Fences;Racism

In the story Fences, August Wilson creates a character, Troy Maxson, that is beyond the need of help. It seems that Troy hates the world and is just waiting for death to come knock at his door.  Troy does not show compassion or love towards his boys and very little towards his wife Rose. Troy is a very blunt character. He does not sugar coat anything. In this story Troy uses the word “nigger” a great deal. I do not think Troy uses this in a prejudice way. Troy himself is a black and I think he has a habit of using the word very consistently. In the story Troy calls his brother, his friend bono, and his sons all “niggers”. I think it’s just Troy’s figure of speech. However, in the story Troy does say things towards whites and calls them those white people and white boys, but I do not think he says this in a prejudice way. Troy does believe that being white does give you a better chance at sports and that if you are black you better be twice as good as a white boy to play. I think the time that this story takes place, racism is still a problem but I do not see Troy as being racist toward black or white people. Troy is just a man that tries to work and keep food on the table and show his boys how to grow up. In this process I think Troy focuses too much on how he was and treats his boys too harshly. Racism is a problem that we still face today. Troy just seemed like an old fashioned black man that meant no harm to anybody. Even though he called himself a “nigger” and referred white people as those “white folks “I think Troy was harmless with racism. Troy was just an old fashioned character.