English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 15

English - Essay Example On the surface, Troy Maxson – as a symbol- is Wilson’s way of telling people that African American men are not irresponsible, absentee fathers they were portrayed to be because the figure was clearly depicted as someone who has an overwhelming sense of duty and responsibility to his family. Troy, for example, confessed to Rose the guilt he feels over taking Gabe’s money just so he could renovate his home. He said: â€Å"Man go over there and fight the war†¦ and they give him a lousy three thousand dollars. And I have to swoop on that.† (28) But as the play narrated the life of Troy Maxson, there emerged a deeper and darker truth to what he represented. In Troy’s struggles, the plight of the Black community in America during the period became evident. The chronicle of Maxson life - his psychology and, certainly, his physical emancipation from poverty, paternal neglect and abuse, from physical incarceration, his suppressed dreams of major-league baseball, from workplace frustrations and alienation within his home to complete spiritual and mental freedom – they demonstrated the collective experiences of the African Americans as they deal with the economic and social challenges of the period. Early on, a description has been aptly given: â€Å"Together with his blackness, his largeness informs his sensibilities and the choices he has made in life.† (1) As with most Blacks in the period, Troy was poor and this drove him to commit crime. Then, his dreams were dashed, first, by racism and, then a string of unfair employment practices. All his life had been a struggle. In Troy, there was the expected victimization by and resentment of the forces of social and economic oppression that were experienced by Blacks in modern America. Rightly so, his reaction to his plight demonstrated much of the disappointment, frustration, resentment and anger of African Americans. This reaction was aptly