Fences: Act 2: Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

The second act begins the following morning. Cory is in the yard swinging a baseball bat, trying to imitate his father’s swing, but, Wilson writes—in a note in the script—that Cory’s swing is awkward and less sure than Troy’s. Rose enters the yard from the house and asks for Cory’s help with a cupboard, and Cory says that he refuses to quit the football team, despite what his father says.

Rose replies that she’ll talk to Troy when he returns, explaining that he had to go to the police station to check on Gabe, who was arrested for disturbing the peace. Troy returns, with Bono, and says that he bailed Gabe out by paying fifty dollars. Troy tells Rose to go inside the house and get Cory, since he wants his help building the fence.

Bono starts to help Troy with sawing wood for the fence, and Troy says that all the police wanted, in arresting Gabe, was money—that they’ve arrested him six or seven times now, and they “stick out their hands” whenever they see Troy coming.

Bono agrees with Troy that all the police care about is money. Bono then criticizes Troy for using hard wood to build the fence (probably because he finds it difficult to cut), saying that all he needs is soft pine—but Troy insists that he knows what he’s doing, and that pine wood is used for inside purposes only. But Bono counters that a fence built with pine wood would last the rest of Troy’s lifetime. Troy, however, asks how Bono knows how long he’s going to live, and adds that he may just live forever.

Bono then tells Troy he’s seen where he and Alberta “all done got tight.” Troy asks what Bono means, and Bono explains that he’s seen how Troy laughs and jokes with Alberta all the time (where they meet for their romantic encounters). But Troy insists that he laughs and jokes with all the women in his life—yet Bono says that he means a different kind of laughing and joking.

Cory then enters the yard from the house, and Troy tells him that Bono is complaining that the wood’s too hard to cut. Wanting to show off Cory’s strength, Troy tells Cory to show Bono “how it’s done” and cut some wood. Bono admires the sense of ease with which Cory works with the hard wood.

Frustrated with building the fence, Cory questions why Rose even wants it built in the first place. Supporting Rose, Bono replies that, while some people build fences to keep people out, some build them to keep people in, and that Rose just wants to hold on to her family because she loves them. But this irritates Troy, who says that he doesn’t need anyone to tell him that his wife loves him.

Wanting a private moment with Bono, Troy tells Cory to go into the house to get a saw. Troy asks Bono what he meant by his comment about Rose wanting to hold on to her family, and Bono, believing Troy to be cheating on Rose, tries to appeal to Troy’s better judgment and love for Rose. Bono says he’s known her and Troy for nearly his whole life. He remembers when they met, and adds that a lot of women were interested in Troy at the time, but Bono knew that, when Troy picked Rose, he made the right decision—that he was a man of sense. Bono, inspired by Troy’s decision, decided to start following him, thinking that following Troy’s mindset might take him somewhere in life. Troy, Bono says, taught him a lot—to “take life as it comes along and keep putting one foot in front of the other.” Bono finishes by telling Troy that Rose is a good woman.

Seeming still agitated by Bono’s comment, Troy wonders what motive Bono has in saying all of this about Rose, but Bono denies having anything particular on his mind. Troy is still unsatisfied by this, however, and pushes Bono for an explanation, but Bono has nothing to add—he just insists that Rose loves Troy. Troy thinks Bono is trying to say that Rose is too good for him—that he doesn’t measure up because he’s seeing Alberta. Bono responds by saying he knows how important Rose is to Troy, explaining that he just doesn’t want to see him mess their relationship up.

Troy says that he appreciates Bono’s sentiments, and claims that, while he didn’t go out looking for anything, and thinks that no woman compares with Rose, Alberta has nonetheless stuck onto him, and that he can’t shake her off.

Bono replies that Troy is ultimately the one responsible for his actions, but Troy explains that he’s not ducking any responsibility, claiming that, “as long as it sets right in my heart,” then he’s okay, and further, his heart is all he ever listens to. His heart, Troy says, will always tell him right from wrong, and that he won’t ever mistreat Rose, adding that he loves and respects her for all she’s added to his life.

While Bono doesn’t doubt Troy’s love and respect for Rose, he says he worries about what will happen when Rose finds out, since sooner or later it’s going to happen if he doesn’t drop Alberta and continues juggling both relationships. Troy replies that he’s been trying to figure out how to work it out, and Bono, while he doesn’t want to get caught up in Troy and Rose’s personal business, encourages Troy to “work it so it come out right.”

Troy replies that he gets involved in Bono and Lucille’s business all the time and, confirming this, he asks Bono when he’s going to buy Lucille the refrigerator she’s been wanting. Bono replies that once Troy finishes building the fence for Rose, he’ll buy Lucille her refrigerator. Bono then leaves to get back to Lucille, saying that he wants to see Troy put the fence up by himself in order to save his money, since it will take Troy another six months to finish it without him.

Rose then enters the yard from the house, and asks Troy why the police arrested Gabe, and what’s going to happen to him. Troy tells her he was arrested for disturbing the peace, and that a judge set up a hearing for him in three weeks. Rose adds that she thinks it would be good for him to be put in the hospital, but Troy says Gabe should be free—that it wouldn’t be right for anyone to lock him up, since his life was ruined by fighting a pointless war.

Rose then tells Troy to come inside for lunch, but he says he has something to tell her—he confesses that he’s going to be a father. Shocked, Rose cannot believe that Troy is telling her this, and—suddenly—Gabe enters the scene, with a rose in his hand. He offers Rose the flower, and she thanks him; he then asks Troy if he’s mad at him since “them bad mens come and put [him] away.” Troy denies being mad at Gabe, and tries to continue his conversation with Rose, but she says there’s nothing he can say to explain his actions.

Rose tells Gabe to go inside and get a piece of watermelon, and after he leaves, Rose begins questioning Troy. She wonders why, after all these years, Troy’s just now bringing this upon her—she could have expected this ten or fifteen years ago, she says, but not now. Troy says that age has nothing to do with it, and Rose starts to stand up for herself. She says she’s tried to be the best wife possible, and that she’s never wanted anything “half” (like Troy’s new baby) in her family, since her whole family growing up was “half,” and she finds it frustrating when she tries to talk with her brother and sisters about their parents. Troy tells Rose to stop making a fuss, insisting that she ought to know what’s going on, but she exclaims that she doesn’t want to know.

Troy adds that he can’t make anything go away—that he’s already done the deed and he can’t wish it away—but Rose counters by saying that he doesn’t want it to go away. Maybe, she says, Troy wants to wish all their eighteen years together and their boy, Cory, away—but he can’t do that, she says, because her life is invested in him. She adds that he ought to have stayed in her bed, where he belonged.

Troy insists that “we”—he and Rose—can get a handle on their dispute, but Rose asks where this “we” that Troy is bringing up was when he was sleeping with Alberta. Troy responds by saying that Alberta gives him a different idea about who he his—that Alberta lets him get away from the pressures and problems he feels in his own home. With Alberta, he says, he doesn’t have to worry about such mundane things as paying bills—he just gets to be “a part of myself that I ain’t never been.”

Rose replies, wondering whether Troy intends to keep seeing her or not, and he says that he can’t give up the laughter and joy which Alberta helps him to feel. After Rose suggests that Troy leave her for Alberta, since she’s apparently a better woman than her, Troy tries to defuse her. He says that a man could not ask for a better wife than Rose, but that he locked himself into a pattern where, being so concerned with taking care of her, he forgot to take care of himself.

After Rose proclaims that it was her job, as his wife, to take care of Troy—and that she’d tried to all her life—Troy says that he always tried all his life to be decent, and that he tried to be a good husband, the best he could. But also, he adds, one is born with “two strikes” before you arrive in the world, and one must guard this very closely—for you cannot afford another strike. Troy adds that, with everything lined up against you, you must “go out swinging.” He concludes that, when he left the penitentiary, nothing could make him strike-out anymore—that he was going to look after Rose and the boy they had.

Rose tells Troy he should have stayed in her bed, and Troy responds that, when he saw Alberta, “she firmed up my backbone.” Arguing that, after eighteen years, Rose should understand that he’d want to “steal second”—to have sex with Alberta—Rose shuts Troy down, exclaiming that he should have held onto her.

Troy responds by saying that he’d stood on first base for eighteen years with Rose, and, finally thought that, “well goddamn it . . . go on for it!” But Rose counters, saying that nothing they’re talking about has to do with baseball. Troy continues to argue with Rose, and insists that she’s not listening to him. But Rose maintains that she’s been standing with Troy for eighteen years and, further, she has a life of her own. She tells Troy that she has eighteen years of her own life—of her own dreams and hopes—and suggests to Troy that, though she’s had her own fantasies with other men, she’s never played-into them, always putting her responsibilities to her family first. She concludes that, ultimately, she planted herself inside of Troy to bloom, despite her most intimate needs. She says that, though she knew the soil of Troy’s world was rocky, she nonetheless gave everything to his world in order to love and support him.

Troy responds by telling Rose that she says he takes and never gives—and he grabs her, painfully, by the arm. Rose tells Troy that he’s hurting her, but he doesn’t care—he only says that she has falsely accused him of taking and not giving, concluding that he’s given her everything he’s got. Before they get into an even nastier fight, Cory enters the scene and wrestles with his father, ultimately gaining the upper hand. In response, Troy tells Cory that he’s “struck out” for the second time—and that he better not provoke him again.