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... related Happy Bar-Mitzvah, Bernie, knows Duddy lies "through [his] ears, " yet he wishes to see Duddy get a start on the film business (124). He even aids Duddy with his lies, "If youre going to see Signal now about his boys bar-mitzvah you have my permission to say youre making one for me. Tell him Im paying you $ 2000 " (125).
Allowing Duddy to make a sideshow out of his sons bar-mitzvah, Cohen not only accepts mediocrity from Duddy and Friar, but he continues to make deals with the boy such as the scrap deal with Calder and to patronize Duddy, "Some kid. Some operator you are" (202). Having nearly gone to jail himself once, Cohen further encourages the young entrepreneur to conduct business without remorse, " My attitude even to my oldest and dearest customer is this, he said, making a throat-cutting gesture. If I thought hed be good for half a cent more a ton Id squeeze it out of him. A plaque on all the goyim, thats my motto.
The more money I make the better I take care of my own " (267). Duddy obviously takes heed of this advice and forges Virgil's cheque, so that he may buy land for his zelda. Mr. Calder, too, is an egocentric individual whom Duddy meets during his apprenticeship. Material wealth is important to Calder, and he lives in a "Yankee Stadium" (196). Calder does not care that his daughter had an abortion, but he is interested in how Duddy got into the film business at the age of nineteen.
Duddy then must earn his apprenticeship from men such as Calder, who merely likes Duddy as an amusing companion. Jerry Dingleman, the Boy Wonder, is also a man Duddy looks up to. Max's tales about Dingleman rising from selling bus transfers to owning a chain of nightclubs and Simcha's declaration that "a man without land is nobody" urge Duddy to pattern his life after his hero, the Boy Wonder. Dingleman is but a heroin smuggler who uses Duddy for trafficking drugs. He takes the boy to see a corrupt play and he does not lend Duddy money when he begs him for it.
Ruthless like Duddy's other business contacts, Dingleman too uses Duddy for his own amusement, for he feels that the boys business ideas are outrageous. When Duddy first visits the Boy Wonder, he sees that the latter intimidates others. Whether or not the boy realizes it, he masters Dingleman's callousness in the treatment of his employees. Heading towards bankruptcy, Duddy fires many secretaries and acts rudely towards his clients. He is sarcastic towards his former friend, Cuckoo Kaplan, and he ignores his creditors. Unthinkingly, Duddy successfully mimics those who are crippled emotionally and psychologically.
Max Kravitz does not think much of himself or of his youngest son; he introduces Duddy to his friends, "Duddy's a dope like me" (23). As a father, he seems ignorant to the perils his son faces though he acknowledges that Duddy's a "BTO" and "a real trouble maker" (27). In fact, hes proud of Duddy's big dreams, and he loves to repeat the adventures of the rich Boy Wonder to others and exaggerate his closeness to the legendary character of St. Urban. When Duddy buys all the land he wants, Max relays the tale of his son parallel to that of the Boy Wonders, although he knows that what Duddy has done does not make the zelda happy. Max seems to be satisfied with mediocrity and he even endorses it: at Duddy's graduation, Max says proudly "atta boy, Duddy, atta boy" (66) even though his son graduates third class with failures in History and Algebra II.
Furthermore, Max is not nurturing as a father at all. He does not write to Duddy when his youngest son went to work in the Laurentian mountains, but wrote to Lennie every week when the latter worked as a camp counsellor. Max never corrects Duddy's mistakes but simple tells his son that hes afraid Duddy will embarrass him or that when he loses his temper, he loses his temper. At other times, Max even nourishes Duddy's sex-crazed personality when Duddy lies about his nightmare and says he dreams of "screwing this broad, " Max says "Thats my boy" (127). Emotionally and psychologically immature, Max is unable to contribute positively to Duddy's apprenticeship although he is Duddy's father. Lennie, Duddy's older brother whom Duddy is proud of, is no good role model.
He wins scholarships but later begins to deteriorate in his studies and in his personal relationships. Lennie become an "assimilationist" (167) and "Jewish boys and girls arent good enough for him" (168). Casting his roots aside, Lennie hangs out with Sandra Calder, an "Outremont whore" who is the "daughter of a war-profiteer" (169). The rich higher-class crowd lures Lennie, and he is also tempted by Irwin, who promises him a summer holiday in Maine.
Lennie insults his girlfriend Riva and other Jews, thereby renounces his Jewish faith. By this time, he is an emotional wreck. With no strong foundation in his culture or faith, Lennie performs an illegal abortion on Sandra, risking his medical degree something that he has devoted his life to. Knowing that he will disappoint his Uncle Benjy who foots all his education bills, Lennie blames his failures on his uncle and calls the latter a "boozer" (175). Not only is Lennie ungrateful to the one who has helped him the most, but he criticizes him as well. Older siblings leave impression on their younger siblings.
Duddy, who admires Lennie, unwittingly absorbs some of his brothers ungrateful behaviour. Uncle Benjy is not truly a cripple, yet he does not have time for Duddy. Duddy may be right in seeing his uncles non-presence in his apprenticeship to life, "You lousy, intelligent people! Writing and reading books that make fun of people like me.
Guys who want to get somewhere. If youre so concerned, how come in real life you never have time for me? You never take your hand out of your pockets to a guy like me except when its got a knife in it" (244). Benjy does not like seeing his past life in Duddy's, for he remembers well when he had to chase after every penny. However, in order to distance himself from Duddy's financial exploits, Benjy does not care for anything that Duddy says and Duddy, when his uncles nearing his death, spills out his feelings, "I wanted you to like me. You treated me like dirt" (245).
In the end, Duddy does not heed his uncles words either he allows his "brute inside" to overpower him and forgets all about becoming a gentleman, a men. Simcha is not a cripple either, but he is entrapped in poverty. He know no other life than to toil under harsh conditions and, by telling Duddy that "a man without land is nobody, " and not explaining fully to the boy what he means, Simcha fires the boys imagination and lust for land. Surrounded by emotional and psychological cripples, Duddy mistaken's his goals in his apprenticeship and does not complete what he should do in order to become a complete person. Duddy's peers, business associates, and family members all have distorted views of how to approach life, therefore they are unsuitable to preside as Duddy's masters in Duddy's apprenticeship in the field of life.
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Research essay sample on Bar Mitzvah Youngest Son
