Faults are Pain

The most intriguing part of the play fences, is how Rose attempts to overlook Troy's faults. This is interesting because the faults seem to be so heavy and irritating, and yet she stays with her husband throughout and even accepts those faults that most people would find horrible.

The fault of not caring for his children in a traditional sense would set most wives and mothers to despise and leave their husbands. Rose knew full well that Troy was not fatherly to his son from previously in his life: Lyons. Troy only thinks of his son as a thing that comes and takes money from him and not as a human to be loved by his father. Troy rejects his son as a burden and a parasite rather than accepting that it is his kin and taking responsibility for his son. We see how Troy feels about Lyons when he talks about the fact that Lyon’s mother raised him apart from Troy and that made them separate, not the fact that Troy did not try to be a part of his son’s life. Rose knows this fault but still tries to have a normal family with Troy, even bearing a son to him. Troy acts in the same manner towards Cory as he does with Lyons; treating him as a burden and something to be scolded. Troy does not have a proper capacity to be a father, and even with knowledge of this, Rose lives with this man and tries to create an acceptable family with him as well.

Even when Troy is caught with another woman, having cheated on Rose, she stays with him. Though their marriage is ruined and Rose is raising a baby girl that is not her own, she never leaves her faulted husband and continues to try to create a descent household with him. Though we see in the final scene of the play that their relationship was never real and happy again, they were still together and Rose was still loyal to Troy. Rose acknowledges that he husband has this fault and will never forgive him for ruining their household with his sneaking about and his promiscuity, but she stays loyal to him and his household even though their marriage is, in effect, ruined. This loyalty shows that Rose understands that man is inherently faulted and can accept her husbands faults even though they are great in number and in strength.

When the play says that Rose “recognizes Troy’s spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ignores or forgives his faults, only some of which she recognizes” I knew I would need to be mindful of the fact that Troy has significant faults. By the end of the play I believe that his faults are unforgettable and unforgivable but Rose is a bigger person and protects her family and her household by allowing these faults because she loves Troy. She may be greatly distraught by the greatness with which these faults affected her but she is more concerned with the visual aspect of having a family then with being content with her husband. The family was never the same after Rose finally admitted that her husband was greatly faulted (538).