“The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” Azar Nafisi’s quote shows how the American Dream can have a negative effect on one’s life, ruining a person and their morals as a whole. In Toni Morrison’s novel, A Mercy, trying to achieve the American Dream by hard work and determination did not result in success for Jacob Vaark. Envying D’Ortega, a debtor who Vaark visited, Vaark began to muse about the American Dream which included a lavish house of his own, “So mighten it be nice to have such a fence to enclose the headstones in his own meadow? And one day, not too far away, to build a house that size on his own property?” (Morrison 31). As shown in the quote, in the beginning of A…show more content… In A Mercy, achieving success and luxury causes one to become greedy and egotistical, as shown through Jacob Vaark and his actions towards achieving the American Dream. Jacob Vaark took many actions to attain the American Dream. Vaark’s road to success began with his jealousy of a scorn man, D’Ortega. D’Ortega owed Vaark a debt, however he suffered a series of misfortunes, including cargo dying aboard and his ship sinking while transporting cargo as well as vessels. As a result, he was unable to repay his debt. D’Ortega’s unforgivable manner with dealing with debt, his usage of slaves, and Vaark’s ego were the reasons for Vaark’s motivation in achieving the American Dream, as he believed D’Ortega was no better than he was, so he believed D’ Ortega should not live a better life than him.
