And he came back after that month and took his sneakers – remember those sneakers with "University of Virginia" printed on them? He was so proud of those, wore them every day. And he took them down in the cellar, and burned them up in the furnace. We had a fist fight. It lasted at least half an hour. Just the two of us, punching each other down the cellar, and crying right through it.
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 2. Biff’s University of Virginia sneakers were a symbol of the hopes and dreams he had while in high school. They were his pride and joy. Here his friend Bernard tells Willy how after Biff’s visit to his father in Boston, Biff burned the sneakers and became involved in a punch-up with Bernard. The destruction of the sneakers represents the extinguishing of the bright future Biff had before him, and the beginning of the end of the close relationship he once enjoyed with his father.