Personality in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Each person has a distinct, identifiable personality. These personalities are the basis of who we are and how we live our lives. Growing up, these personalities are formed through associations and manipulations of the personalities of others. This is clearly evident in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. In this novel, we follow Duddy Kravitz's life from early adolescence to adulthood. Throughout the novel
Family Ties “We’re one family and we should stick together, just like the Rockefellers. In our own small way, I mean.” As boy living on St. Urbain Street in the ghetto of Montreal, Duddy Kravitz, the main character in Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is budding in a society where people with wealth and power are highly respected. However, the complexity of a person’s character, like Duddy’s, is influenced immeasurably through his family. The main three people who manipulate
Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Cunning though he is, Duddy Kravitz fails to learn the tricks of his trade and, consequently, fails to become a whole person. In Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy’s peers succumb to his antics, thereby becoming deficient as Duddy’s teachers. Duddy’s amoral business associates are masters of ruthlessness and deceit, and his family members are enfeebled by the society they live in. Trained at the hands of these
In The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, a book written by Mordecai Richler, women are represented as if they are of a lower status and importance than men. These female characters include Yvette Durelle, Minnie Kravitz, Ida Kravitz, Linda Rubin, and Sandra Calder. Each of these female characters are in possession of negative attributes; ranging from helplessness, to deceitfulness, and all the way up to inanimateness. Minnie Kravitz is the mother of Duddy Kravitz. Because she passed away while
Financing the Future The Quest for Educational Equality "So", writes the immortal Dr. Seuss, "be your name Buxaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van O'Shea, you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" Unfortunately, unlike the graduating class this speech was addressed toward, many students in today's urban education system are not of to "Great Places", and will never get the chance to move mountains. These students attempt to learn without
idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234). And this is what happens to Hamlet. Although Hamlet is a little old to
of Duddy Kravitz - Duddy is No Monster "I think you're rotten," says Yvette at the end of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, "I wish you were dead" (Richler 318). This sentiment is echoed throughout a substantial amount of the criticism of Mordecai Richler's tale. At best, we question whether Duddy has learned anything during his apprenticeship; at worst, we accuse him of taking a tremendous step backwards, of becoming an utterly contemptible human being. When Duddy steals money from his friend
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler punishes Duddy for his wrongs against others in several ways. Each punishment fits the crime, and there is an irony about each one. The three punishments inflicted on Duddy at the end of the novel are the loss of Simcha's love, the loss of his friends, and the absence of any funds to build on his property. The loss of Simcha's love is a devastating blow for Duddy. This is
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz In the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler clearly intends to portray his main character as a failure. Duddy understands perfectly well that a man must pursue his dreams, which is why he is one of the most motivated young man of his time. From the moment Duddy hears his grandfather say, "A man without land is nobody,” he is prepared to seek the land of his dreams. This aspiration of Duddy’s is very respectable, but unfortunately his methods are
lives. If a person puts their mind to a task at hand they can accomplish it most of the time, but when the goal is achieved and the path is taken to achieve the goal is crowded with hate and lies, the question arises; was it all worth it? In Mordecai Richler^s novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy Kravitz, his uncle Benjy and Jerry Dingleman (The Boy Wonder), are all able to achieve their life long dreams, but we must examine if their sacrifices were worthy of the prize. Benjy
In the book The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, Duddy Kravitz is the apprentice to life in order to find out the truth about himself. Different characters come in and out of Duddy's life and act as masters towards him. These people all have specific lessons to teach him, and it's up to him to either act upon what he's learned or ignore it. Duddy Kravitz is a young man whom we can say is being an apprentice to life. What he needs to do is to discover the truth about himself and
The pursuit of power has its costs. The topic of power is portrayed in many books and is used to demonstrate what a person will do when given power. Essential books that deal with power are Machiavelli’s The Prince, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravits. The Prince and The Art of War are not books of fiction but books of strategy on gaining power on how to maintain it. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a book of fiction where Duddy strives to acquire
Symbolism is thought of to be one of the most important parts in a novel. Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler demonstrates how symbols can reveal significant aspects of a character's personality. Symbolism in a novel develops character’s personality and how they act. The results from the symbols can bring one success or failure in later years of their life. Barney Panofsky is the central character in this novel. He was married three times and all marriages had difficulties because of the symbols
descendants, an interesting question is, what caused a country, with a diverse population to be so deeply racist?. Two novels which will reflect the experience of a members of immigrant groups in Canada, are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler and Obasan by Joy Kogawa. The first novel shows the Jewish experience in Canada, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a novel written by a Canadian author. The novels protagonist is a Jewish boy living in Canada. The book while comical
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler is the tale of a young greedy boy who feels that money is his path to happiness and pride. Duddy simply stomps all over his friends and his family as well (to a certain extent). Richler feels unreserved sympathy towards Duddy because, in essence, Duddy is Richler written down and diversified. Duddy is a character based on Mordecai’s own personality. Duddy Kravitz is a crook, a blackmailer and a cheat. However, Duddy Kravitz is Richler’ s crook
birth, people set goals and expectations for themselves. Life is essentially one’s self-dictionary; lessons are learned, morals are acquired, and conformity to a standard of right is attained. In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, the reader learns about Duddy’s ventures in his life, whether he succeeds or fails during his obstacles, the reader will gain important morals and lessons in life itself. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a novel based on the life
In my opinion, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, a book written by Mordecai Richler, is ultimately about money. Simcha Kravitz, Duddy’s grandfather, would tell Duddy as a child that “a man without land is nobody.” These words encouraged him to live his life in a manner in which he would do anything he could in order to obtain the land that a “nobody” would not possess. But Duddy does not solely focus his desires on land; instead, his goals are set on wealth in general. In order to acquire
certain way. For others though, obsession has a different meaning, they might become obsessed with one special object, or possibly attaining a certain goal. They might go about achieving this goal no matter what the consequences to others might be. Mordecai Richler’s book the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, illustrates one such case of obsession, the title character, Duddy Kravitz becomes obsessed with his grandfather’s saying, “ ‘ A man without land, is nothing.’”, thus starting Duddy on his quest
Not a Boyhood Passion 1- Why does the author, Mordecai Richler, turn to books? The author turn to books in order to attract girl. After realizing at thirteen year old that he did not have the standard of the type of boys girls was seduced by. Richler did not let his lack of self-esteem and confidence depress him instead he used the strength of reading he had to develop a character to draw attention to himself. Since he was not tall like a basketball player, he find loophole in reading book he was
Character’s Exploration in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and King Lear "The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character." These lines from “Margaret Chase Smith” force us to think about what the actual test for morality is. Morality cannot be solely judged based on the deeds a person has committed, but when the person shows enough courage to stand against the mob and support the right. Both Richler and Shakespeare