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Alexis Johnson

Mrs. Davenport

English 9 Honors

19 March 2017

Negative Ambition

Ambition is similar to the devil and angel on each of your shoulders. The angel is telling

you to use practice and hard work to your advantage, while the devil tells you to make the poor

decisions to complete the task. Generally your conscious chooses the poor decision, or negative

ambition, with the same outcome. Negative ambition is choosing the wrong action, even though

you are aware it is wrong. Many Olympic athletes have used negative ambition between doping,

cheating, and not following guidelines.

Doping is an excellent example of ambition getting the best of athletes. Doping is the use

of a substance to enhance your abilities in a sport. Marion Jones was a track and field star. In her

times at the games, Marion won a total of five medals. However, was later caught for doping. In

effect, she was faced with the consequence of getting her medals stripped and faced prison time

as well. Marions negative ambition ultimately caused more harm than good. Similarly, the

article Downside of Ambition also touches on this topic. As one example in the article, the

athlete was capable of winning fairly, but her desire to win was so strong that she took extreme

measures. This desire is similar to wanting a toy as a child so badly you add it to the checkout, or

cheating to get a good grade. In these moments, youre aware you shouldnt do these actions, but

your desire is so strong you do it anyway.

Another instance of negative ambition is cheating, but accepting the reward. In the 1904

Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz finished in an outstanding three hours and thirteen minutes.

Questions began to arise, and it turns out Fred Lorz cheated. Fred cramped up at the ninth mile
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and had his trainer drive him ten more miles, and then began running again. Fred Lorz saw the

easy-way-out, took it, and accepted his medal once finishing, but was later caught for his scheme

and the medal was retrieved. Lorz was so determined that he didnt give up, however his way of

using his ambition was cheating.

Fred Lorzs way of taking a shortcut is similar to Macbeths. In Macbeth, Macbeth

originally wanted to wait for fate to handle whether he would be king or not. However, once

Lady Macbeth saw a shortcut; she coerced him into murdering the king. Macbeth took the easy

way out for success; likewise Lorz took the shortcut to being an Olympic champion. In the end,

each of them faced consequences for their negative ambition.

In A Separate Peace, Gene also saw a shortcut and took the opportunity. Gene had a

nagging jealousy in the back of his head about Finnys exceptional capabilities. Therefore, when

in the tree he saw the perfect opportunity to sabotage him rather than figuring it out in a less

detrimental way.

In continuation, breaking regulations or guidelines is also a prime example of negative

ambition. During the Winter Olympics of 1968, a team of lugers, a sport in the Olympics similar

to tobogganing, were caught breaking guidelines. The team heated the runners on their sled,

which allows it to move faster through the icy slopes. The team was aware of the guidelines but

wanted the medal so badly they broke the rules anyways.

Negative ambition is choosing the poor decision, when you know you shouldnt be.

Athletes and people face which side the devil or angel, they want to take every day based off of

shortcuts and strength of desire.

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Works Cited

CNN. CNN, Cable News Network, www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/11/jones.doping/.

Accessed 20 Mar. 2017.

Klein, Christopher. Shortcuts to Gold: 9 Cheaters in Olympic History. History.com, A&E

Television Networks, 31 July 2012, www.history.com/news/shortcuts-to-the-gold-9-

cheaters-in-olympic-history. Accessed 20 Mar. 2017.

Knowles, John. A Seperate Peace. Agincourt, The Book Society of Canada, 1966.

Revolvy, LLC. Ortrun+Enderlein on Revolvy.com. All Revolvy Quizzes,

www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Ortrun%2BEnderlein&item_type=topic. Accessed

20 Mar. 2017.

Samuelson, Robert. The Downside of Ambition . The Washington Post 17 October 2007. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. The Language of Literature. McDougal Little,

Evanston, IL, 2002. pp328-419.

Staton, Scott. Crossing the Line. The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 17 July 2014,

www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/crossing-the-line. Accessed 20 Mar. 2017.