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Discuss the father/son relationships in Fences and A Raisin in the Sun.
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In Fences, Troy's relationship with his son Cory is strained due to Troy's bitterness over lost opportunities and fears of racial discrimination, leading him to prevent Cory from pursuing a football career. This generational conflict mirrors Troy's past with his own father. Conversely, in A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Jr. seeks to provide a better future for his son Travis by rejecting easy money and choosing integrity, embodying hope for tomorrow unlike Troy's focus on past grievances.
August Wilson portrays a dysfunctional father-son relationship in his celebrated play Fences as he depicts the hostility between Troy and his son Cory. Troy is portrayed as a domineering, stubborn father, who remains bitter about missing his opportunity to enter the Majors because of racial prejudice, which is why he refuses to allow Cory to follow his dream of accepting a football scholarship. Troy believes that Cory will also suffer from discrimination and demands that he quit football. Troy lacks perspective and his decision to ruin Cory's dreams causes a significant rift in their relationship.
Cory grows to resent and hate Troy for not supporting his dream and preventing him from accepting a football scholarship. Troy's ruined relationship with Cory parallels his own hostility towards his father. As an adolescent, Troy was forced to flee from his father in order to avoid conflict and abuse. Wilson suggests that father-son conflict...
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can develop into a generational issue by depicting the hostility in the Maxson family.
In contrast, Lorraine Hansberry offers a more optimistic portrayal of a father-son relationship in her classic play A Raisin in the Sun. Walter Jr. is depicted as a passionate dreamer, who desires what is best for Travis. Walter Jr. wants to give Travis everything he never had and believes that his business plan will fulfill his family's needs. Unfortunately, Walter Jr.'s business partner steals the majority of Lena's insurance money and Walter Jr. is forced to make a difficult decision.
At the end of the play, Walter Jr. displays integrity and courage in front of Travis by refusing to sell Lena's home back to the white neighborhood. In doing so, Walter Jr. acts as a positive role model for his son and gives Travis the opportunity to grow up in a comfortable, spacious home. Similar to Walter Jr.'s father, who worked his entire life to give his family financial security, Walter Jr. also provides Travis with an opportunity for a better life.
Even though the father/ son relationship is much more evident in Wilson's work than in Hansberry's, the role of parenting is one that gives insight into the thematic development of each work. Walter is not shown to have much specific emotional interaction with Travis, but his actions in the name of the family give much more redemption than Troy's. Walter acts in the name of his family with a hopeful eye towards the future. While he would be well within his rights and consistent with his character in accepting Lindner's money to not move into the better neighborhood, Walter acts as a family man in embracing his responsibility. While there will be difficulty, the fact that Walter is going to lead his family down the more difficult path indicates that he understands his role as a provider and father in a greater sense than he previously did. He acts with a sense of "tomorrow" as opposed to "yesterday," something that would presumably resonate in his relationship with his children, including Travis.
This is not the case with Troy and his family. While he, too, is a provider for his family, he does not act with a sense of "tomorrow" in guiding his family. Rather, he acts with an overwhelming sense of "yesterday" in his actions. In this father/ son dynamic, much of Troy' own character is revealed. The denial of Cory's dream, the anger with which he operates, and the hurt that had been perpetrated to him as a son is being transferred to the relationship between he and his son. Troy is not a faulty provider, but he operates within his own "fence" that prevents him from fully embracing the emotional responsibility he has towards those around him. Troy's weight of "yesterday" not only impacts him as a father to his son, but also in how he approaches his own predicament. Whereas Walter is willing to live with the struggle in the hopes for a better vision of tomorrow, Troy is not there yet. The "walking blues" that Troy's friend Jim Bono discusses, is something that is present in Troy and guides his relationships with his family and, most notably, with his son.