince his father that times have changed and that there are more colored athletes. Troy's viewpoints are not changed however and there is nothing that will stop him from keeping Cory from playing football, this will eventually lead to a lot of tension between the two