Duddy Kravitz - Following A Dream :: essays papers

Duddy Kravitz - Following A Dream Reach for the stars, is a common phrase many children hear in their life, whether by parents or role models in their lives. If a person puts their mind to a task at hand they can accomplish it most of the time, but when the goal is achieved and the path is taken to achieve the goal is crowded with hate and lies, the question arises; was it all worth it? In Mordecai Richler^s novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy Kravitz, his uncle Benjy and Jerry Dingleman (The Boy Wonder), are all able to achieve their life long dreams, but we must examine if their sacrifices were worthy of the prize. Benjy strived his entire life to create a profitable business, raise a family, and make his father, Simcha, proud to be his father. Now, Benjy was able to make his business grow and become beneficial to all that were close to him. He was able to provide his nephew, Lennie, with a University education to help him on his way to becoming a doctor, and also gave Duddy a job working at his factory. These sound like descent things to do for your own family, however when Duddy worked for Benjy he never treated him with respect. This treatment towards Duddy did not help Benjy^s reputation with Duddy, who already thought Benjy favoured Lennie. As well, sending Lennie to University was a very thoughtful and expensive thing to do for him, but according to Duddy, ^Lennie never wanted to be a doctor^ You forced him!^(241). This idea of Lennie never wanting to be a doctor was evident when he ran away from school. Lennie could not take the pressure put on him by Benjy, but he wanted to make Benjy proud and by doing so almost got kicked out of school and ruined his life. The reason that Benjy was doing all this for his nephews was because he could not have any children, with his wife due to complications. Benjy started out doing something nice but ended up trying to live his life through his brothers. In the end Benjy attains cancer and is sinking towards death with no one to inherit his life long achievement, his factory. No one will take over his business in the family because Lennie is too busy, Max-his brother- is too uninformed about it and Duddy has a certain disliking for him. Duddy had lost his respect for Benjy due to the fact that Benjy always ridiculed him. Benjy made his father Simcha believe