<p>From the blue book- with 25 min time constraint.
can success be disastrous?</p>
<p>Essay starts</p>
<p>The old adage "be careful of your persuit as it may turn against you" is a hackneyed saying but it often times true. The path to success can put onself into a disastorous predicament and can often counter the reason for said success. Several examples from from history and literature demonstrate that the road to success can often lead to disastourous consequences.</p>
<p>In F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, achieves affluent success in order to attract his love, Daisy. Gatsby's persuit of his success leads to his eventuall downfall. Gatsby, in the beggining of the novel, becomes inspired to become wealthy by the man he works for, Dan Cody. After losing his love Daisy because of his lack of wealth, Gatsby again vows to become wealthy to "get Daisy back". In his persuit, Gatsby throws extravagant parties which only attract attention from Tom, Daisy's husband. After Tom realizes that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby, he informs Myrtle's husband, that Myrtle was killed as a result of Gatsby poor driving. Myrtle's husband subsequently shoots Gatsby in the back during a hot summer day. Gatsby's persuit to aquire Daisy led to his confrontation with Tom, which then led to his death. Indeed Gatsby persuit to aquire Daisy resulted in his death.</p>
<p>In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth, a Scottish general is killed because of his persuit to success. Macbeth after hearing a prophecy declaring that he will be king of Scotland, decides to kill his king, Duncan. Macbeth treacherous rise to power leads to another Scottish General, Macduff, to eventually kill him. Macbeth's native belief in "the prophecy" led to his drive and ambition to kill his king. Although Macbeth had a bright future, his lust for power eventually ended his life. Thus we may conclude that Macbeth's lust for power was indeed disastrous.</p>
<p>In America during the 1830's, President Andrew Jackson destroyed the Federal Bank of the United States. His success in doing so led economic hardship for middle class Americans. Andrew Jackson "Stonewall" character led to his belief that the Federal Banks were a stronghold for the rich, providing wealth to the few and poverty to the many.Andrew Jackson's push to destroy the Federal Banks proved to be disastorous. For one, the Federal Bank had only boosted the economic prosperity of the United States up until that time. His decision to veto a law that would renew the Federal Bank, could be from his point of view as a success but his success in destroying the Federal Bank led to over 200 banks, which were dependent on the Federal Banks, to default and destroy consumer faith in the banking system. This in turn led to disastourous economic consequences for the United States. </p>
<p>We may therefor observe from Gatsby's Death, Macbeth's death, and Andrew Jackson's abolishment of the Federal Bank, that success and its persuit can often be disastourous. </p>
<p>END ESSAY</p>