The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex relationships and motivations that shape the life of Duddy Kravitz, a Jewish teenager from Montreal. The narrative explores Duddy’s drive for material success and social recognition, largely influenced by his grandfather Simcha's belief that "a man without land is nobody." This ambition leads Duddy through a tumultuous journey as he acquires land in the Laurentians, often at the expense of his moral integrity and personal relationships.
Key characters, including Duddy’s father Max, brother Lennie, and uncle Benjy, each contribute to Duddy’s struggles and aspirations, portraying a family dynamic marked by disappointment and expectation. Duddy’s girlfriend, Yvette, and his friend Virgil illustrate the personal toll of his ambitions, showcasing themes of loyalty and sacrifice. Through these relationships, the story examines the moral ambiguities of ambition and the societal pressures faced by a young Jewish man in mid-20th century Canada. The analysis invites readers to reflect on the profound impact of familial expectations, cultural identity, and the pursuit of success on individual character.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Mordecai Richler
First published: 1959
Genre: Novel
Locale: Montreal and New York City
Plot: Bildungsroman
Time: The late 1940's
David “Duddy” Kravitz, a Montreal-born Jewish teenager and second-generation Canadian. Motherless and growing up in the shadow of his favored elder brother, Lennie, the dark, nervous Duddy feels closest to his zeyda (grandfather), Simcha Kravitz. Early in Duddy's life, Simcha admonishes him, “A man without land is nobody. Remember that, Duddel.” Duddy works for material success and admiration by buying land in the growing resort area of the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal. His laudable goal is to provide a farm for his zeyda and various philanthropic benefits for the Jewish community. Duddy's more questionable values, derived from his bleak immediate environment and developed in part as a defense against the anti-Semitism he encounters in the larger French-and English-Canadian society, lead him to pursue his goals with admirable perseverance, self-sacrifice, and zeal but also with deeply ingrained ruthlessness. By the age of nineteen, having weathered bankruptcy and a nervous breakdown, he has struggled, ingratiated, and cheated his way into being the sole owner of about 440 arpents (about 375 acres) of prime Laurentian land, but at the cost of the love and respect of those few who have tried to give him the admiration and emotional security he craves. Instead, he has allied himself by choice and by deed with the moral bankrupts around him.
Simcha Kravitz, Duddy's grandfather, an immigrant Polish Jew and a shoemaker. A pious and scrupulously honest though unbending man, Simcha is trusted and honored in the community. Hurt by his elder son, Benjy, and contemptuous of his younger son, Max, Simcha tries to nurture in Duddy the principles he himself reveres. Advising his grandson that a man without land—by which he means a place where he belongs—is nobody, he inadvertently plants in Duddy the insatiable desire to acquire property, whatever the moral costs.
Max Kravitz, the middle-aged father of Lennie and Duddy, a widower, taxi driver, pimp, and big talker. His hopes and love are lavished on Lennie; his admiration, indicative of his own inability and questionable values, is reserved for the likes of the Boy Wonder, Jerry Dingleman. He takes little notice of lonely Duddy, whom he tolerates with casual affection at best and understands not at all. When Duddy acquires his land and thereby achieves spurious prominence, Max delights in this new opportunity to brag and dream.
Lennie Kravitz, Duddy's older brother. Driven by the family's expectations, Lennie is studying to achieve the apogee of success for a poor Jewish boy as a McGill University-trained medical doctor. Longing for acceptance among gentiles, he agrees to perform an abortion on a gentile social-ite, bungles it, and flees. He must be saved from disgrace by Duddy, who is thus introduced to Montreal's English-speaking gentile elite, embodied in Hugh Thomas Calder.
Benjamin Kravitz, Duddy's uncle, a wealthy textile factory owner and pseudosocialist. His childless, failed marriage to his now-alcoholic wife, Ida, has made him a bitter recluse. He paid for Lennie's education and has always perceived Duddy as grasping and deceitful, but when he is dying of cancer, he finally comes to perceive Duddy's inherent integrity. Hoping to encourage Duddy's finer qualities, Benjy wills Duddy his Outremont mansion, but his appreciation comes too late.
Yvette Durelle, Duddy's French-Canadian girlfriend, who is in her early twenties. Yvette alienates her Roman Catholic, anti-Semitic family by moving in with Duddy as his secretary and lover. Because Duddy is a minor and a Jew, she buys Duddy's land in her name. Loving and patient, she endures Duddy's boorishness and lack of respect, deserting him finally when he destroys Virgil.
Virgil Roseboro, an American in his early twenties, sweet-tempered, naïve, and epileptic. Doggedly loyal to Duddy, he allows Duddy to use him mercilessly at the expense of his precarious health and all of his money.
Jerry Dingleman, the Boy Wonder, in his late thirties and crippled by polio. Once handsome, he is now greasily florid of face, his large body dwindling to sticklike legs. A local boy, he has rocketed to flamboyant wealth and power in the American and Canadian underworlds. Now the owner of a sleazy Montreal gambling joint, he uses an impressionable, ignorant Duddy to carry heroin for him across the United States-Canadian border. Having eventually earned Duddy's contempt, he tries to circumvent Duddy's land acquisition and fails.
Mr. Cohen, a wealthy, influential, middle-aged scrap-metal merchant. He takes a fatherly interest in Duddy's career, giving him financial support and excusing, indeed encouraging, the ruthlessness and self-interest that eventually come to dominate Duddy's personality.
John MacPherson, a middle-aged, Scottish-born socialist, failed idealist, and alcoholic. A burned out teacher at Duddy's high school, he is victimized by the students. Duddy probably is responsible, through a prank, for the death of MacPherson's invalid wife. MacPherson's sardonic parting remark to Duddy, “You'll go far, Kravitz. You're going to go very far,” dogs Duddy throughout his relentless search for success.