A Young Boy in a Cruel World : First Quarter

(Elisabeth)

The book starts with John MacPherson, a depressed, alcoholic but hopeful teacher who is forced to take over a colleague’s high school class, the absolute worst one. One of his new students is making his life a living hell, Duddy Kravitz. One of the most important rules for MacPherson is to not strap his students like the other teachers. It’s a moral he lives by. One night, unfortunately, his wife dies and from there he goes downhill. He starts drinking heavily during classes and strapping kids. His only rule is broken, this is a turning point for the character. This character is very mentally unstable and has little to no control over his emotions which makes the reader have pity for him.

The more we learn about the evil kid that is Kravitz, the more we understand why he’s the way he is. Duddy wants to be accepted but the people at school, that is why he makes a lot of jokes and is very outgoing. On the other hand, the other part of him also wants to push people away and have power over others. He portrays this power in all his mean remarks.  His dad, a taxi driver and a pimp, doesn’t really take care of him and abuses him. We learn a lot about his family and his constant need for approval, positive or negative, may come from there. Here, the author wants us to understand Duddy. One day, his granddad tells him “a man without a land is nobody”. This sentence is going to change everything for the young teenager. From that point, his priority is making money. He works a lot of different jobs for a few years until he meets Cuckoo and Irwin. Cuckoo is a great friend to him, he helps Duddy developing ways of becoming rich and is very creative. Irwin, on the other hand, is Kravitz’s sworn enemy. 

Duddy goes on a date with Linda and it goes very well, he opens up about his dreams and aspirations which doesn’t come easy to him and is very touching. Irwin wants to play a game involving money with Duddy. Despite what he thought would happen, Kravitz loses all of his money and, at the same time, realizes his date with Linda was a joke orchestrated by Irwin. He escapes for a few hours, obviously broken, and when he comes back, Irwin is waiting for him with apologies and gives his money back. Linda also tries to apologize but it’s too late. His trust is broken and for Duddy to trust someone, it takes a lot. Kravitz goes on a date with Yvette and sleeps with her. The next morning, he is nowhere to be found.

Here we can see Duddy, who is sad and isolated, trying to put up a good front at school.

Here we can picture John MacPherson going crazy because of Kravitz.

There is a land and money because that is the focal point of Duddy’s life and everything revolves around it and his mantra: “ a man without a land is nobody”.