How Is Rose Maxson A Compassionate Character

As Rose Maxson, Viola Davis performs a powerful performance and justifies all of her sacrifices she has made for her husband. Described in the story, Troy reveals his affair with another woman as well as his child with her. In analyzing the play Fences by August Wilson, the movie is an important way to understand the emotions behind the complex marriage of Troy and Rose. There is often a disconnect between the true emotion portrayed by the characters and the dialogue in the play. It is the words of the play that do not convey the emotion. Rose’s facial expressions help to conveyed the pain in which she is feeling. As well as her facial expressions, her body language characterized the anger she had felt towards Troy. Often her true thoughts and feelings were distorted or flat in the play but they were clear in the

Rose holds the Maxson family together as if she was the glue of the family. She treats everyone the same, whether they are kin to each other or not. She looks past the bad things in order to stay positive. Rose always has something to eat laying around the kitchen for anyone and everyone that is in the Maxson house even if they are not family. Rose, Troy’s foil, brings out the good in Troy, and she does her best to keep him from doing things he should not do. Rose keeps the Maxson family together with her kind and loving heart.

Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.

August Wilson’s Fences is a play about Troy Maxson, and how his values influence his family’s. The play takes place in 1950’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy Maxson is a black, middle aged man working for a garbage company. Each member of the Maxson family has a special relationship with Troy, that affects their behavior throughout the play. In life you learn the most from your parents. They teach you how to walk, speak, and respect one another. Your parents also give you a set of values for life. As you grow up as your own individual, your values will change from your parents. There will be things that are much more important to you, and not as important to them. In the play Fences Troy Maxson has a very strong set of values that he believes are true in how you should live life. Troy imposes these values on everyone in his family to the best of his ability. Each character in Fences is at a different stage in their life, so Troy can’t push his values onto characters that already have their own beliefs. The character that Troy has the most influence on in the play is Cory. Troy is in Cory’s life throughout his childhood, and as his father Cory must respect Troy. Troy is very firm with Cory, because he wants Cory to be successful. Cory has a dream of becoming a football player, and this does not follow Troy’s values. Troy influences Cory so much that Cory will always be like Troy whether he realizes it or not. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at

Rose, Troy’s wife in the play was the obvious voice of reason between the two; all she wanted was an interrupted happy family life. The fences that she put up were not physical fences but rather emotional and psychological ones used to keep her family in line. These fences were made very clear to both the reader and the other characters in the play. For example when Bono (Troy’s best friend) is questioning Troy’s commitment to Rose he said, “Some people build fences to keep people out… and others build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.” (898). This excerpt perfectly described the different values shared between Rose and Troy but is also a common generalization of gender roles in most family. The only fence Rose ever set up for Troy was one of loyalty and commitment. She believed in the strength in numbers whilst Troy strongly believed in the power of individuality.

In addition, the characters in Fences were dynamic and demonstrated powerhouse performances from its leads. The overall movie is good, although it doesn’t provide the same aesthetic quality that the playwright does, yet it does have strong casting and important themes. Denzel Washington, who plays Troy Maxson, delivers a fiery performance to the audience, leaving no emotion untouched. Like many of Washington’s movies, he has the mysterious gift of absorbing his fictional character from the script and making viewers believe his character is palpable. His delivery of lines are powerful thus forcing me to recollect events that revealed similar emotions he felt in past time, “See? I’m gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. See? You stay over there until you’re ready for me,” his expression of anger and sadness is something familiar to my own. (Wilson 108). I had experienced a death in my own family, with the aid of Washington’s fervent delivery of his lines hence, I was able to remember similar unpleasant moments similar to the characters. Also, Viola Davis, who plays Rose Maxson, reminds me of my own mother. The vivacity in her acting allows to indirectly provide characteristics for Rose, she was strong, independent, selfless and practical. Rose Maxson was a mother that

Through Troy’s perspective, he sees the fence as a barrier between his enemy known as; death. If death gets through the fence, it would have to come through Troy himself, since he believes that instead of loving his family; protecting them has more worth. It is clear Troy starts to build the fence to keep those who are mistreating his family out; although he himself grows distant. We can infer that Rose and Troy’s perspective of the fence had started to collide. Rose had viewed the fence to keep those she values and cherishes within the fence; while after Troy confesses he is cheating on her with Alberta a division with his family is shown. Division with their family occured due to Troy mistreating Rose and not realizing his mistake sooner. This is to show that Troy’s trait of responsibility reinforces the main symbol. Troy had acknowledged his mistakes resulting in a mental and emotional separation between the couple. “[...] A motherless child had got a hard time…. From right now this child got a mother. But you a womanless man. [...]” (Wilson,122) This confirms that even with the presence of Raynell; Rose will not acknowledge Troy for what he used to mean to her. Further into the play it is revealed that even with this rift, Rose continues to communicate with him to keep order within the house, although emotionally her ties have been severed with Troy.

Rose can be viewed as a symbol of feminism in the setting that Fences took place. She demonstrated the power that females can possess and act upon, even when the majority of female individuals are oppressed and discriminated against within society at the time. Rose fit the stereotypical image of a mother, in which she played the role of a stay at home mom, that cooks food and takes care of the children, while earning no pay. Although she held a rather powerless position, Rose still managed to show her dominance at times within her household, in which she asserted jurisdiction over Troy when she needed to. Many scenes throughout Fences illustrate feminism, and the way in which Rose defends equality between males and females within her home.

In Fences, Troy Maxon builds a fence around his property that contains metaphorical reasons as well as the literal meaning. During a conversation with Troy and Cory, Bono mentions the fence Troy is building for his wife Rose and says “Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you” (61). Bono explains this to Troy because Cory was unable to comprehend why Rose wanted the fence up in the first place. This opens the reader up to the symbolization of the fence itself. The fence allows Rose to keep Troy with her because she has loved him for so many years and does not want to let him go or leave her for another woman. Later, in Act two, Troy, after speaking to Rose about his new baby who he had with his mistress Alberta,

Rose Maxson is a housewife in the play, Fences is written by August Wilson. Rose is Troy’s loyal wife. She is a mother that cares for all of her children. All in all, Rose Maxson would be one of the most compassionate characters in this play. Compassionate is a strong feeling of Rose Maxson is a housewife in the play, Fences is written by August Wilson. Rose is Troy’s loyal wife. She is a mother that cares for all of her children. All in all, Rose Maxson would be one of the most compassionate characters in this play. Compassionate is a strong feeling of sympathy for the suffering or bad luck and having the will of helping those who are affected. In Fences, Rose states, “[...] Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t...and at the

For instance, Rose is portrayed as a matriarch figure that has held the family together. According to Wilson, the extremely figure exhibited by Rose came in a large part from his mother (Wilson 6). Secondly, the fact that a child figure is introduced in the play is aimed at ensuring that maternity can become a central theme in the play. Wilson has presented the audience with the character of a strong maternal figure, Rose, who not only gives birth to Cory, but also plays the role of a supporting wife to her husband, Troy. She appears to handle all the financial matters in the house, even though she is not in any formal employment outside the homestead. She is in charge of all the cooking, shopping, and washing. She constantly monitors Troy’s finances and scolds him like a mother. Thus, Wilson presents a woman whose maternal roles have superseded her marital roles. It is this behavior that could creates the drift between the two and pushes Troy to start an affair with Alberta. If Rose was the submissive stereotypical woman as some critics portray her, it would not be expected of her to accept the child that her husband brings

As Bono says, “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in.” This is why Rose wants the fence to be built. When faced with Troy’s infidelity she gets only a cursory, self-serving response from Troy. It’s hard to decipher why exactly she stays with Troy, but a very simple, valid reason would be that she has no other place to go, and feels a strong responsibility to try and care for her children. Eventually her compassion leads her to make an unspoken ultimatum to Troy: I can either take in this bastard child, or I can take in you. Troy misses this ultimatum and sees the well-being of the child, Raynell, as the only option.

Troy thought that he was a good husband to Rose because he provided her with food and a house. He wasn’t a good husband because he didn’t give her love and compassion. These two things are needed in a good marriage. She centered her whole life around him and he gave her almost nothing. When she had a problem, she couldn’t go to him. Troy also wasn’t faithful to Rose. He went off and had an affair with another woman. Rose was heart-broken by this. She couldn’t believe Troy could do this to her. She devoted her life to him and he goes and stabs her in the back. On top of that, Troy had a child with his mistress. The woman died giving birth. Troy asked Rose to take care of the baby. Rose did, what else could she have done? Troy was not a good husband.

Throughout the play, readers see an incomplete fence which symbolizes Rose (Troy’s wife) and Troy’s drifting relationship. Rose wants Troy and Cory to build a fence to keep her loved ones protected. This is evident when Rose is seen singing the church hymn, “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on

Fences took place in the 1950’s, during that time the role of women in the 1950 was repressive and constrictive in a lot of ways. The 1950s is often viewed as a period of conformity, when both men and women observed strict gender roles and complied with society’s expectations (Women in 1950’s). Society placed a very high significance on different expectations on behavior in public as well as at home. Women were to be homemakers, caring mothers, and to be an obedient wife to their husbands. A wife was only considered a “good wife” if she did anything and everything her husband asked for and agreed with everything the man would say. This was the type of way Troy treated Rose in fences and how he thought of women and their