In the play, Fences, August Wilson shows the reader Cory, a character who learns how to be a man through his father's heroic message of responsibility. Cory's father, Troy, is a man who raises his son up in a hard way. It is sometimes hard for Cory to see what his father is trying to do. Cory does not hear his father's intent until his mother tells him before Troy's funeral. By the end of the play Cory understands what his father was doing or, at least trying to do. Cory's mother, Rose, explains Troy's message to Cory in a loving way, something Troy was not good at. When Rose tells Cory his father's message, Cory understands his own responsibility which his father tried to teach him.
In act one scene three, Cory has a confrontation with his father. It is a disagreement of whether or not Cory should be on the football team. Troy wants Cory to stay off the team and work while Cory wants to play football. Troy asserts his authority over his son telling him that it is his house and that Cory must follow his rules. Troy ask Cory why he lives in his house and why Cory has something to eat. Cory replies, “Cause you like me” (136). Troy is angry at Cory's response: “It's my job. It's my responsibility. A man got to take care of his family” (137). The reader can see this passage as Troy being a mean man. It is as though Troy is putting up a fence between him and his son. The question could be asked, what father doesn't like his own son? Troy is giving Cory a lesson on responsibility. Troy explains that Cory is a part of his job. Just something else that Troy has to do everyday.
Troy is pointing out that when a man has a family he must provide for his family. Not because he just likes them but, because they are his responsibility. It is something that a man has to do because he just has to do it. Troy is saying that being a man means taking care of his responsibilities and that his family is one of many responsibilities. Troy also asserts that it takes a lot of hard work to take care of a family. Troy is trying to tell Cory that family is a large responsibility. What makes a man is not only taking on that responsibility but fulfilling it. A man must do things for his family that he will not like to do. A family is hard work and not a game. The reader can see Troy's tactics as being harsh but, what Troy is trying to do is teach his son that responsibility takes working at things you don't always enjoy or prefer to do.
In act two scene five, Cory is coming back from the military for Troy's funeral. He is excited to see his mother and his young step sister that Rose is raising even though it is not her's. Cory informs his mother that he does not plan to go to his father's funeral. His mother is shocked. She does not agree with Cory's decision: “You standing there all healthy and grown talking about you ain't going to your daddy's funeral” (188). Rose mentions that Cory is grown that he is a man. She makes a distinction that he is not like the last time she saw him. She is appalled when she hears that Cory has decided that he will not go to his father's funeral. The reason why she is shocked is because she expects him to act like a man. Acting like a man means taking on responsibility and fulfilling it. Even though Troy was not the nicest father to Cory he is still his father and a father is family.
Family is responsibility. Rose is saying that it is time for Cory to start fulfilling responsibility because he is grown, because he is a man. This is also the reason why Rose is taken back by Cory's proposal. Rose is shocked that a grown man would be acting this way. Her tone is one of shocked disapproval. She disapproves because she expects him to be a man by now. The last time she saw him he would have been going off to the military and then was still a boy. When she sees him the second time he has grown into a “healthy” man. When she hears that Cory does not want to fulfill his responsibility by going to his father's funeral, she is shock by what looks like a man is not acting like one.
