Ambition In The Mississippi Trial

Tricky Ambition

Ambition can be a very tricky thing. Too much ambition can sometimes be bad. However if someone uses ambition in the correct way, it can be a very good thing. In the book Mississippi Trial, 1955, Hiram, the main character, goes through phases where he has the right amount of ambition and times when he has too much. When Hiram decided to get to the bottom of what happened to Emmett Till that was the correct amount of ambition and determination. But, when Hiram kept questioning his father about why he didn’t want him going to Greenwood, Mississippi to see his grandfather, that was the wrong way to use his ambition. This then put him and his father at odds and would ultimately end up proving to be dangerous to himself. All in all there were times when Hiram used ambition the right way but certainly times when he used it in

Hiram was determined to get to the bottom of what happened to Emmett. He also wanted to find out who was the third person in the car helping to kidnap Emmett. In the end, Hiram found out that it was his grandfather who helped Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. If it weren’t for Hiram’s curiosity and ambitious nature, he probably never would have learned this information about his grandfather. He would have still been able to look at him without thinking of him as a kidnapper. “‘You were there. That night, you were there.’...‘The boy was alive when I left; they promised they were done with him when they brought me home’ And then I knew. Knew what I didn’t want to know.”(Crowe 214). Hiram had finally learned the truth. His ambition is what brought him to this point. The point where everything he had ever known about his grandpa was put into question. So yes, Hiram did find out who the third person in the car was, but did he really want to