Narrative in Wall Street: Money Term Paper

Total Length: 1290 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

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Winnie exerts an opposite influence by recalling to Jake the necessity of being a good, moral person if he wishes to keep her in his life. Even the baby that Winnie is carrying plays a part in Jake's need: he uses the baby as leverage to win back the money that Gordon has pilfered from him and Winnie. The baby is "time," and "time" is what Gordon really values. Jake offers Gordon the opportunity to make right with Winnie by donating the $100 million from the trust fund to the charity that Jake and Winnie support. By helping Gordon make right, Jake buys himself an "in" with Winnie, and Gordon is there to insist that the two give their relationship another try.

Prior to this happy reunion, however, Jake suffers his lowest moment in the film. That moment comes as a consequence of the false solution provided at the end of Act 1 and has already been described as the moment at the end of Act 2, approximately 3/4ths of the way through the film, when Jake loses his job with Bretton and his relationship with Winnie fails and Winnie's money is stolen.

However, new information is also introduced to Jake at the end of Act 2 that forms the basis for a true resolution: this information is two-fold. The first part of this information comes from Gordon and concerns Bretton's role in the destruction of Keller Zabel's stock. Jake is able to use this information to write an article for Winnie's website that exposes Bretton James to the public and allows him to be brought to justice. The second part of this information concerns Winnie: she tells Jake that she is pregnant. The fact that Gordon is going to have a grandchild is important because it serves as a bargaining chip for Jake: he tells Gordon that he can have a part in his grandchild's life if he just returns the money that he stole from Winnie.
This good deed on Gordon's part reflects favorably on Jake and helps Winnie forgive both of them for their deceit.

The third act does connect insight to success. Jake learns a lesson in the value of honesty and morality, Gordon learns a lesson in the value of family and life, and Winnie learns a lesson in how to forgive and forget. The ending is happy because all three characters obtain their goals thanks to Jake's pursuit of justice and love. By writing the article that exposes Bretton James, Jake draws attention to Winnie's website and puts it on the Internet map, so to speak. By pursuing love, Jake invites Gordon to make amends with Winnie and helps restore to them both a sense of family life.

The film does not depart from convention, unless it is in the fact that even secondary characters are treated with the kind of depth (having both internal/external struggles) generally reserved for the main character. The film drives so relentlessly and at such a quick pace that it is able to flesh out even secondary characters, wherein a typical film casts secondary characters in a more two-dimensional role. This "departure" makes the film stronger in my opinion, but other critics have suggested that the more "human" dimension of Gordon makes the film feel soft. I disagree because I think it helps with the overall message of the film to present the supporting character of Gordon (a major villain in the first Wall Street) as more of a sympathetic character worth redeeming. By allowing Gordon to shift sides from good to bad and back again, the other characters of the film are able to be rewarded or punished accordingly. Jake is the hero of the film, but Gordon is the ultimate force of leverage upon whom the other characters' just desserts hinge.

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"Narrative In Wall Street Money" (2012, November 26) Retrieved April 28, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/narrative-wall-street-money-76651

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"Narrative In Wall Street Money" 26 November 2012. Web.28 April. 2024. <
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Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

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"Narrative In Wall Street Money", 26 November 2012, Accessed.28 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/narrative-wall-street-money-76651