To An Athlete Dying Young

THE time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come, 5
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay, 10
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers 15
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man. 20

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head 25
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

A. E. Housman

Further Examination of Troy Maxson

I enjoyed the play Fences more than any other play we have read so far this year. Hamlet was pretty deep and intense at certain parts, but Shakespeare’s language was really confusing at certain parts and having to keep looking at the footnotes took away from the pleasure of reading the story. The major premise in A Doll’s House seemed trivial, but I have to acknowledge that the story took place many years before I was born and I am probably not fully acknowledging the difficulties of the time. Fences seems to be an authentic portrayal of the difficulties of some lives. No major event really happens in the story except for a family trying to survive which I guess can be considered a pretty big thing for most people. Everything in Fences revolves around Troy, and I think that I needed to take a closer look at his life and relationships.

My opinion on Troy changed throughout the novel. At the beginning, I thought he was a funny character just trying to do the best he can for his family. My disappointment in Troy grew after his stubbornness to let his son play football and his affair with Alberta. In order to get a better look at what he did in life, it is important to examine his own life. Troy had a terrible childhood. His father added no value to his life and probably brought about the cynicism Troy has towards the world. Because of his difficult upbringing, I try to compare Troy’s father to Troy to see how both situations turned out. Despite the different personalities, I am saddened by how similar a family situation Troy and his father have. While I believe Troy always had his families best interests at heart, his efforts did not bring about the type of success I think he would have liked to see. Like his father, he was unable to keep close bonds with his children. He was in jail during most of Lyons’s childhood and never seemed to give him due credit for his passion in music. Likewise he never has a great relationship with his other son Cory and eventually loses him after having a major argument. Even his relationship with his wife disintegrates though Troy is not nearly as cruel to his wife as his father was, and Rose turns out to be one of the stronger characters, staying with Troy even though she knows the marriage is hopeless. Troy gets duped into committing his brother to the hospital and does not live long enough to make a great impact in Raynell’s life.

Though Troy’s situation turns out to be somewhat tragic I applaud him for trying his best. He never had many opportunities in life due to his upbringing and he kept grinding it out. He stole for the sake of his family, and other times he worked hard to provide for his family. Everything he did for his Cory was with his best intentions in mind. Troy was scarred by the segregation he saw during his days in baseball and he just didn’t want his son to have to go through the same trials. Its easy to criticize him for being stubborn but the events he faced were probably significant enough to leave long term marks and its not as if racism didn’t exist. He tried to do the best he could for his brother, and I really believe that he did not understand what he was signing when he allowed his brother to be admitted. He must have been a great friend as well because Bono absolutely idolizes him, causing me to believe that there is plenty good about him. The biggest mistake I believe is the affair with Alberta. Everyone makes mistakes, but he was too stubborn to stop even after telling his wife and being confronted by his best friend. Again, he has probably had a more difficult life than anything I’ve ever faced so far, but he failed to realize that he wasn’t the only one facing a tough life. It may have been all Troy had to look forward to all week, but it also tore apart his family as Cory never had the same respect for his father and Rose only became a wife in name. Its amazing how that one decision impacted so many lives.

In the end, my opinion of Tony is relatively positive. He is far from perfect as can be seen through his many faults, but he tried to live his life the right way. However, my respect for Rose increases dramatically. In the beginning, I thought of her as a side character, but she turns out to be the strongest of them all from her ability to stay in the broken marriage to her raising of Raynell. The story may have been about Troy, but Rose makes the strongest impression on me.

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