Analysis Of Being Good And Nottage's Sweat

Various moral and physical environments can greatly influence the beliefs, ideas, and decisions people make. Our moral environment shapes people's surrounding climate of ideas, influencing how they live. Our physical environment is what individuals depend on, even though it is extremely fragile. Whether one admits it or not, atmospheres can affect everything that occurs in life, and can significantly change people's quality of life over the years. Understanding this concept in depth can be difficult. Furthermore, you might find yourself in a spiral of questions and concerns on how exactly these environments affect human beings. Blackburn's Being Good and Nottage's Sweat give exquisite examples and inferences on how we are affected from the

The characters in this play worked for the Olstead company for generations. Consequently, this physical environment became a major element in their day to day lives. Working for Olstead was critical because of the positive reputation and high wages. Stan, an older main character expresses this in the following quote, "Not many people walk away from Olstead's, cuz you're not gonna find better money out there. You leave, it'll be impossible to get back in. They'll be ten guys lining up for your fucking job" (Nottage, 31). The workers heavily depended on the job, which drilled that idea into their moral environment. Unfortunately for them: "American think tanks report that the booming stock market is widening the income gap between the poorest and richest U.S. families." (Nottage, 13). The company desires more profits, so even though characters dedicated their whole lives to the company, speculation about lay offs began. Tracey, a worker at the company, displays a 'hiring' flier written in Spanish to her fellow coworkers. In this scene, a Colombian man named Oscar translates the flier to them. Little do they know, Oscar will later on work for the company after everyone else is fired and accept a lower wage than the frequent