“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.” This is a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte. Ambition is a theme that is visible within the novel “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and the film “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Both Duddy Kravitz, the main character of the novel, and Jordan Belfort, the main character of the film, are both are excessively ambitious and would do anything to accomplish their goals and to become a successful individual. Growing up in poverty may provoke ones ambition; however it has the ability to cloud ones judgement and morals, and may guide one on the path of illegal activity. Ambition has the ability to guide one on a path of illegal deeds. Duddy had one objective within the novel. It was to obtain land to be successful. As a last …show more content…
“Duddy took a quick look at Virgil’s bank balance, whistled, noted his account number and ripped out two cheques. He forged the signature by holding the cheque and a letter Virgil had signed up to the window and tracing slowly.”(Richler, 307-308). This action taken by Duddy demonstrates his cutthroat attitude, his ruthlessness, as well his willingness to risk his friendship to accomplish his goal. Although he did lose the respect from his grandfather and ended his friendship with Virgil and his Girl Friday, Yvette, for forging a cheque; he did obtain the last portion land. Similarly, Jordan Belfort committed illegal acts within his business, including selling penny stocks disguised as blue chip stocks to wealthy individuals and generating
Max Vandenburg, a jew, has been hiding almost all of his adult life from the Nazis. Max makes his way across Germany to Molching where Hans and Rosa Hubermann take him into hiding. If Max were to be discovered by anyone outside of the household, the Hubermanns and Max would most likely be killed because Hitler had 90% of the German population convinced jews were the enemy.pg 422-423. As for political discrimination, if a German was not part of the Nazi party, they were treated poorly compared to those who were in the Nazi party. Hans Hubermann was saved by a jew, Max’s father Eric and Hans could not hate the jews. Hans is a painter but he does not find much work because most of his customers were jewish people, driven out and killed by the
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--The Tragic Fall of Duddy A man must pursue his dreams. This is certainly true for everyone of the humankind, for if there were no dreams, there would be no reason to live. Duddy Kravitz understands this perfectly, that is why he is one of the most ambitious young men of his time. From the moment he hears his grandfather says, "A man without land is nobody," he is prepared to seek the land of his dream -- no matter what the cost would be.
From the very moment Duddy’s grandfather declares, "A man without land is nobody," Duddy is prepared to seek the land of his dreams no matter what it would cost him in the long run. He’s extremely ambitious and would do anything in his power to succeed in achieving his goal, however, his methods of fulfilling his goals are extremely awful. In the end of the novel, Duddy has obtained all the land that he had desired, but he succeeds through immoral and contemptible means. No doubt, Duddy is extremely clever, but his lack of moral principles are what leads to his final failure. Perhaps he cannot distinguish right from wrong, nonetheless, it is unacceptable for him to engage himself into these kinds of acts.
His main incentive in the beginning is that he does not want to be in poverty, this invariably leads to his fear of insecurity, and he finds a solution. To get enough money to keep him far away from the fear of poverty, doing anything to provide stability throughout his whole life, the outcome of this is
Not everyone is living the American dream. It consists of owning a car, house, having a stable income for a family, and the ability to have leisure time. Through a series of economic downturns, the world has experienced financial instability that has greatly affected the population; notably the Great Depression during the late 1920s. Hit after hit, money becomes an issue and plays a key role in developing a person’s character through financial hardships. Horace’s quote, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant,” is very much true and can be demonstrated in society and by well-known personalities.
Novelists such as Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald used themes of desire of wealth as a fundamental element to motivate their characters. In their novels, the theme is reflected by the rich Americans who primal desire is to obtain more and more wealth. These characters are so infatuated with and blinded by money that they no longer regard the more noble qualities of life. In each of their works, these authors present intricate, self-conscious characters that desire wealth in order to attain their dreams. In reality, wealth cannot buy people, ideas or even time.
In his novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler portrays the character of Duddy as an anti-hero. Richler develops Duddy in this way through close relationships with other characters and family members. Various negative traits of Duddy were shown in his business career as well. Mordecai Richler developed the character of Duddy as an anti-hero to highlight complexity in individual people.
The issue with his argument, however, is that he does not accurately discuss both sides of ambition’s effects and he makes assumptions based on his own beliefs. Though he briefly discusses the negative events that have taken place in the past in nonspecific terms, he quickly dismisses the alternative with condescension which does not lead to an effective argument if one is meant to persuade. By failing to accurately depict this side of ambition, Whipper is able to fit this point into the framework of his argument without negating his supposed effectiveness with a true examination of the other side. If he had attempted to make this same argument in front of a crowd without the same means as this society, it can be reasonably argued that this argument would not hold up. All in all, there is no way to accurately negate the possibility that some ambition comes with bad intentions. All one can do is hope that those with positive intentions overshadow
External forces and one’s ambition can have a major impact on how they act as a person and how that
Money is the supreme power of the world. Its immeasurable power and limitless influence has hacked into our society today, ruining our political democracy, our capitalistic economy, and our chances at achieving the American Dream. Money is handled differently between the rich and the poor. Money in the hands of the poor is spent on essential items necessary for survival, and since money is not abundant in the hands of the poor, every single penny is cherished as a gift from God. However in the hands of the rich, money is used to acquire more money. The urge to succumb to greed influences the rich to use any and all means necessary to grow their wealth, to grow their power, to grow their long lasting influence. We look up to the rich with awe for their ability to achieve the American Dream, but what we are blindfolded from seeing is the true rise to stardom, their true pathway to success. Not all, but some have achieved the American Dream through immoral acts and satanic deeds, swindling the desired ones from their exit of poverty or their chance to enter into reality. In the end of The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald revealed to us the true Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald teaches us that not all people achieve the American Dream immorally, giving the example of Jay Gatsby
Individuals with high ambitions can live humbly without the need of materialistic items. The need for status and recognition is a choice. To survive in most environments takes drive, on the other hand ambition is a force unto itself. Humans
Any goal in life is achieved through ambition, fueled by determination, desire and hard work. Ambition maybe a driving force to success or to a pit of failure, the path chosen by an individual determines the end. Remember that any goal to be fulfilled needs desire, desire that strives to do good or greedy desire that is selfish. Also the actions that contribute to our ‘hard work’ need to be morally and ethically right to enjoy the sweet success. However, when the desire and determination is stronger than conscience, many tend to fail often reach or don’t reach what they strived for, leaving them emotionally or even physically dead. The inner lying consequence of ambition is clearly stated by Napoleon, he quotes “Great ambition is the
Everyone has a since of ambition built inside of them. Your inner self determines whether you keep it under the surface or let it all come out. In the play Macbeth ambition gets the best of the main character. This is also evident in the novel Frankenstein with its main character. Both of these characters were fallen victims of their own inner ambitious ways. Ambition in both of these books is key to the understanding of each character’s actions.
Many people in the world would do anything to attain wealth and power. As a result they become engulfed with an "intense and selfish desire for something" called greed that will change the way they act and treat others around them (Greed). An example of this can be seen in the movie "Wolf of Wall Street" , where the protagonist went from being a simple everyday man with the desire to find success in life, to a wealthy person filled with avarice and always wanting more after he found success as a stockbroker. The five time oscar nominated movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, encompasses the theme of greed by factors of the movie such as the camera angles, the music that was used in the scenes, symbolism, and character development as well as the words the characters say (IMDb).
More importantly, the narrative of movies affects the public perception of, and response towards crimes. The narrative of The Wolf is taken from the criminal’s point of view that results in putting the audience in a position to relate to the criminal, as opposed to victims. For example, the motivation of a character may be used to set the narrative in motion (Hayward 2013, 256). In the film, Belfort’s motivation to achieve financial gains was made aware to the audience in his statement “I always wanted to be rich…so what do I do? I go to the one place on earth that befit my high-minded ambitions” (The Wolf of Wall Street 2013). This narrative structure focuses on the financial attainment of the offender, as opposed to his flawed method of attaining