Fences Act II, Scenes 3 and 4

 

Reading: Read Act II, Scenes 3 and 4

Link to text here.

Stage Directions: It is late evening three days later. ROSE sits listening to the ball game. Significantly, the final out of the game is made and ROSE switches off the radio. TROY enters the yard carrying an infant wrapped in blankets. Rose does not want to have anything to do with Troy or the baby.

Troy is bringing his daughter Raynell home. He sits on the porch hoping to figure out a way to get Rose to accept her.

Stage directions: TROY speaks loud enough for ROSE to hear.

Notes on the Text:  (page 79)

TROY: "Please, Mr. Engineer let a man ride the line." Troy sits on the porch with his daughter lamenting their homelessness. As he has before, he tries to construct a narrative that would get Rose to accept Raynell (and perhaps him).

Troy begins to sing a train song, beginning the cycle of storytelling and singing with the newest member of the family, Raynell. The train song also recalls Troy's earlier life experience when he left home and traveled alone down to Mobile and then up north. Without shelter, transportation, a man in such circumstances might sing such a blues tune. One might call this selection, "Walkin' Blues" or "Freight Train Blues."

(page 79) "...ride the blinds..." To ride hidden from view.

Stage Directions Scene 4: It is two months later.  

LYONS enters from the street.

(page 80) LYONS: "I stopped by to pay Papa this twenty dollars I owe him."

Ironically, while Lyons appears to faithfully repay his loans to Troy, there continues to be tension about the money.

Troy is isolated from the people he cares for: “I’m coming in and everybody’s going out” (81). Troy, the storyteller, the one who loves having a crowd around him, has only himself to talk to:  Lyons exits before he comes in; Cory avoids speaking to him; Rose leaves to go to church. Even his interaction with Bono seems awkward as they discuss how long it has been since they have seen one another.  Cory sums it up when he tells his father: "You don't count around here anymore" (85).

August Wilson's words in the play's Introduction (page viii) are fully realized here: "He [Troy] learns that to take a chance and grab a moment of beauty [Alberta] can crumble the delicate fabric of a value system and leave one desolate and alone. Strength of body and strength of purpose are not enough."

Cory’s words then fuel a confrontation which leads to Troy telling him: "Go on and get away from around my house" (89).  Troy pushes Cory with his strikes - and Cory strikes out. Perhaps it is the fault of the pitcher here (Troy) who did not throw pitches Cory could hit. Perhaps it is the fault of the batter, Cory, who didn’t swing or swung (literally) and missed. Or, more likely, the strikeout was due to some combination… Recall what you already know about the motifs of baseball, fences, and home. How might we sort out our inferences here?

What do you think? Who will get up to bat again?  Can there be any forgiveness between these two?

(page 89) TROY: "Hallelujah, I can't taste nothing no more!"

Read this brief critical analysis of this scene and Troy's life, ending with one interpretation of the line above:

"Troy, distrustful of his own experience, consequently fails to understand his son's aspirations. Troy, a responsible man belittled by an irresponsible society and its racism, needs the strength beyond endurance to accommodate his wasted potential. Under the pressure, he becomes irresponsible, hurting family and friends...With more greatness in him, Troy has more to lose; he is more bitter as a consequence. But with greatness in him, he also has it in him to change. And yet he is beaten down; he even beats himself - "Hallelujah! I can't taste nothing no more!" (http://www.fb10.unibremen.de/anglistik/kerkhoff/ContempDrama/WilsonAugust.htm)

The loss of taste would suggest the waning of the sensual faculties, and Troy's increasing DECREPITUDE (weakness).