The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

Throughout the novel of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Duddy is persistently trying to learn more about himself. Each character that appears in Duddy’s life has a purpose to teach him a new lesson. Jerry Dingleman, Simcha, and Yvette portray the individuality of a role model, but Duddy does not handle their support in an attentive manner.

Jerry Dingleman (The Boy Wonder) is Duddy’s idol because he teaches him about competition, and wants the success he achieves. The suggestion of competition makes Duddy work and strive even harder to achieve his goal of land.

Duddy has been told through out his life that he will never come across the feeling of success, but he is an ambition seeker. Concurrent to Duddy’s father, Max, his stories make it evident that Dingleman is a man who depicts great status in society. With the Boy Wonder as his role model, Duddy has it in mind to prove everyone wrong. “He liked to think, in fact, that point for point he was a lot like the Boy Wonder before he had made his name" (Richler 65). Duddy has completed some measure of success in his own ways, and as he grows up and matures, his success comes from hard work.

Duddy is unaware of the reality that comes after competition. Even though is he confident that he can take on the land alone, Dingleman explains to him that he can not do everything on his own and nothing will come easy anymore. “Alone you’ll never raise the money you need. With my help we could turn this in a model resort town in five years” (Richler..). Duddy is so lost and confused with his ideas that he can not deal with reality.

A conflict arises when Jerry Dingleman shows interest in owning the same piece of land as Duddy. Duddy has his heart set out for this land and will not let anyone have claim of it except him. Although Jerry Dingleman has the funds for the land, Duddy is determined to put forth a strong effort to ensure that he will own the land. With help from his friend Yvette Duddy is in possession of the land. “Boy, would I ever like to see Dingleman’s