the apprenticeship of duddy kravitz
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The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai RichlerIn the novel
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler punishes Duddy
for his wrongs against others in several ways. Each punishment fits the
crime, and there is an irony about each one. The three punishments
inflicted on Duddy at the end of the novel are the loss of Simcha's love,
the loss of his friends, and the absence of any funds to build on his
property. The loss of Simcha's love is a devastating blow for Duddy.
This is evident when Duddy confronts Yvette and asks her, " Why did you
go to my grandfather? Of all the people in the world, he's the only one"
(Richler, 1959, 313). Duddy did everything he could to get this land
because his grandfather said that 'A man without land is nobody'. Duddy,
in his own mind, did it all for Simcha, to earn his love and respect and in
the end, he had neither. The loss of Simcha's love did not happen for
nothing. It happened because of the way in which Duddy had gone about
acquiring his land. Yvette told Simcha, and Simcha did not approve. He
was, in fact, extremely disappointed with Duddy. His disappointment is
shown when he tells Duddy, I can see what you have planned for me,
Duddel. You'll be good to me. You'd give me everything I wanted. and
that would settle your conscience when you went out to swindle others.
(Richler 1959, 312) The betrayal of Yvette, her speaking to Simcha, and
the loss of hers and Virgil's friendships also punishes Duddy. They are
the only two people in the world who ever loved him for himself, and didn't
want anything but his love in return. In the loss of their friendships,
Duddy is being punished for his rotten treatment of other people, even his
only friends. Duddy may not even know what he has lost, but he will one
day, when he misses having someone to share his accomplishments and
failures with, like he has had up until now. The loss of things human
is not the only punishment inflicted on Duddy. He also ends up without
money left to build anything on the land he has purchased. This is
punishment for all the low down, underhanded things he had to do to get
the money to buy the land. The irony of this is after doing everything
imaginable to get his money, such as attempted blackmail, selling his
uncle Benjy's belongings, and stealing from Virgil, he still ends up with
just an empty piece of land, and no capital to manage to do anything with
it. This is a punishment to Duddy because he now has to put his dreams,
the hotel and kids Camp, on hold for a while, maybe even forever. Thus,
Duddy has gotten his just reward for all the sins he has committed. Each
one was with reason and hopefully he will eventually see the reasons and
understand why things happened the way they did. Maybe he will even
learn something in the process.
