The Cost of Pursuing a Dream
By Andres Beteta
SELF SATISFACTION
The Great Gatsby/Inside Job
- Jay Gatsby was never satisfied with all the success he has achieved and always wanted more. His dream of having Daisy was just another barrier in his dream and if her got her, he would still not be satisfied and pursue more things. The people at inside job were never satisfied with the amount of money they had and also always wanted more and more.
- Tom Buchanan had everything could want but still wanted more, like his affair with Murtle even though he had Daisy. Some of the leaders of inside job had everything they needed, but due to their lack of satisfaction, they resorted to illegal activites, such as insider trading, to further strengthen their dream.
- Murtle was trying to escape the valley of Ashes by being with Tom but she was never satisfied with herself even after Tom buys her everything she could want and need, like a dog and their own apartment room because she always wanted more and had some guilt cheating on her husband, which ultimately ends up killing her realizing her dream of leaving the Valley of Ashes was collapsing in front of her.
- -Never having enough.
Inside Job/Greed Is Good
The result of pursuing a dream sometimes comes from using other people for their advantage and treating them as lower class. As Gordon Gekko pointed out, "Greed is good", but greed can also have the power to result in lower self satisfaction for the person because he will lose people who care for him and get stuck with his dream and have nothing else. In inside Job, the search for money and self satisfaction is meaningless because both cannot exist coherently. The people of Wall Street used people for their success and tried to mend their self satisfaction by buying luxurious items for themselves, much as Gekko explains in his speech against the leaders of Wall Street earning $200k+ a year. The result of pursuing dreams involving earning a lot of money has the consequence of becoming greedy and losing people, but many try compensating it with materialistic items, but the satification in oneself never returns completely. -Having guilt and regret from using other people.
Mark Zuckerberg's Donation/Job Satisfaction
Mark Zuckerberg worked hard to earn his billions of dollars but has recently donated over 1 billion dollars in stocks to charity. The money he earned pursuing his dream was given to other people due to his lack of satisfaction in keeping the money and having no options in using the money to achieve more satisfaction in himself. On the contrary, the work required for pursuing a dream and not having the money to do it is enough to ruin someone's satisfaction. The fear of losing a job essential in keeping the dream alive while being in the lower class leaves little room for happiness, as Jeremy describes. Starting from the very bottom and trying to climb to the very top of a dream, through massive work, education, and dedication requires the loss of personal satisfaction in order to achieve it. -Having too much or too little.
All Sources
All of these sources suffer from at least once theme of lack of Self Satisfaction; Never having enough, having guilt and regret from using other people, and having too much or too little to be happy.