The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz--The Tragic Fall of Duddy

to closeness, and the bettering of my mind.” (Act 1 Scene 2) To secure his position of power, he uses his magical knowledge and no mercy.

After Virgil had his one on one talk with Nanabush we see the thoughts swirling in his mind about the knowledge John/Nanabush left him with, and we see this spark Virgil’s interest in his essay and school by applying his experience with Nanabush to school. “There are no such things as dead ends. Only people who find dead ends. Virgil stood, pondering the meaning of that. It would make a great title for an essay. He had planned to write about his uncle’s martial art, until Dakota a much smarter kid than him, told him she was amazed at what he now knew about Nanabush. It would mean a lot less research too. And maybe he wouldn’t have to use so many adverbs and adjectives.” (338) After this, the reader sees that Virgil has started becoming engaged in school and academics, as he starts planning out his essay and seems genuinely excited for it. This is a stark difference to Virgil from the start of the book who avoided school at all costs and was dreading writing his essay to pass grade eight. In

However, quickly their tone changes and they become aggressive and rude as they realise that the man is a jew.

dream but the dreams of many men at that time for a piece of land of

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.

There is of course, the time when Duddy sets up a deal between Calder and Cohen that works out positively for both of them. They are both his friends and he does them a favour. Later on, he also does a seemingly nice deed for Virgil by giving him a few hundred dollars saying it was money that he had gotten back from the truck he bought Virgil. He did this after cheating Virgil out of the $1000 Duddy originally owed him and instead giving a truck he was getting for free. Regardless of this however, Duddy’s misdeeds still outweigh the good he has done. In regards to him being altruistic, it is often the case that he is altruistic for a selfish reason. The deal he set up between his ‘friend’ Calder and Cohen he did so for money, which he made clear from the start, “If I can get [the deal] for you what’s in it for me?” (205). He also reveals later how little he truly cares about his friendship with Calder. He asks Calder for help multiple times but only seems to keep him close to get help. When Calder finally stops helping him, Duddy turns against him immediately, “That king among anti-semites. I’ll see him strung up from a lamp post yet.“ (309). Duddy’s generousness is quite nonexistent as well, which is evidenced by the fact that the money he gives Virgil was not given to Virgil for any of the reasons it should have been. Duddy cheated Virgil out of $1000. He did this by

In a capitalistically inclined economy, the influences of wealth and social esteem are rooted deep within the ideologies of such a system. Value of an entity is prescribed by these facets, those without wealth or esteem are belittled and depreciated, while those that come to acquire said commodities are prioritized above others in societal outlets. This is such that instills a drive within those under the governance of a market economy, the desire for immense affluence, as well as incontestable social influence. Duddy Kravitz in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller thoroughly exemplify this drive for excess wealth and power. When analyzing the characters of Duddy Kravitz and Willy Loman, it is made distinctly evident that Duddy Kravitz is successful to a greater degree, when compared to Willy Loman, in achieving the generic and superficial capitalistic views of success. This discrepancy between the two characters is emphasized through Duddy Kravitz’ rigorous climb to social and financial influence.

She truly loved him, and wanted the best for Duddy. While all Duddy was thinking about was money and becoming rich so he could get the land. He wanted to buy the land so he could build a children’s camp, hotel, and a farm beside a lake. Yvette toke Duddy to the lake for the first time, and he told her not to tell anyone and that he would give her fifty dollars for it. “‘If you promise me that I’ll give you fifty dollars.'

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.

As the hopes for success in the “land of opportunity” grow, the reality of the situation comes with a price to pay.

his power and control, but clearly underestimates them. It is with this man that Life decides to change her ways. Life who represents all that is nontraditional clashes with the traditional Lesego.

Because Virgil's creation ended the world as we know it through the use of technology, it can be seen as the dark, forbidding text common to cyberpunk fiction. People are melting down into sheets of skin and cities are stopping like broken down cities, only to be enveloped by the floating masses of paper thin cells that think for themselves, and yet share information and thoughts indiscriminately. Each person is loosing a sense of themselves, breaking down into

It was very critical to Virgil that a believable sense of history be achieved in his writing. At the beginning of Book VI, the story of Daedalus and his son Icarus is introduced when the Trojans see it carved into the temple doors (lines 21-50). There is a second time in the text that such a reference to the past is made in a similar fashion. This occurs in Book I when Aeneas observes the carvings on the walls of Juno’s temple at Carthage (lines 619-762). In these two incidents, the same technique of recalling history is employed. Virgil seems to imply that the best way that he can describe history is to tell it with the help of the gods, which in this case that would be the Muse that he has called upon in Book I to assist him (line 13). At the time, the knowledge of the Muses was considered to be the objective truth while the knowledge of the mortals was considered to be secondhand and imperfect. The distinction between the two is made with the story of Daedalus. Virgil gives an elaborate account of what he knows of the event, and then omits the ending which he does not know: "Twice your father tried to shape your fall in gold, but twice his hands dropped." (Book VI, lines 49-50) By wording the story so that Daedalus does not describe his own son’s

In the poem, Virgil says that all Romans ought to have two certain virtues: he must remain a pious Roman citizen, and he must remain loyal to the Roman race. In Virgil’s poem, he uses Aeneas as a portrayal of not only a roman hero, but also as the ideal Roman citizen.

Dante is saying that Virgil cannot enter heaven because he lived before Christ. Dante admires the classical Roman world but rejects it as the path of salvation to God.