This question requires the candidates to examine the presentation of Troy Maxson presented as a betrayer in the play. This was a popular and well-answered question.
The requirements of this question include the following:

• Identify the theme of racial discrimination and its negative effects on the lives of African Americans in the 1950s.
• Character identification of Troy Maxson, Bono, Gabriel and Rose.
• Troy’s relationship with Bono: they meet while serving a prison term and now work together in the sanitation department. Bono is Troy’s adviser in the latter’s relationship with Rose, his wife. Troy betrays his friend’s trust as he has a child with Alberta outside of wedlock.
• Troy’s relationship with Rose: Rose is Troy’s wife of 18 years. Troy has denied ever dating another woman since he married Rose. He explains away his going to the Taylor’s. He says he goes there to listen to matches. He returns one day to inform her of having another child. Rose is shattered by the news.
• Troy and Gabriel’s relationship: Gabriel who suffered a head injury while fighting in World War II is Troy’s brother. He rejects Rose’s suggestion that Gabriel should be confined in a hospital for proper care but still goes ahead to sign a paper authorizing that Gabriel be confined in the hospital and half of the money for his upkeep goes to the hospital and half to him, which he uses to get a roof over his head.

• Significance of the betrayal: he loses the trust of the people around him. Throughout the play, Troy never apologizes for his actions, which implies he does not betray others deliberately. Though other characters are hurt by Troy’s actions, in the end, they come around for his funeral.