Theme of Success in Paper by Catherine Lim (Essay Example)

Many argue that the ambition for success can lead to prosperity and triumph for a person, while others, such as Catherine Lim, author of  “Paper”, say it can lead to sorrow and regret for a person and their loved ones. Though in the beginning, Tay Soon’s ambition led to him being very successful in the stock market, his downfall began when his greed overtook him. In hopes of finally getting his dream house, the ambitious man decided to take the easy way and hopefully make the needed sum in weeks, if not days. However, a market crash crushed his dreams and ruined the life of his family. There were many early signs of Tay Soon's financial and physical disaster, such as his obsession with investing, excessive greed, and foolishness, causing his ambitions to negatively impact him and his family.

To finally accomplish their dream of a beautiful mansion, Tay Soon and his wife had to work hard or test their luck. The couple decided to gamble their money in the stock market. They became addicted to the easy route to success, not being able to "talk or think of anything else”. Tay Soon and his wife, Yee Lian, were blinded by their ambition for success, forgetting about the possibility of a loss for them and their children. They believed they could make a million dollars off the stock market and decided against selling the shares while they were ahead. A famous phrase, “stop while you're ahead” is a good lesson for this couple because soon, the stock market plummeted. Their biggest fault however was not selling the stocks once the crash occurred. Their obsession with easy money caused them to wait foolishly for a stock market recovery. But despite talks of recovery, the crash continued, and soon the couple had lost everything. This was all a result of too much investing, and not wanting to cash out on their investments while they were still a success. Here we could see how ambition turned into a dangerous obsession, financially destroying Tay Soon and his family.

Greed played a massive part in Tay Soon and his family's hunt to achieve their dream. In the beginning, their dream seemed reasonable, with Tay Soon and his wife saving money from their earnings as most regular people do. Everyone has ambitions, but sometimes too much ambition can lead to greed. This was the instance for this family. The couple was still short of some money for the down payment of the house, "but Tay Soon and Yee Lian with their good salaries would be able to manage very well." However, this would take time as they were still $8000 away from being able to afford the down payment, and even then, it would take years to pay off the whole house. Tay Soon got greedy for money and wanted more to easily be able to pay for the house and complete his goal. The greed for more money caused him to take a risky route, one in which his ambitions would hurt himself and his family. Once Tay Soon's ambitious dreams were doomed as the investments failed, he became sick. The doctors said, "there is a devil in him". This devil was greed, caused by ambition, which took Tay Soon's life and turned life into a nightmare for his family.

Along with greed, another issue was that the couple was going off of what others were doing. Throughout the story, it is noticeable that many of the couple's decisions have been caused by what Dr. Soo’s family was investing in. It was originally Dr. Soo’s success in the stock market that caused Tay Soon and his wife to invest. Another foolish decision was to invest without a backup plan. Out of the forty thousand saved, Tay Soon should have invested only a fraction. This way, if the investments failed, a sufficient amount of money would still be available to keep the family going. An additional example of foolish decisions occurred when the stocks just began to fall. Rather than selling off their stocks, the couple decided to continue testing their luck. Once again their ambitious dream of a big house caused them to continue betting on their lives. They continued to invest because Dr. Soo’s wife informed Tay Soon and Yee Lian about the potential of making money through shares in OHTE and West Parkes. Instead of being rational and not investing at a time of a market crash, the couple foolishly listened to Dr. Soo’s wife, again losing more money. Due to their ambition to recover their money after the first loss, the couple became gullible and wasted the little money they had left on more stocks during a market crash. In the end, it ended up hurting them even more, hence showing how ambition negatively affected the couple and their family. 

Tay Soon was an ambitious man who cared too much for materialistic things. The author, Catherine Lim, portrayed Tay Soon's ambitious characteristics as a highly negative trait. His ambitions first led to an obsession for his dream house, along with an addiction to investing. His obsession with the house was dreadful because it led him to take risks that could bankrupt him and his family. Greed then overtook him when he learned money was the key to unlocking his main goal. It became an issue when he and his wife began to risk their money on stocks. Lack of thinking and gullibility played key roles in the result of Tay Soon's financial outcomes. This was because Tay Soon first invested all of his savings without having any backup. A foolish decision because if the stocks crashed, the family would be in financial trouble. Once it did crash, Tay Soon was foolish enough to continue spending the little money he had left until he had nothing. Eventually, his ambition led to the ultimate sacrifice when Tay Soon passed away due to trauma from his investment experience, leaving his family behind with almost nothing. We can see the effects of ambitions on self and others were deeply dreadful for Tay Soon, Yee Lian, and their children who now had neither a father nor financial stability.