Title: Greed Marks awarded: 26/30 Dionysus Wong had everything anyone on Earth could ever wish for. He owned six Rolls-Royces, five upmarket apartment buildings, four internationally famous high-end fashion labels, three golf courses and a lot of hard cash. He called a bungalow worth 10.2 million dollars home and he had a wife so beautiful that even women stopped to stare. His entire estate was estimated at around 8.5 billion dollars. He was the envy of every man. Dionysus, despite having amassed such a vast amount of wealth within a short period of five years, was not satisfied. He wanted more, much much more, and he wanted it fast. His parents had been petits bourgeois and had drilled into him at an early age the importance of money, work and social status. As such, when Dionysus moved from the petite bourgeoisie to the upper class, he became even hungrier for wealth and status. He once declared to his wife: “In two years’ time, your husband, I, will be the wealthiest man alive.” To be the wealthiest man alive, was Dionysus’s ultimate aim, to be achieved in two years. It seemed impossible to achieve and this made Dionysus more determined. Dionysus was ruthless in satisfying his greed for money and status. He bought into many big companies and exploited many of his staff. He blackmailed countless wealthy people and took over their wealth and property. He put on an act of donating generously to charities but the money eventually came back to him as he was controlling these charity organizations behind the scenes with a puppet management as a front. With this act of his, Dionysus became the byword for generosity. For some time, it looked as if Dionysus was going to achieve his aim. However,the law caught up with him and his wealth and status turned to dust overnight. Many of his staff came out and spoke of his exploitation. Many filed lawsuits and demanded huge compensations amounting to some 1.1 billion dollars in total. Those who had been blackmailed by him turned around and sued him. His charity scams were exposed when his puppet management broke away from the hands of the puppeteer. His sudden loss of wealth and status stunned him greatly. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, Dionysus’s whole life was turned upside down. There was nothing to the name of Dionysus Wong, nothing at all. The suddenness of it all hit him so hard, his mental health was severely affected. To aggravate the situation, his wife filed for a divorce and married someone else shortly after. Dionysus once described his wife as “the love of my life” and that he “would die without her”. A part of him died after he lost all his wealth and property, and his wife. He became disorientated and lost all sense of purpose in his life. He attempted suicide, but his time had not come. Shortly after, he disappeared and was never heard again. Dionysus Wong’s spectacular fall from grace became a talking point, as many lamented what greed could do to a person’s life. Parents used him as an example when teaching their children not to be greedy but to be down-to-earth and thankfulfor everything they owned, no matter how much or how little. If attention was what Dionysus desired, he would be satisfied. But then again, Dionysus was never easily satisfied. Teacher’s comments: A very well written narrative. Definitely has the potential to be developed into a full-fledged short story. And an apt choice of name for the protagonist. -- In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos is the god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated as a late arrival. --

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