The Sport of the Gods Themes

The Sport of the Gods Themes

Disenfranchisement and injustice

When people are disenfranchised from power, it means that their views are not represented. When the Founding Fathers decried "Taxation without representation," that is essentially an argument from disenfranchisement, but for the Black family in this novel, disenfranchisement isn't just about legal representation—it goes as deep as racial prejudice itself. The novel paints a picture of systemic racial injustice, showing that it is the product of powerful men willingly exploiting the misfortune of the Black community.

The hope of urbanization

The move to New York City came with a few major changes to the Hamilton household. They felt as though perhaps they could find money in the city more easily and with more dignity than in the South, but as Fannie soon learns, the hopes of urban life come at a cost—her son drinks and becomes wrathful, driven mad by existential angst, and the daughter does earn money, first as an adult entertainer, and then as a kept, abused housewife. The meaning of these stories seems to point to the fact that systemic issues also abound in the North and in the city.

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