Rather, he ground away his moral fiber moment by moment, throwing good effort after bad. There were lots of tines he could have stopped and just taken a minor loss overall, but he wanted to _win_.
Jesse was the only character with an upward trajectory. He started as a total loser, and was able to improve himself though gaining mastery and through finding responsibility.
He still fucked it up though, and was only able to just barely escape.
Maybe he's learned enough to eventually make a decent life for himself, in the end.