Paper by Catherine Lim Analysis Essay Example

The eagerness to achieve or attain success, power, fortune or a certain objective through ambition is the key to achieving what you want in life. “Paper” by Catherine Lim demonstrates how ambition can affect certain aspects such as motivation but lead to negative outcomes. When someone takes their aspirations too seriously, narrow outlooks develop, and they lose track of what should be their priorities. Ambition can be positive to some level, but too much of it can lead to feelings of hopelessness as well. As a result, they will disregard themselves and others. The emotion of greed, Tay Soon ruining the relationships with his family and negative reaction to failure are all arguments about the topic.

Due to Tay Soons obsession with the stock market, his greed leads to his downfall. Following a few lucky sales in the market, Tay Soon began to develop a sense of greediness. As demonstrated in the statement “Husband and wife couldn’t talk or think of anything else. They thought fondly of their shares—going to be worth a million altogether soon” (88). Even though he realized that the sum of his salary plus his wives was sufficient enough to buy their dream home, the desire for more money blinded him. From the beginning of the story, we always knew Tay was a materialistic person as the dream house and its certain specifications were the only thoughts on his mind. The outcome would be Tay being naturally lured in by the dark side of money and success to achieve the house.  “Oh, I can’t believe, I can’t believe it,’ gasped Yee Lian, pale and sick. Tay Soon looked in mute horror at her” (89). After hearing how certain stocks are "guaranteed" to rise, Tay starts to put all of his money into them immediately. Greed takes over him as he does not even consider research on the stock before buying. He only desires instant results. Losing all of his money is the inevitable result. During his desire for a new home, luck was not on his side and Tay Soon lost sight of his priorities, resulting in his demise. 

Reactions to immense failure may result in many different emotions starting to boil. In this case, Tay takes the anger out on others around him. “Worthless!” exploded Tay Soon. “Do you know, Mother, if I sold all my shares today, I would have the money to buy fifty terrace houses like the one you have?” (88) shows that Tay soon and his mom have varying perspectives. Tay soon is fixated on the market and making money while his mother doesn't believe in his actions. Tay’s ultimate goal is to own a dream house, although his mother does not understand why they need it. This creates initial conflict between Tay and his mother, which soon spreads to the whole family. "He beats the children. Oh, he’s finished!” (89) clearly shows the detrimental effect of Tays past actions with the stock market reflected in his future self. Tays connections with his family have been shattered. Even if Tay Soon recovers, he and his family will never be the same. Tay's blindness to money caused his family to also not as financially secure as they once were, making the standard of living even worse as they are already poor. The effects of Tays decisions displayed a perception of selfishness as well. He did not consider the fallout of if he lost the duel with the stock market and how it was going to affect his family. Tay's ambition consumes him, and his lack of insight causes his family to suffer. 

Failed efforts on a fixated goal may result in extreme hopelessness, which will inevitably be revealed in others and themselves. In “He wept like a child, for the loss of all his money, for the loss of the dream house that he had never stopped loving and worshipping” (89) the author uses the simile 'wept like a child' to truly compare the detrimental effect of Tays past actions reflected in his future self. Owning the dream house which was his only purpose, made Tay develop a deep obsession. Although after failing, Tay did not learn from his failure, making him even further from his goal, soon leading to his lacklustre character. Tay took the failure extremely hard and let it define him. "He’s cracking up! He talks to himself, he doesn’t eat, he has nightmares" (89) exemplifies the aftermath of Tay after losing everything he had gained in such a short period. Consequently, his defeat led to feelings of demoralization and worries, making him unable to perform the basic actions to live.

The story "Paper" by Catherine Lim emphasizes that an individual's ambition can have a huge impact on ourselves and others. The emotion of greed, Tay Soon's relationship with his family and negative reactions to failure are all arguments of ambitions effects. With an ambitious mindset, it is crucial to remember your priorities and not let success devastate you. When turning a blind eye to the actual important aspects of your life, inevitable failure can negatively affect an individual.