The Link between Sports and Success in Death of a...

The Link between Sports and Success in Death of a Salesmannbsp; and Fences Sports have become one of the most dominant elements in society. Today sports are an integral part of lifestyle, entertainment and leisure. Sports have become an outlet for success and prestige. The recurring emphasis on sports appears in both Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and August Wilson’s Fences. While Death of a Salesman portrays sports as a means to popularity and subsequent success, Fences portrays sports negatively, discouraging sports, in spite of an unmistakable talent. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Miller’s Death of a Salesman is the tragic account of the demise of a meager salesman, Willy Loman. Willy†¦show more content†¦Later, Willy and Biff proceed to laugh at Bernard because Willy deems athleticism and popularity to be more fundamental to success, than knowledge or intellect: â€Å"Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re built like Adonises. Because the man who makes and appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want†.(Miller 33) Willy and Biff take no heed of these valuable warnings from Bernard, and Biff eventually flunks math, squandering his prospect of playing college football. Although it appeared as if sports would guide Biff to success, his father neglected certain facets along the way, and his dreams for Biff never materialized. In Wilson’s Fences, sports are depicted in a negative manner. The protagonist, Troy Maxson is a strong and stubborn black man attempting to recover from his deceitful past. After being detained for theft and homicide, Troy learned to play baseball in jail, and conceded he was quite talented. He seems preoccupied with his lost hopes of playing baseball in the major leagues. Troy feels racial discrimination was the reason why he was never given a chance to play major league baseball, therefore he regards sports pessimistically. He regularly uses the baseball motif when referring to death:Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Of A Salesman And Millers And Williams Plays1102 Words   |  5 PagesThe playwrights we discussed after Tennessee Williams have adapted disparate elements of postmodernism to undermine the modernist assumptions undergirding O’Neill’s, Glaspell’s, Wilder’s, Miller’s and Williams’ plays. I will use Fences, The Hungry Woman, Topdog/Underdog, Glengarry Glen Ross, Six Degrees of Separation, and The Heidi Chronicles to support my claim. To start off, I will come up with working definitions of modernism and post-modernism. Modernism is a movement in culture that seeks toRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pageshigher education have to say about how effective teachers foster learning: â€Å"All genuine learning is active, not passive. It is a process of discovery in which the student is the main agent, not the teacher.† (Adler, 1982) â€Å"Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in a class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spilling out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to theirRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesdecision, too. He wants to stay, but not by himself. Still, he isnt convinced by Juanitas reasons. Look, he says, if the stream were poisonous, everything in it would look dead. There are water spiders and plants living in the stream. Its no death trap. At this point you are faced with one of lifes little decisions: What do you do about the water situation? Go or stay? Someone else might make this decision by flipping a coin. A logical reasoner is more rational. 4 A first step in