Fences is a play set in the 1950s about a family living in a small house in Philadelphia. The main character Troy Maxson is often in conflict with the world around him. To cope with these conflicts he turns to storytelling to make his life more interesting and exciting. However, Troy must maintain his roles as a worker, father, and husband to be the man he wants to be for his family. Troy must move beyond the fences he has erected around himself and the ones others have erected around him to be the man he wants to be. To move beyond his past, Troy struggles with the responsibilities of being the breadwinner. He is trying to escape a bad childhood and tries to support his family. His main goal is to provide for his family like his father never did, even if his character doesn't always make the best decisions. To do this he works hard every day doing a job that most people wouldn't want. Troy is a character who takes responsibility for his family above all else. Troy wants to break this cycle of becoming like his father, so he took a job that no one would want to provide for his family, as this is his most important goal in life, it's something he takes very seriously. His seriousness leads to conflict in his life. Troy's need for responsibility stems from his father's lack of care for himself and his family. This causes a second generation of conflict between father and son. As much as Troy despised his father, he inevitably becomes his father by picking up his characteristics. His actions of adultery and his self-delusion of caring for his children prove this. The pressure to correct the past leads to an act of shame when he cheats on his wife. This as a tragic hero is his downfall, at this moment he is no longer the to...... means of paper...... does what he does. This changing world doesn't change the way Troy thinks, he thinks he already knows what there is to know. In Fences, Troy is a man who has faced many hardships. He takes on many different roles that impact the decisions he makes throughout the show. Troy's conflict is due to the roles he plays and the decisions he makes, which interconnect to tell the story of Troy's life. There's a general theme of fences in the show: "Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in." (2.1.61). Troy lives in his own reality behind this fence that keeps him united with his family. In his roles he tries to stay on the inside even if he strays from the fence, everyone else has to stay firmly on the inside being who he expects them to be, this makes him a hypocrite. Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Penguin Group, 1986.4-61.