Ambition In Daniel Alarcon's 'The Contestant'

Ambition is what drives us to be more successful. However, ambition can also be a bad thing. depending on the situation. In the story, “The Contestant” by Daniel Alarcon, the main character Ruth Thalia Sanchez demonstrates the negative effects ambition can have in a person. She participates in a reality show called El Valor de la Verdad which takes place in the South American country, Peru. This Reality T.V show consisted of a beforehand interview in which the contestant would be asked questions that made her feel uncomfortable while being hooked up to a polygraph (Alarcon, 76). Later on,in a studio, in front of an audience, she is asked these questions again. If the answers match up to the results of the polygraph she wins money, but if she …show more content…
A few weeks after the show had aired, Ruth Thalia had gone missing. No one knew anything about her. So her family tried to reach out to the media. Coming from a humble place, no one listened to them. Until they mentioned that she was the girl from El Valor de la Verdad. Later on, Brayan , Ruth Thalia’s boyfriend had confessed he killed her. In his confession he stated that “… They had sex and started to fight. “She tells me, I don’t know what I’m doing talking to a poor mototaxi drive,” Brayan said. “And that’s when I grabbed her by the throat.” (Alarcon 88). It seemed that the public humiliatation had led him to murder her. However, it was the ambition. The ambition she had led her to her death. It was known later that Brayan and her uncle had gotten together to murder her. They wanted to get her bank security code, to keep the money she had gotten from El Valor de la Verdad (Alarcon 90). The same ambition she had was the same ambition, Brayan had to kill her. They both wanted money somehow. She sacrificed relationships, and he murdered. Unfortunately, neither one of them could control their thirst for money. It was ironic how this led both of them to their disgrace. She died and he became a