Twisted Monopoly (Essay Sample)

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Twisted monopoly
Sometimes I sit back and think how fair life has been to someone I know but looking closely at all that I loudly wonder to myself if that is fair indeed. So what is fair after all? We were born in a world that has no definition for what fairness is. And for this Bryant H. McGill said that, "the world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places" (McGill, N.p). If there are things that tilt the scales of fairness in this world such things have got to do with income and wealth on one hand and race and gender on the other. When you look around you will notice that these four aspects have grouped the society and within those groupings there is a persistent search for fairness. Oswald’s assertion about life’s fairness just expounds the vanity when he says that sometimes the future has been determined from the outset, and as hard as anything we try, nonetheless we cannot change”(Oswald N.p). And so the begging question is always is this fair? Interestingly though the game of monopoly portrays much of how life’s fairness or unfairness is experienced. I got to play the game understanding that I needed to become as wealthy as I could possibly get. Some rules of the game were fair enough to allow me to achieve part of my objective. I got in the game as a man and was surprised that as much as rolling the dice was meant to instill a sense of fairness among the players the rules defining the outcomes were anything but fair. I noted in particular how getting in the game as a woman is disadvantageous. As Oswald further says "this is indeed difficult to accept… but that is what is called life, because life is not fair" (Oswald N.p).
Apparently as the game advanced and as we got to know who is who, the most privileged player was the one who started with some money and property. I did have no property but started with $400. The most privileged player in the game was seven times my worth and I could see it felt good to hold that position. Being a man when he drew any chance card, he had to part with $25 each time he passed the ‘go’ for the remainder of the game. While this would not affect the income for the most privileged player, the same fate was potentially damaging for a player like me. My worth would significantly drop if I drew a chance card at this time. This made me very nervous and helpless because a significant part of the game depended on chance (rolling the dice). It was becoming apparent that the males in the game were slightly advantaged although my worth was well below the leading female player. However her earnings worth $1300 were substantially less compared to the two leading male players who were worth $2900 and $2600 respectively. The leading players were particularly apprehensive about the privileged female player wanting to keep the current status unchallenged. Such was the case when the female player landed on property that is not owned and expressed an interest to buy it. I also noted that the leading female player was more fearful of rolling a 9 than the other female players because of what was at stake, probably a dent in her current status.
As the game advanced it was clearly shaping up into what we subtly encounter in real life, the battle of the sexes. The two leading players were gaining more clout by amassing more wealth and with it came some stereotyping and particularly towards the leading female player who was determined to accumulate as much wealth. It seemed like the second most privileged male player was not as much a threat to the most privileged male player as was the leading female player who was third. This was revealing the silent stereotyping that has been in society for long. The unfairness in the world makes it unlikely for the woman to remain independent and successful albeit she expends all her effort and is proved wittier than the man.
The game made me learn a very important concept in life, which is that chance determines what you become in life. Just like the rolling of the dice, you can score or miss and each of this has consequences that will determine who you finally become. Just like there is sometimes a real fear of taking a chance, it was also the same feeling that I had at time part...