Fences blues analysis

The thing I was assigned to follow in the movie Fences was the blues. Having recently read another play which prominently features blues music, this was a major change for me (just kidding, Mr. Herman). While I expected the blues to materialize in the movie as a soundtrack in the background or as music the characters were listening to, I was surprised to realize that the majority of the music in the movie came from the characters themselves. For example, Troy constantly sings the song his father wrote, Old Blue, and Cory and Raynell later sing it at the end of the movie before going to his funeral. This symbolizes the piece of Troy that is in both of them, just as the piece of Troy's father is in him. Additionally, oftentimes in the movie when a character is singing, a member of their family will come talk to them, and as such music is used as a force to bring people together. Finally, Troy's older son Lyons constantly brings up the music he plays in clubs, which he desperately wants Troy to come listen to, and he says is the reason he can get up in the morning and make it through life. In this way, music also represents a sustaining force and aspirations. Because of this, the fact that Troy never came to listen to his son perform, and the audience never hears him play, is even more significant as Lyons' music remains an abstract concept we never really see.