off women not his wife. He is trying to be a masculine and dominant force in a black family. As he saw from his own father, this is something that causes women to either run off, or for men never to stay around (Bono tells us about the father he never saw or knew). Man of the house -- that is one of the images Troy wants to give friends, neighbors and his own family. A house bought and paid for. A roof that needs new tarpaper for $264, that he will drive a garbage truck to pay for. Food on the table, and not leavings, either. He wants to be that good neighbor who nevertheless wants to build that fence.
Then there is Troy the dreamer -- the man with the imagination that he could have been a baseball star if only the major leagues had not been segregated. Did he ever play baseball? Probably not, but Bono, for one humors him. It was a way of getting out of the poverty of the South for many black men, who endured all kinds of racial problems. Even in this dream, even as he realizes that Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron and Wes Covington were symbols, and that there were better players. "Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make" (p. 10). Within that pipe dream is reality. It strikes hard at Cory's dreams. "The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That's why I don't want you to get all tied up in them sports" (p. 34). Trying to hold his son back from his dream? More like trying to keep him from suffering the hurt and indignity of being "colored" in a white man's world.
There is Troy the loving husband, who tells Rose over and over again, especially in front of friends, how much he physically wants her. There is a bond between the two.
Then there is Troy the trustee for his shattered brother, whose government money paid for the house.
Finally, there is Troy, who awakens to the unfairness of his job -- his asking why no blacks are driving trucks, and taking that questi...