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Cunning though he is, Duddy Kravitz fails to learn the tricks of his trade and, consequently, fails to become a whole person. In Mordecai Richlers 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 cripples, Duddy Kravitz is unable to complete his apprenticeship.
Duddy Kravitz's apprenticeship takes place where "the boys grew up dirty and sad, spiky also, like grass beside the railroad tracks. " (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, 46) At the Fletcher's Cadets Parade, the boys whom Duddy learns from in his early years tell crude jokes and defect to buy rye. Duddy is also the president of room forty-one at Fletcher's Field High School. He learns from his peers that the vulnerability of others can be used to his own advantage. From singing songs with lewd lyrics to tormenting his class masters and the rabbinical college students, Duddy elicits positive reaction from his peers. No one dares to accuse Duddy of lying, though his classmates see the outrageousness in his tales of Bradley's exploits in Arizona.
His peers humour him and stroke his ego. They applaud his pranks, but Duddy is a coward he does not take responsibility for his wrongs. Whether it is writing hurtful comments on the board or phoning Macpherson's wife Jenny thus causing her death Duddy learns that he can use his peers to relieve his conscience, "Were all in this together, you understand?" (40) As the leader of the "Warriors, " Duddy learns that his weak peers will do as he bid: they are enthralled when he teaches them about stealing, smoking, and sex, and they become his shield while Duddy continues to hurt the innocents who come across his path. With strength gained from the weakness of his peers, Duddy learns to cheat stamp companies and sell pornography and stolen hockey sticks. After Duddy graduates from school, he is lead further astray by his peers in his apprenticeship. The McGill boys whom Duddy works with at Rubin's Hotel teach him to be ruthless by playing pranks on the young boy.
Irwin, without much conscience himself, not only makes life miserable for Duddy, but also enlists his girlfriend Linda to cheat Duddy at his roulette game. Losing his entire summer savings, Duddy realizes the truth about Linda and says to her, "I thought you went out with me because you liked me. Boy, was I ever a sucker. " (94) While working in Uncle Benjys dress factory, The encourages Duddy to follow Are into the washroom, thus getting the young girl into trouble. This sets in motion the part of Duddy's apprenticeship that deals with women.
Mr. Friar is right when he says Duddy is "callow hasnt the first notion of how to treat a woman. " (163) Yvette is crippled in that she is submissive like many of Duddy's peers. She suffers verbal abuse from Duddy such as "you little fool" (98) and knows that he is using her to buy land, as he is underage. When Yvette mentions romance, Duddy laughs, "I dont get it.
Imagine guys getting married and tying themselves down to one single broad for a whole lifetime when theres just so much stuff around. " (191) When she asks how he would react if she gets pregnant, Duddy simply says that he can get his brother Lennie to perform an abortion on her. Yvette needs to ask Duddy for permission to go out with Virgil and though she is only Duddy's "Girl Friday" (214), she remains emotionally attached to Duddy. She would rather be tamed with Duddy's kisses, flowers, chocolates and sexual appetite, then return to her family, which she is no longer allowed to see because of her relationship with Duddy. In his apprenticeship, Duddy learns that he can be callous and unfeeling towards women. He learns that his needs can always come before others and that others can always be pacified with material goods.
It is ironic that Duddy believes that "a friend is a friend. Youve got to trust somebody. " (181) As he becomes increasingly self-centered during his apprenticeship with Yvette, Duddy no longer trusts the very person who has helped him gain the land he wants. Without "a decent sentiment in [his] body" (300), Duddy makes Yvette sign over all the deeds to his father and Yvette finally realizes that she no longer knows what Duddy is. Duddy is truly transformed by his apprenticeship among cripples. The "crap artists" Duddy surrounds himself with are also cripples who have lost their roots in their culture, their faith.
Hersh, who had won a scholarship to McGill, had quit the university, "There was no sense in staying on. I had no intention of becoming the apogee of the Jewish bourgeois dream I think Ive succeeded in purging myself of the ghetto mentality" (225). Other artists, writers, and playwrights attend Duddy's parties regularly and help themselves to free food and drinks. However, many such as Cuckoo Kaplan and Mr.
Friar are always on the move, with no roots to hold on to, no faith to guide them. Duddy, in his attempt to become a successful apprentice, dabbles in this world newly opened to him and in turn, loses his faith in traditional Judaism, the way of life. Mr. Friar, a "vagabond" (116), is enshroud by pretentiousness and hypocrisy. Yet, Duddy chooses to make him his business partner and one of his masters for his apprenticeship. Lying about his past career, Mr.
Friar convinces himself that he is indeed a notable film director. He tells Duddy that a documentary he had made for an Venezuelan oil company had won a prize in Turkey, but that "even though he had directed it his name was not actually on the picture for a dark reason he only hinted at" (115). He tells Duddy that he is on the FBI and the National Film Boards blacklist due to his "left-winger" Communist ideals. Moreover, Mr.
Friar is proud of his artistic abilities, though his films are definitely not of professional quality, as Mr. Cohen later discovers. Mr. Friar pretends to get angry when Duddy attempts to "interfere with his artistic expression" and he storms out of restaurants, so that he may elude dining bills. Albeit he criticizes Duddy for not treating women properly, Mr. Friar is a hypocrite.
While on the job, he cannot "keeps his hands off Signals daughter" (159). Duddy acknowledges that the Bernie Cohens bar-mitzvah is being turned into "some circus" (147), but knowing he can swindle the Cohens out of their money with Mr. Friars Happy Bar-Mitzvah, Bernie, Duddy plays along with the latter's ridiculous filming of the event. Rabbi Goldstone, the minister presiding over the bar-mitzvah, forsakes traditions.
He makes "sure to send copies of his speeches to all the newspapers and radio stations" (147) and, upon viewing the screening of the event, says, "A most edifying experience A work of art" (159). If Duddy had any piety at the beginning of the bar-mitzvah, he lost it all during Mr. Friars filming of the event. Mr.
Cohen, for whose son Mr. Friar c...
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Research essay sample on Mordecai The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz
