Troy Maxson, the protagonist of Fences, has had his dreams taken from him. He wanted more than anything to be a professional baseball player, but his career was stopped because of racial discrimination. The central conflict of Fences centers around Troy’s refusal to let his son Cory play football, which destroys Cory’s chances of going to college. In this way, Fences explores how the damaged dreams of one generation can damage the dreams of the next. By the end of the play, Cory must find a way to form new dreams out of the ashes of the ones he has lost.