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David Bai
Dawn Starry
English 9 Honors
26 March 2016
Ambition Speech
Ambition is often the driving force in one's life. It is the factor that drives one from
laziness to productivity. Ambition motivates us all to strive and to achieve and to succeed.
However, ambition can be destructive; it can break up marriages, it can ruin friendships, it can
ruin lives; it turns dark and harmful when it's used inward. Ambition can be a driving force for
success or in some cases a road to failure.
Ambition is often associated with ruthlessness and brutality, it can harm friendships,
respect for others, or compassion. Ambition is regarded as being solitary, the individual wants
power at any price, and the reward is often loneliness and isolation. For example, in a separate
peace, Gene was so jealous of Finny that he shook the tree branch to make Finny fall off the tree
and break his leg. He is filled with envy and jealousy because of how athletic and vigorous
Finny is. As a result, Finny died from the broken leg and Gene faced isolation and loneliness.
Furthermore, Shakespeare uses the concept of ambition in Macbeth to explore its impact
in how it motivates Macbeth and his wife to come up with a plan to kill Duncan for the King.
We saw how ambition can lead to devastating effect if our destination is reached by cheating.

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Instead of earning the king truthfully with honor, he chooses the path by murdering and
cheating. His ambition drove him to death because once he gets into that murdering chain; the
chance of getting out is a rocky road. We can see Macbeth's growing ambition changed him from
an honorable and respected man to a ruthless murder whose guilt eventually caught up to him
bringing a tragic death.
Consequently, Ambition is not always destructive, without it our lives become
meaningless. According to the New York Times, during the opening of Volkswagen's first
American factory, the chief executive sets a goal to "take the group to the very top of the global
car industry" (Hakim, Kessler, Ewing 1). As a result, the Volkswagen company tripled its sales
in the United States in just a decade. This shows that ambition can also help you set goals and
get you to achieve it.
Another example would be the Apple Company. Before Apple was introduced, its shares
were completely swept out by Android devices, the most popular being Samsung. At the end of
2015, Apple had "just 12% of market share-down from 14% in 2012-compared to Samsung's
crushingly dominant 32%" (Colgan 1). The growing ambition in Steve Jobs made him consider
several brilliant considerations. He distributed iPhones through the world's largest carrier, China
Mobile, in the country with the world's most population. His ambitions were driven by quality
over quantity; his goal was to make the best devices. As a result of his productive goals, The
news comes as Apple beats its goals and expectations, reporting that "74.4 million Iphone units
sold during the holiday season" (Kahn 1). In addition, CEO Tom Cook announced that "the
company sold its billionth IOS device" (Kahn 1) on January 27th, 2015. Thus we can definitely
see how ambition has led the Apple company toward success and accomplishment.

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There is nothing that can stop us from achieving what we want in life. Our only obstacle
is our own conscience, and the extent of our ability to differentiate between a worthwhile and
self-destructive goal. Ambition should not turn into day-dreams; having an ambition needs
continuous efforts towards achieving it so be practical with your ambitions. If you can dream it,
you can become it. If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. Don't steal a car, but buy one your
own, and no matter what road you take, you will always end up where you wanted to be.

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Works Cited
Colgan, Paul. "Here's The Problem With Apple's Ambition To Make The Best Devices: It Hasn't
Been Delivering." Business Insider Australia. Allure Media, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Mar.
2016. <http://www.businessinsider.com.au/heres-the-problem-with-apples-ambition-tomake-the-best-devices-it-hasnt-been-delivering-2014-1>.
Hakim, Danny, Aaron Kessler, and Jack Ewing. "As Volkswagen Pushed to Be No. 1, Ambitions
Fueled a Scandal." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2015. Web. 25
Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/business/as-vw-pushed-to-be-no-1ambitions-fueled-a-scandal.html?_r=1>.
Kahn, Jordan. "Apple Announces 1 Billion IOS Devices Sold." 9to5Mac. AAPL Company, 27
Jan. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/27/apple-announces-1billion-ios-devices-sold/>.
Knowles, John. A Separate Peace; a Novel. New York: Macmillan, 1960. Print.

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Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Macbeth: Modern English Version Side-by-side with
Full Original Text. Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1985. Print.