Fences
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Themes
Characters
Fences
byAugust Wilson
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The son to Troy and his former, unnamed wife (prior to Rose), Lyons strives, against the wishes of his father, to be a professional musician. While Lyons claims to be fundamentally dedicated to music—while he claims that music is the only reason he gets out of bed every morning—August Wilson writes, in a note in the script, that Lyons is more obsessed with the idea of being a musician than with the actual art and practice of music itself. Like his brother Cory, therefore, Lyons’s dreams challenge Troy’s rigid sense of what constitutes a proper profession. However, while Cory ultimately succeeds in paving a way for himself—even if it’s through the military, and not through playing football, as he first intended—Lyons ultimately fails. Too narrowly focused on becoming a musician, Lyons has to resort to crime (cashing other peoples’ checks) in order to make ends meet. Following in his father’s footsteps, Lyons ends up in jail.
Lyons Maxson Quotes in Fences
The Fences quotes below are all either spoken by Lyons Maxson or refer to Lyons Maxson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1: Scene 1Quotes
You ain’t seen no devil. I done told you that man ain’t had nothing to do with the devil. Anything you can’t understand, you want to call it the devil.
Related Characters:Rose Maxson (speaker), Troy Maxson, Lyons Maxson, Jim Bono
Related Symbols:“Mr. Death”
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:14
Explanation and Analysis:
You and me is two different people, Pop. . . . I know I got to eat. But I got to live too. I need something that gonna help me to get out of the bed in the morning. Make me feel like I belong in the world. I don’t bother nobody. I just stay with my music cause that’s the only way I can find to live in the world. Otherwise there ain’t no telling what I might do. Now I don’t come criticizing you and how you live. I just come by to ask you for ten dollars. I don’t wanna hear all that about how I live.
Related Characters:Lyons Maxson (speaker), Troy Maxson
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:18
Act 1: Scene 4Quotes
How he gonna leave with eleven kids? And where he gonna go? He ain’t knew how to do nothing but farm. No, he was trapped and I think he knew it. But I’ll say this for him . . . he felt a responsibility toward us. Maybe he ain’t treated us the way I felt he should have . . . but without that responsibility he could have walked off and left us . . . made his own way.
Related Characters:Troy Maxson (speaker), Lyons Maxson
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:51
Act 2: Scene 4Quotes
I’m coming in and everybody’s going out…
Related Characters:Troy Maxson (speaker), Cory Maxson, Rose Maxson, Lyons Maxson, Raynell
Related Symbols:The Fence
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:81
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Lyons Maxson Quotes in Fences
The Fences quotes below are all either spoken by Lyons Maxson or refer to Lyons Maxson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1: Scene 1Quotes
You ain’t seen no devil. I done told you that man ain’t had nothing to do with the devil. Anything you can’t understand, you want to call it the devil.
Related Characters:Rose Maxson (speaker), Troy Maxson, Lyons Maxson, Jim Bono
Related Symbols:“Mr. Death”
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:14
Explanation and Analysis:
You and me is two different people, Pop. . . . I know I got to eat. But I got to live too. I need something that gonna help me to get out of the bed in the morning. Make me feel like I belong in the world. I don’t bother nobody. I just stay with my music cause that’s the only way I can find to live in the world. Otherwise there ain’t no telling what I might do. Now I don’t come criticizing you and how you live. I just come by to ask you for ten dollars. I don’t wanna hear all that about how I live.
Related Characters:Lyons Maxson (speaker), Troy Maxson
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:18
Act 1: Scene 4Quotes
How he gonna leave with eleven kids? And where he gonna go? He ain’t knew how to do nothing but farm. No, he was trapped and I think he knew it. But I’ll say this for him . . . he felt a responsibility toward us. Maybe he ain’t treated us the way I felt he should have . . . but without that responsibility he could have walked off and left us . . . made his own way.
Related Characters:Troy Maxson (speaker), Lyons Maxson
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:51
Act 2: Scene 4Quotes
I’m coming in and everybody’s going out…
Related Characters:Troy Maxson (speaker), Cory Maxson, Rose Maxson, Lyons Maxson, Raynell
Related Symbols:The Fence
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:81
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