In the play "Fences" by August Wilson, the character Troy is shown as a man who has hurt the people who are closest to him without even realizing it. He has acted insensitive and uncaring to his wife, Rose, his brother, Gabriel, and his son, Cory. At the beginning of the story, Troy feels he has done right by them. He feels this throughout the story. He doesn't realize how much he has hurt them. Troy is the son of an abusive father. His father was hardly around to raise him. When he was around, he made him do chores and if he didn't do them he would beat him. One time, after Troy tied up the mule, just as his father told him to, he went off to the creek with a girl to "enjoy himself." The mule got loose, and his father found out. His father came looking for him. When he found them at the creek, he had the leather mule straps; he started to beat Troy. Troy was naturally scared so he ran away. He looked back at his father and realized that his father didn't care about beating him, he just wanted the girl. Troy came back; he ripped the straps out of his father's hand. He then started to beat his father with them. His father, not afraid of Troy, beat up Troy. Troy was left there, his eyes were swelled shut. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't go back to his father's house, so he went to another town 200 miles away. This is when Troy became a man at the age of 14. .
In the town, Mobile, it was hard for him to survive. He had to steal food, and eventually money. A man shot him after he tried to steal his money. Troy had his knife and commenced to stab him after he was shot. They told him that he killed the man. They put Troy in the state penitentiary for that. He spent 15 long years there. When he came out, he met Rose. All of his stealing habits were gone. Troy and Rose got married. At the time, Troy had a son from a previous marriage. He never spends time with this son, because he was in jail. After they were married, they wanted to have a son.