The Impact of a Furious for Tre Styles in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood

Throughout the entirety of John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, there is a central theme of how important having a father figure is to a young boy. We see this aspect of the film as we watch Tre Styles grow and mature while other boys like Doughboy and Chris end up going to juvie for shoplifting at a local convenience store. I think one aspect of foreshadowing that we see as viewers to know the difference between how Doughboy and Tre Styles are raised is when Furious states, “You may think I'm being hard on you right now, but I'm not. What I'm doing is I'm trying to teach you how to be responsible. Like your little friends across the street, they don't have anybody to show them how to do that.” I found it impactful that Furious is the character of wisdom throughout the entire movie. I think overall; Furious is able to ingrain prominent morals into Tre; although he may be harsh, he does prove his point that Tre will end up different than his friends who do not have a dad. Beforehand, we see Tre is easily influenced to fight at school and lacks respect for his peers, but when Tre goes to live with his dad Furious, he completely changes. Further, when Tre sees his friend Ricky get shot, he goes home to get his gun. Luckily enough, Furious stop him and tells Tre, “You're my only son, and I'm not gonna lose you to no bullsh*t. I love you, man.” I think this moment in the film is pivotal for Tre because he loses his best friend to violence and feels the need to act on how he feels. Previously, in the film, Tre is able to hind his emotions and not act on them; however, in the above scene, Tre acts on how he feels, and his father, Furious, tries to pursue Tre not to act on his emotions negatively. Furious also seems to be the character in the film that is very intelligent and tries his best to make sure Tre is on a path to success in his life. Furious states at one point in the movie, “Why do you think there's a liquor store on every corner? The same reason there's a gun store on every corner. they want us to kill ourselves.” I think this scene is very impactful to Tre because Furious is able to be the voice of reason and logic to Tre and further prove how important it is that Tre stays on the right path in life. Likewise, Furious is also a voice of reason to Tre when he is trying to explain to Tre the importance of having protected sex and how important it truly is as a young adult. Furious tells Tre, “Any fool with a di*k can make a baby, but only a real man can raise his children.” I think this scene is so inspiring because Furious is able to be a very excellent father figure to Tre by exemplifying that he raises him for the majority of the film. Furthermore, I think Furious proves to be an excellent voice of reason or father for Tre for the majority of the film.