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 wealth, Duddy engages in acts of dishonesty and deceit. He does this by exploiting the weaknesses of his friends, such as Virgil Roseboro and Yvette Durelle, while completely disregarding the fact that by doing this, his dignity and self-respect will diminish. Duddy scams Virgil by taking his bootlegged pinball machines in exchange for a job and truck that does not even exceed its costs. Moreover, Duddy indirectly deteriorates the relationship Yvette had with her family due to the fact that her boyfriend, Duddy, is Jewish, and basically uses her as a device of sexual pleasure. She, like Virgil, is nothing more than a tool Duddy will use in order to achieve his goals of land ownership. In addition to this behaviour, Duddy was incredibly manipulative when it came down to him conning the Cohen family into purchasing the poor quality bar-mitzvah film that have been produced by his firm. Afterwards, he becomes a rogue that demonstrates absolute dishonesty towards his customers as a method of obtaining more money. Duddy should have acted in a more honest manner and aimed for the betterment of his business reputation, but instead, he disregards his business ethics and centralizes his goals strictly on the money that he earns. The m... ... middle of paper ... ...m to obtain land, and it was his father who told him stories of a man who gambled in order to achieve wealth. Survival was not something that was strived for in this book, as each character possessed the essentials required to survive. Both Duddy Kravitz and Jerry Dingleman did not worry about the sustainment of their mere survival; instead, they worried solely about living lives of luxury. While it may seem as if in the end the book was ultimately about land, I think that the land was merely something that Duddy used to show off the money he possessed. If it had not been for his grandfather, he still would have pursued the obtainment of money just for the sake of being wealthy. Duddy Kravitz was a powerful symbol that expressed man’s desire to obtain money, and man’s capabilities of going through any means possible in order to obtain the money they desire.
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 totally inappropriate, and that leads to him being a failure.
Coming from someone in such a position at that point in Duddy's life, a statement like "a man without land is nothing", has a particularly strong effect. The words themselves are very blunt and closed to interpretation. He wasn't simply telling him it would be nice to own property, his grandfather was telling him he will never have amounted to anything in his eyes, unless he owns land. A message that strong coming from a figure with so much influence on a boy like Duddy can have a very monumental impression. It is clear that Duddy did, in fact, take these words to heart, as he is constantly involved in get-rich-quick schemes, starting when he is still in school. This preoccupation would eventually be Duddy's downfall.
There is no doubt that Duddy is very shrewd and clever, but his lack of
This novel depicts greed on several occasions through out the novel. One example of this is when Gatsby is left twenty five thousand dollars by Dan Cody as a legacy, but from what one is led to believe Ella Kaye refused to let
In society, most people have an obsession to some extent, these may include such things as a hobby – collecting antiques; or even as simple as having to have things a 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 to attain a piece of land. Throughout his quest, Duddy has no regard for the feelings or the relationships he destroys in the process, weather it in his family relations, business relations, or even his personal relations to those that are closest to him.
He emphasizes his limited resources he had when he arrived in Philadelphia to bring more significance in his accomplishments and his success. His accomplishments in business and as a public-spirited citizen shows his readers that it is possible to succeed with a certain work ethic. He came to Philadelphia with just change in his pocket. Throughout his autobiography he explained how he built himself up while, as he explains, many of his friends were lazy. This shows how he is trying to depict a certain behavior that he believes will make oneself
Wealth is what Duddy is led to strive for by his grandfather. Simcha Kravitz is the sole person who has believed in Duddy his whole lifetime, when others just considered him an unintelligent troublemaker. He recognised something admirable in his grandson and gave him the advice that, “A man without land is nobody.” These few words create a drive in Duddy that shows the sometimes evil ways that Duddy will take to achieve his goal. Duddy will lie, cheat, and steal from even his best friends. An example of Duddy’s deceptiveness is illustrated by the way he treats Virgil just to make his grandfather proud in the long run. First he tells Virgil he will hire him but he needs to have a truck, fully knowing that Virgil has none. So Duddy tells Virgil he will give him the truck he got instead o...
From this novel, the reader can learn more about the economic system, and how it is applied to life. The reader is able to enjoy the narrative along with learn the principles that are introduced by Roberts.
In conclusion, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel shows us the true meaning of the American Dream and its sad demise by the wealthy and power-hungry. His work in the death of James Gatz in his novel portrays the end of the American Dream. Gatz, although born poor, was one of the few, if not only boy that worked his way up into wealth. He followed his only hope and dream, bore consequences and learned from morals. The death of himself was caused by his blindness of Daisy’s only need, wealth. He died living his American Dream a dream he thought and carried along with him up until his last.
“Money can’t buy happiness” is a saying that is often used to make one understand that there is more to life than wealth and money. Jay Gatsby was a man of many qualities some of which are good and bad. Throughout the book of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn of his past and discover the true qualities of Jay Gatsby. Starting from the bottom, with little money, we learn of why Gatsby struggled so hard all his life to become wealthy and what his true goal in life was. When reading this story, the true reasons behind Gatsby’s illegal actions reveal themselves and readers can learn a great life lesson from this story and the actions the characters take. Readers can see through Gatsby’s contradictions of actions and thoughts that illustrate the theme of the story, along with his static characteristics, that all humans are complex beings and that humans cannot be defined as good or bad.
Silicon Valley, California, is home to 250,000 millionaires, a staggering number, indeed. But just what does it mean to be rich? This paper examines one of the most powerful forces in the universe: wealth. Merriam Webster defines wealth as all property that has a money value or exchangeable value. Most people think of wealth as cash.
Even though this book has many concerns, the purpose behind it is something that every student should be able to read. The overall objective is supposed to give the readers a reality check. The lesson at the end was to inform them that being rich will not make them happy. Also, to live a fulfilled life you need love and real friends. This lesson is better to learn at a young age so you will know how to prevent it rather than wait till it's already too
It tells a story about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. The book can be a parallel of what many people were going through at the time. Also it touches on how skewed the American Dream could be or if it even existed at all. There were many themes that encompassed this novel and really represented what the United States was going through at the time.
There is a famous saying that “money is the root of all evil,” however in the case of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, money is the root of all society. A Marxist analysis of The Great Gatsby reveals that society built their very foundation upon money. The power of wealth in the world of Gatsby is evident in the novel’s relationships, materialistic lifestyles, and the representation of the American Dream.
In The Visit the author Friedrich Durrenmatt revolves around the theme of the corruption of money because it plays an important part in the progression of the story. Friedrich Durrenmatt is using Claire, a powerful billionairess to show how money can affect behavior, moral principles and politics. Claire gives the people of Güllen a big decision to make in exchange for money and the choices they are given leads them to commit murder. Claire is able to manipulate an entire town and play with the law because of her wealth. Durrenmatt shows the toll money takes on society.