Troy State University Research Paper

Troy Anthony Davis was the oldest child of four siblings. His father Joseph and mother Virginia Davis grew apart from each other while Troy was still young. Troy grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood considered as the middle class of Cloverdale located in Savannah, Georgia. Troy attended school at Windsor Forest High. He did not successfully complete school and eventually dropped out during his junior year. Troy put that behind him and obtain his GED from Richard Arnold Education Center in the year of 1987. Troy was given a nickname Rah which stood for “Rough as Hell”. Despite the hardcore name he was looked up to as a big brother by his surrounding peers.

We can see another example of Troy’s stubbornness in Act One, by the end of Scene One. What we see is that he cannot trust on Lyons, Troy’s oldest son by his previous marriage. Lyons begs him several times for money, usually on

Troy’s relationship with his youngest son, Cory, was a prime example or his controlling nature. One major conflict between them was Troy Forbidding Cory from playing football. As said in the quote, “ If you go on down there to that A&P and see if you can get your job back. if you can’t do both...then you quit the football team you’ve got to take the crookeds with the straights ”(Act 1, Scene 3, Line 192) Troy is not happy with the fact that Croy quit his quit because of football practice. Troy is so against it because he was denied acceptance into a baseball team because of his race in his past. In a way troy thinks he his looking out for cory but deep down, as rose brings out in the next scene, he is haunted by his own

Troy Maxson's bitterness against white people due to racial discrimination blinds his path towards bigger goals. He felt he was not given chance due to his skin color, which can be true at that time in American history when racism against the black and minorities was at it's peak . Such experience made Troy take biased decision for himself and his family affecting their life in negative ways. Troy's failing his dream leads to the bitterness in his nature, instead of encouraging his son to aim higher, he demeans his achievements. Troy doesn’t give consent to Cory to play for the basketball ball team in which he was already selected, Cory argues with Troy, "Why you wanna do that to me?

Troy Maxson who is a man who tends to keep himself and who is very strict on his son. Troy who grew up in the early 1900’s where there was a divide between the racists of whites and blacks. Troy, the son of a man who was a very unsuccessful sharecropper, Troy who provides a connection between the Maxson family history in the south and the effects slavery had on them. The south and the north will define Troy's history and this contrast that drives a line between him and his sons, Lyons and Cory, who will grow up believing that they could achieve their dreams without the restraint their father had. Troy is portrayed to be very negative,

He is the center of both small and large conflicts. His ability to believe in self-created illusions and his inability to accept the choices of others in life that differ from his own philosophy is what causes him to instigate conflicts. His philosophy is mainly based on experience, this experiences stem from his rough childhood, prison life, his baseball career and the discriminative hiring practices employed by his employers at the sanitation department. During this time frame, the segregation between blacks and whites was at its peak and this influence was the major governing factor to which Troy’s life was built upon. Throughout the play Troy is mostly seen as an average African American bowing down to racism and segregation. In the beginning of the play though (Act 1 Scene 1) Troy stands up to his white employers and questions them on why only white people are driving trucks and not the black people too. This is the first time Troy is seen standing up against racism and eventually becomes the first black truck driver.

When raising children, everything you “learn” on how to be a parent comes from your own parents or the ones that took care of you. Troy’s behaviors or attitudes towards his two sons are reflections of his own experience with his father when he was younger. He had a very rough childhood growing up, to the point where he wishes he never met his father. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain't cared nothing about no kids. [...] But I'll say this for him...he felt a responsibility toward us." (I,iv, pg 50). His father had the same attitude that Troy has with his two sons. They viewed caring

Troy is clearly venting his anger at the racial inequality at his job. The white men get to do the easier work for the same pay and there is nothing he can do about it. Even if he mentions it to the proper authorities, they will do nothing about it. This leaves Troy feeling powerless, and it shows him that even if he tries to move up in the world, he will always have to work a lot harder than everyone else. It is evident why Troy would want to stay with his current back-breaking profession and not move up, thus keeping the Maxson’s in a cycle of poverty and preventing them from living happily. Again, it is crucial to understand that this kind of injustice was going on all across America, sometimes even crueler. The Maxson’s were one of the numerous

Troy took care of his family as a man should. He took care of his sons with all that he had, but the love for his family was not evident in his character, especially with what he did to Rose. Cheating on Rose was a very selfish, and disrespectful act that showed no love towards his family. Troy’s behavior does not derive from racism, but stems from the relationship he had with his father when he was a teenager. Without him knowing, Troy was very similar to his father. His father “stayed right here with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be” (Wilson 905). Troy’s description of his father was the same person he was. In his conversation with Cory he says to him: “like you? I go out of here every morning…bust my butt…putting gup with them crackers

Where Cory has aspirations of playing football, Troy says that he must continue with his more practical job at the A&P.

This situation makes me wonder if he is actually scared that Cory will be an amazing athlete and will be better than him. Troy maybe jealous that his son has opportunities to succeed that he never had, no matter how great of an athlete he was, he could have never made it to the pros because of his skin color. Now his son is being recruited by professional teams to play for them. Troy may be against this because he doesn't want his son to be able to live the dream that he was never able to live. This makes their father son relationship very interesting. It is said that fathers typically want their sons to be better off then they are, especially not very wealthy people. You would think in this situation Troy would support Cory in what he wants to do and be happy for him that he has such wonderful opportunities. Troy maybe be acting like this because Troy still lives in a dream world and still thinks he a great base ball player. He has trouble accepting that his

His negativity and bitterness towards Cory’s career is explained. Troy tells rose: “I don’t want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get. You the only decent thing that ever happened to me. I wish him that.

Troy really believes despite being recruited it will still get him nowhere, he is convinced that he will be eventually dropped, will be disappointed and does not want him to end up like him-. He had decided a long time ago without his son’s knowledge that he will not be involved in any sports, he told his wife.

Troy fits a character who would have lived in the 1950’s, having experienced discrimination, an abusive father and a changing society towards African-Americans in that period.

He first talks about his opinion on the discrimination in sports when Rose tells him about his son, Cory, wanting to play college football. In his words, he said, “I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with that football” (Wilson 8). Due to his failure to achieve his dream, he disapproves when his son wants to play football. Because of Troy’s failure in sports, his pain reflected on his son who also had a similar dream. He doesn’t want his son to go through the same pain he went through when he tried to join major league baseball. He wanted his son to be successful at getting a job that would feed him and not rely on sports because Tory knew that Cory wouldn’t get a chance. Troy was also skeptical when his first son, Lyons wanted to play jazz music for a living. Troy didn’t want to even loan him any money to help him and tried to convince him take the job picking up trash. When Lyons finally got his chance as a musician, Troy refused to go see him play.