Lyons Character Analysis

● Jazz Musician
○ Industry dominated by blacks
○ His love for music
○ Perceived as a very bad way to make a living - conflicts with Troy’s ideas of duty
■ Not at all a guaranteed for success - like the numbers, he’s willing to take
a chance for happiness rather than take the surefire path.
○ Goes against his fathers wishes
○ Lyons is more obsessed with the idea of being a musician than with the actual art
of music itself, even though he claims to be fundamentally dedicated to music.
■ Contrast with Troy who is more preoccupied with the realities of being a
father than the sentiments of it.
○ “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.”
● Grew up without Troy in his childhood (prison) - Amanda (start)
○ How that affects their relationship
○ Troy feels like he is obligated to hand money over to him, maybe this indulges his
career (or lack of one). Troy resents this because Lyon refuses to get a real job.
■ Also ends up in prison later in his life - a generational cycle in contrast to
Troy’s also negative relationship with Cory?
● Financially dependent on girlfriend
○ Impact that has, struggling to make his own money
■ Negatively impacts relationship with his father
○ His overall relationship with her
● Plays in the local lottery - Amanda (end)
○ Believes in gambling for a better future, doesn't really put in effort, wants easy
way out
● Similar to Cory/Foil (Jordan)
○ Lyon’s dreams to be a musician like Cory’s dream to be a professional football
player, challenges Troy’s narrow and rigid view of his definition of a proper job
and profession.
○ Also acts as a foil to Cory, however, as Cory eventually succeeds in finding his
own path and paving his own life even though it didn’t involve football. Lyons
fails to find himself in life and his dreams of becoming a musician fail, so he has
to resort to crime to make a living and he ultimately ends up in jail like his father.
○ Failed by their father in different, though similar, ways - Troy was in jail for
Lyons’s childhood, missing from his life as a result. Troy views his fathership to
Cory as a duty, carrying it out with resignation/obligation. Troy is physically
present in Cory’s life, emotionally absent from both, and offers financial support
to Lyons despite his profession because of his absence from Lyons’s earlier
childhood - for Lyons, their relationship goes slightly beyond duty?
○ Lyons has a more peaceable relationship w/ Troy than Cory
● Onomastics
○ Onomastics is the study of the history and origin of proper names. In literature, it
is used to analyze characters by using methods like linguistics & literary criticism.
○ The name Lyons comes from a French and English origin & stands for strength
and ferocity.
○ This suggests the pride, majesty, and independence of a lion, but ironically,
Lyons's character exhibits none of these traits. He is, rather, dependent, lazy, and
dishonest, kind of connecting to the lie sound in his name.
○ Lyons also wants to make a name for himself as a musician, but the problem is he
can't seem to stay out of trouble. He is constantly coming to his father, Troy, to
borrow money, which he wastes while his wife, Bonnie, works hard all day in the
hospital laundry. Although he does not fit the image of a lion, this shows how
actually does engage in some lion-like behavior, for male lions rarely hunt and
depend upon the females in their pack to get their food for them.
○ To further emphasize his dependence on others and lack of responsibility, when
Troy offers to get Lyons a job hauling rubbish, Lyons claims,
■ “That ain't for me. I don't want to be carrying nobody's rubbish” 1.1
○ This shows how he deems his fathers job is beneath him which is a bit ironic
because the money he asks his father for, comes from that job. And instead of
getting his own job, Lyons lazily depends on Bonnie and Troy—until, that is, he
finds another way to get some money, illegally- by resorting to cashing other
peoples checks and ending up in prison. This shows how even though Lyons
aspirations in life are to be difference from his father, like having a job where he
is not under someone’s control or do something he loves instead of what he has to
do to support his family, he ends up following in his fathers footsteps, becoming a
prisoner just like Troy was before.
Reenactment scene

Pages 16-19
Sources
https://www.enotes.com/topics/fences/questions/in-fences-the-names-rose-lyons-and-gabriel-
are-2351488