Essay on Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Duddy’s persistence in following his ambitions allows him to face conflicts and explore his self-identity. In the novel by Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy Kravitz’s life experiences and the

Family, a foundation to build an empire of a story from yet the easiest to tear down from guilt or the portrayal of guilt.The story depicts two very different siblings, one brother Manchester who is rich, successful, brawny, and has a knack for snacks. Widely different from Manchester is Skidmore due to the fact he is a sad, and creepy individual. Also he does not have a knack for snacks or sweets. Two divergent individuals, yet one unable to function without the help of the other. Now the story would not be complete without one brother becoming completely jealous and despising the other. Commonly this leads to several things such as arguing, fighting, or to better put it, leads to betrayal. Betrayal, a common theme among siblings, say one

People often think of family as positive, loving, and with no flaws. However, there is almost a stereotype that all families love each other and there aren’t problems or challenges in a family. Sometimes families put people through challenges and some families aren’t “perfect”. In the book Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly has two kids and goes through challenges with her family. Most careful readers can see how Jolly has these challenges with her kids and how she is far off from the “perfect” family. She goes through many of these challenges in life and finds a way to overcome them. Jollys family shapes her identity because the challenges she faces ends up making her stronger. Jeremy and Jilly challenging her, LaVaughn helping her out, and her past family all shape her identity.

It’s quite disappointing to learn how he would sacrifice the only loving relationship he ever had (with Yvette) just so he can obtain land. Normally, a person who lived a life devoid of love would be desperate to acquire it. However, Duddy still decided to pursue his dreams of owning land on the contrary to pursuing a loving relationship that his life was in need of. Come to think of it, Duddy’s life has been morally derailed ever since he was a child.

Different events, positive and negative, changed his thoughts and helped him become more mature, and a responsible person. Watching his home going to the work made him realize he should do something in his life. Once he started working, he learned to be respectful and reliable even if it took a while for him to change. Once he became more familiar with Penny, she starts to trust him. She starts to give more responsibility. With that in mind, the accident that Penny had changed everything. It ended the relationship between him and Kentucky. However, he moved on without much difficulty. At the end, he was still thinking about his father's words and what he said about the white boys. He never forgot him. Perhaps, the father also had a positive effect on

At first, Duddy and Yvette shared a stable relationship with one another, and enjoyed each other’s company. However, after Yvette took Duddy down to a somewhat desolate beach, Duddy becomes obsessed with the beach as he believes that this is the land that he will soon own. At this point, Duddy begins to centralize his goals solely on owning the land, and begins using Yvette as a tool to attain it. Because Yvette is of legal age and has a French-Canadian background, the farmers wouldn’t be reluctant to refuse or sell her the land as they would be with a young Jew. In addition to Yvette being used as a device for acquiring land, she is also used as a device of Duddy’s sexual pleasure. Duddy treats her as an object, and nearly forces her into having sex with him whenever he feels the need to. He also tells her that if he were to impregnate her, he would simply get his brother, Lennie, to perform an abortion on her. This was not the only time when he directly communicates a demeaning comment towards Yvette, as Duddy frequently addresses Yvette as his “Girl Friday” throughout the novel. It is unfortunate how Yvette knows about how she is being used by Duddy, however fails to abandon him right there and then.

Furthermore, Duddy uses Yvette as a medium through which he can buy the land he desires; because he is a minor therefore he cannot legally own land. On the other hand, with Virgil, he takes advantage of his physical disabilities. After purchasing and then selling the pinball machines that Virgil brought him to ease his financial troubles, Duddy refuses to repay him, instead, he employs him as a driver. Virgil immediately accepts the job offer, and thus, Duddy does not need to compensate Virgil. From here and on, Duddy has engaged himself into all kinds of deceitful activities, because of this he is on the verge of a mental breakdown.

He has an important role in Duddy’s life; since Duddy works for his uncle, he looks up to him as a role model. However there is another instance of lack of attention when it comes to Duddy. Whenever Duddy talks to his uncle it he shrugs it off. This is another reason why Duddy wants to become somebody, so his uncle will see him as not only just the child of Max Kravitz but, the most successful child of Max Kravitz. Duddy sees that his uncle appreciates his brother more that is the reason for Duddy’s feeling to become somebody, he wants to be just as rich and successful as his brother counterpart. Duddy’s morality when it comes to earning money is shifted because of the example his uncle plays in his life with his business. Uncle Benjy tried to keep Duddy out of as much trouble as possible, he also admits his lack of attention to Duddy at the end of the novel; “I wish I’d made more time for you. God help me but I wish I’d seen what your zeyda saw” (Page 245) saying that Duddy is indeed worth something and that the thing that his grandfather saw in him was absolutely

Duddy is working towards the acquiring the land and starting his apprenticeship. Throughout the course of the novel Duddy has been seeing manipulating other, whether it was Yvette, Virgil, Mr. Cohen or others. Duddy can go to any extent to achieve his dream and continues making mistakes and never learns from it. Duddy uses Virgil and breaks his trust multiple number of times. Firstly, Duddy takes advantage of Virgil’s disabilities.

Duddy also hired her to his business company, so she can manage it when Duddy is gone. Yvette also gives him his sexual desires when he is frustrated with work. Duddy also made some

Duddy is a crooked businessman since all of his deals involve ruthless manipulation, relentless pursuit and corruptness. When Duddy’s grandfather implemented this vision into his head, he learns valuable lessons about life that he never in a million years would have guessed that it would of turned him into the arrogant, conniving person he became. He learns a couple amazing lessons from his grandfather. A very defining moment for Duddy is when Simcha goes and sits in the vehicle after he shows simcha the land. Simcha is embarrassed that his words created the monster of Duddy’s morals and Duddy truly comes into realization that he has failed his apprenticeship when his greatest and most looked up to teacher is ashamed of him.

Darl is “different than [the] others,” as is Frank (Faulkner 21). Because of Darl’s differences and his unique personality, “folks say [he] is queer [and] lazy” and he is generally looked down upon by others (Faulkner 24). However, people simply misunderstand him and his individuality. Frank, because of his sexuality and his attempted suicide, is also different than those around him. He is misunderstood and judged by others, even by some within his own family. Both become outsiders in their respective families, in part because they distance themselves, and also because they are simply different than the others in their family. They are both smarter than the people in their families, although the ways in which they are smarter differ. Darl is smarter in that he is able to infer things that most do not notice. He somehow knows that Dewey Dell is pregnant even though she has kept it a well protected secret, and he refers to the fact that Jewel is not their father’s son despite their mother never disclosing that fact to anyone. Frank on the other hand, is an intellectual. He is more intelligent than his family simply because he knows more and has learned more. While Darl is an excellent archetype for Frank’s character, there is a major difference between the two. Darl ends up being rejected from the family and is sent to “a cage in Jackson where his grimed hands [lie] light in the quiet interstices” (Faulkner 254). Frank

They finally find a job at a barn that contains many friendly people minus the one mean one called Curley and his wife. They got the job and worked really well. But Lennie made one serious mistake and killed Curley’s wife. Which caused George to kill Lennie… In my scene George explains to Lennie who they are and how they will live their life.

Family bonding is an asset for people during this time period considering the disastrous events this occurred during that time period, families were separated from one another. In Little, Brown, it talks the bountiful bond that Arthur Thornhill Junior had towards his father Arthur Thornhill Senior. Arthur wanted to be like his father in the future, when he goes to work with his dad, he pretends to be in his father’s shoes doing activities such as talking on the telephone to his co-workers. After their typical father son morning they had at work, the fathers adventurously head out to lunch with some of the workers and Arthur’s father has a heart attack. By the time they reached the hospital the

Family honor, the major theme in A Problem, creates tension between Sasha Uskov, Uncle Ivan Markovitch, and The Colonel. In the beginning of A Problem, Uskov’s uncles are in predicament due to Uskov’s forged promissory note, but towards the end, the uncles reach a decision on whether or not they should send their nephew to trial. Throughout the whole story, one will see the differences in each person's demeanor and will personally develop their own opinions on each character. The Uncle's face many difficulties during their disputes over Sasha Uskov’s future, but eventually they form an agreement.