Character
This character is a WWII veteran who suffers from a mental disability.
Gabriel
This character has to grapple with barriers created by racial discrimination and his unfulfilled dreams, which will ultimately affect his relationships with his family.
Troy Maxson
"Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner."
Troy
Ultimately this is why Troy couldn't play in the Major Leagues.
He was too old by the time the Major Leagues started signing black players.
This character previously played baseball professionally in the 'Negro Leagues,' and now works as a sanitation worker.
Troy Maxson
This is a major fear that Troy addresses throughout the play
Death
"I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldn't hardly tell which was which anymore. It was my choice. It was my life and I didn't have to live it like that.But that's what life offered me in the way of being a woman and I took it. I grabbed hold of it with both hands."
Rose
This is the year that act one of Fences is set.
1957
This character is married to Troy and regularly volunteers at her church. This character was also the one to request a fence be put up in the yard to keep her loved ones closer.
Rose Maxson
Troy forces Cory to do this after not allowing him to be recruited to play football.
Work full-time at the local A&P
"The whole time I was growing up...living in his house...Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere. It weighed on you and sunk into your flesh. It would wrap around you and lay there until you couldn't tell which one was you anymore."
Cory
According to Rose this is why she ends up staying with Troy
She is scared of what her life would be like without him.
This character became friends with Troy when they found themselves in jail together.
Jim Bono
Jim Bono described his character as having this condition that kept his father from staying in one place for long and often moving from woman to woman.
The Walking Blues
“Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.”
Bono
Gabriel thinks he is talking to this Saint.
Saint Peter
This character is introduced in the play as an infant after Troy has an affair with Alberta.
Raynell
This is how Troy betrayed Rose.
He had an affair with Alberta that resulted in a child.
“I’ll take care of your baby for you…cause…like you say…she’s innocent…and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time. From right now…this child got a mother. But you a womanless man.”
Rose
When Troy ended up sick enough to go to the hospital in 1941 he had ____.
Pneumonia.