DUddy Kravitz Essay, Research Paper

The novel is based in Montreal, Canada of the early twentieth century, where teachers believed in strapping and immigrants travelling to Canada to start a new life. Duddy Kravitz, a student of Fletcher Field High in the class of Mr. Macpherson, one of the few teachers who are against strapping. Many students took advantage of him, and even gambled with Jerry Dingleman to win tickets, which were given by Mr. Macpherson to good students. Duddy is a boy, who always wants to be someone he is not. His constant shaving to earn a beard and his actions shows he wants to be an adult. His grandfather, Simcha has told him that by achieving lands will make him successful. Giving the statement, “a man without land is a nobody”. Duddy; therefore, was in search of a land, which he finds later in the novel. Similar to the essay, possessing land was very important to people in Canada, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As they mentioned in the essay, Canada used to have lands divided amongst the class and race of the people. In the novel, Duddy lived in the area between the poor and middle class with Jewish immigrants.

The essay also states the strong religious faiths of Canadians. However, the novel mentions many situations of sinful acts. When Irwin Shurbert, a 19-year-old lawyer, and Linda Rubin, daughter of the hotel owner, plans to con Duddy’s hard-earned money in a roulette game; it shows the corruption of the people in the town. Because of this setup, it has led Duddy to be irresponsible when he made love with Yvette Durelle, a French Canadian, denying to marry because of his young age and he wanted to marry a wealthy woman. Although didn’t mention Canada to be an ideal, religious place, but the examples and qualities given, have made readers to believe Canadians are stereotypically religious. The example, such as the Canadian writer, Stephen Leacock, reflects the Canadian culture by writing a story between two preachers with one as Anglican and the other Presbyterian. The essay shows a strong faith of religion in Canada.

Another similarity is that, the essay mentions the strong morality values in Canadian and how with the complexity of moving to the city, with more complex people and life style, leads to corruption and morals to be forgotten. In the novel, Duddy’s goal of success, the illegal success of Jerry Dingleman and Mr. Cohen’s wealth has all shown the lack of morals to their achievements. A comment stated by Simcha,

“I can see what u have done to 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.”

Jerry Dingleman, is a successful person, always flattered by Max Kravitz, gets his wealth through gambling, nightclubs and trafficking drugs. Mr. Calder describes Duddy and Mr. Cohen gets their wealth by being the “… self-made men betraying all of the anxiety and restlessness of their kind.”