This was not a popular question. Most candidates only commented on Troy’s death.
The requirements of this question include the following:

• Identify the theme of racial discrimination and its negative impact on the lives of African Americans in the 1950s.

• Character identification of Troy Maxson
• Instances of Troy’s mention of death: he refers to death in baseball terms as ‘nothing but a fastball on the outside corner”. He does not see anything wrong with talking about death. He claims he saw death and spoke to him in 1941. He claims death is an army. He wrestled death for ‘three days’ and ‘three nights’. He admits that ‘death ain’t nothing to play with. And I know he’s gonna get me’.
• What Troy’s perception of death portrays about him: his perception of death as ‘nothing to play with’ shows him as a realist. His perception of death shows him as someone who is fearless; he believes he once fought death while he was ill with pneumonia. It shows him as one who values life; he is not fatalistic in his approach to the phenomenon of death. His seeing death as ‘nothing but a fastball on the outside corner’ shows him as someone who believes he is unconquerable and seemingly immortal.
• Significance of Troy’s perception of death in the play: Troy’s several references to death underscore the premium the play places on the issue of death and immortality and foreshadows his own death at the end of the play. His perception of death strengthens his resolve to hold fast to life.

Candidates’ performance in the question was fair.