Troy Maxson a Tragic Hero Essay - 914 Words

When people think of a hero, they do not understand you dont need to be just like superman, you dont need to be able to fly, or be immortal and never die. There is no need to wear a mask, save the world, or have special powers. To me, any regular person can become a hero in their own way. I believe a hero can be found in any piece of literature, most main characters are all heroes, but they are all heroes in a different way. To me, in order to be a hero, all you need to do is put someone elses life in front of your own, if you can change someone elses life you can then call yourself a hero. Aristotle once said that a tragic hero is one who does not fall into misfortune though vice or depravity, but falls because of some mistake.†¦show more content†¦Troys then made his life revolve around work and his family; he put his dreams of becoming a major league baseball player aside. He went into working and became a garbage man; he realized that he needed a steady income to p rovide for his family and to purchase the house that they live in. Even in the work place Troy wants to excel and make a stand for himself, talking to the commissioner about being a driver of one of the garbage trucks. Troy argued for blacks to drive the garbage trucks, but he doesnt know how to drive or even have a license. Troy acts out to try and better his black community and to try and break the barrier between whites and blacks. When Troy confronts Rose about his affair with Alberta, Rose becomes very angry with Troy. Rose is a stronger person than Troy, despite what she lets him think. She makes this extremely apparent when Troy tells her about the affair. All of a sudden its we, where was we at when you was down there rolling around with some god forsaken woman? We should have come to an understanding before you started making a damn fool of yourself. Youre a day late and a dollar short when it comes to an understanding with me. Troy realizes that the affair causes much disrespect to his wife and family. One day while visiting his wife Rose, they receive a call at theShow MoreRelatedIs Troy Maxson a â€Å"Tragic Hero?† Essay1408 Words   |  6 PagesA tragic hero is a character who used to do good deeds in the light of others but allows for his flaws or inner struggles to overcome him. As a result, this downfall leads to the character’s death. In the case of Troy Maxson, main character from the play â€Å"Fences† by August Wilson, it is clear that he constantly struggles to keep up with good deeds for his family, but unfortunately allowed his inner flaws to lead him to his lonely and tragic death. Therefore, Troy Maxson is indeed considered a tragicRead MoreFences Play According to Aristotle1540 Words   |  7 PagesUsing Aristotle’s descriptions of Tragedy, I classify Fences by August Wilson as a tragic play. The elements of tragedy, Troy Maxson as a tragic hero, and tragic plot were evident throughout the play. Als o, the feeling of catharsis at the end-which is proper of tragedy, was clearly identifiable. I. Fences fits into the tragic genre based on the points given by Aristotle. In Poetics, he defines tragedy as the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itselfRead MoreAnalysis Of Othello By William Shakespeare913 Words   |  4 Pagesthe death of a beloved character. Tragic heroes serve as a mirror for the audience in that as a tragedy progresses, the audience may see their personal experiences and views within it. William Shakespeare’s representation of a moor in his play, Othello, is a personification of a classical tragic hero, whereas Troy Maxson, the protagonist in Fences by August Wilson, serves as an example of a modern tragic hero. Shakespeare and Wilson utilize characteristics of tragic heroes— hamartia, hubris, peripeteiaRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Troy Maxson2580 Words   |  11 PagesThe Tragedy of Troy Maxson Tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, is â€Å"a drama treating a serious subject and involving persons of significance† (Kirszner and Mandell 1086), the success of a tragedy occurs when the audience â€Å"feels both fear and pity because they see in themselves the potential for similar situations† (Kirszner and Mandell 1087). Aristotle’s literary theory of tragedy applies only to â€Å"imitation of persons who are above the common level, he must be one who is highly renowned and prosperousRead MoreBaseball InFences, By August Wilson1239 Words   |  5 Pagesonly develop the character of Troy Maxson, but also to express the black community as a whole in the 50s. As Mollie Wilson O’Reilly put it in her article â€Å"Fertile Ground: August Wilson’s ‘Fences’†: â€Å"Wilson wrote about black Americans ‘reassembling’ themselves and their communities and coping with discrimination and poverty in another decade of the twent ieth century† (20). Troy is the embodiment of black American in the 50s. Myles Weber wrote, in â€Å"Rescuing the Tragic Bully in August Wilson’s ‘Fences’†Read MoreFences : Fences 1783 Words   |  8 Pagesissues of humankind. It is the sixth in Wilson s ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle. Like all of the Pittsburgh plays, the play was written in 1983. The beginning scene is about Troy, who is a strong character, in full control of his life, his wife, and his son Cory. The last scene is on the day of the funeral of Troy Maxson. Fences presents characters who are real flawed humans, who struggle to for control and power in their life. Their effort of the play imparts understanding of this struggleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Troy 1835 Words   |  8 PagesAndrew Andraos Literature LENG-201-003 Essay 2 Troy in Fences Troy Maxson  is the protagonist of  Fences,  a fifty-three-year-old, African American man who works for the sanitation department, lifting garbage into trucks. Troy is also a former baseball star in the Negro Leagues. Troy s athletic ability diminished before the Major Leagues accepted blacks. Hard-working, strong and prone to telling compelling, fanciful stories and twisting the truth, Troy is the family breadwinner and plays the dominantRead MoreEssay on Fences, by August Wilson1097 Words   |  5 Pages It all depends on the context in which it is used. The play Fences by August Wilson, takes place during the late 1950’s through to 1965, a period of time when the fights against segregation are barely blossoming results. The main protagonist, Troy Maxson is an African American who works in the sanitation department; he is also a responsible man whose thwarted dreams make him prone to believing in self-created illusions. Wilsons most apparent intention in the play â₠¬ËœFences’, is to show how racialRead MoreA Historical Analysis Of August Wilson1946 Words   |  8 Pagesspoken blues music, clearly to the other band members in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom when he says that: It is important to Wilson that African Americans are not ignorant to this fact. Plum makes this connection in his article, and also draws it to Troy Maxson, who remembers an episode at a restaurant where Wilson once again uses the bowl of stew metaphor as a literary device to accomplish a similar goal: â€Å"I seen a white fellow come in there and order abowl of stew. Pope picked all the meat out of theRead MoreAnalysis Of Fences By August Wilson1307 Words   |  6 Pagesshots maintain the magnitude Wilson envisioned. True to Wilson’s original script, Troy Maxson (Washington) and his wife Rose (Davis) live in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Children of the Great Migration, both are African Americans finding more economic freedom in the late 1950’s. Yet Troy is incapable of enjoying this freedom when tasked with the responsibilities of â€Å"father† and â€Å"breadwinner,† and because Troy can’t leave behind the memories of deprivation he and his brother Gabriel (played by