The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

“Duddy woke with a bone and pulled the sheet over his head. His toes were stuck together again. He sat up in bed, rummaged around for some empty cigarette boxes, and stuffed silver paper between each of his toes. I’d still get up, he thought, and do everything, but there’s no toilet paper. Next time he woke the room was dark and outside it was raining hard. The thunder and lightning excited him, but after the storm the heat seemed even more oppressive. I’ll wait here, he thought, until somebody comes with good news. But nobody came and when he woke again it was dawn.” (257)

I believe this passage from The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is especially good writing due to its ability to accurately express Duddy’s current depression after Yvette’s abrupt exit from his life. He has done nothing but sleep for days and cannot find the motivation to get out of his bed, which is acting as a set of shackles that will not budge. The weather outside has mirrored his mood as seen in the sentence, “Next time he woke the room was dark and it was raining outside.” and this is a perfect example of pathetic fallacy. There has been a time in my life when I felt the same way as Duddy in this passage and the way Mordecai Richler communicated this feeling of despair and lack of incentive to the reader was almost identical to the way I felt. The line, “I’d still get up, he thought, and do everything, but there’s no toilet paper.” describes his lack of motivation and the eventual passing of time is seen when he “woke up again and it was dawn.”

I woke with a bone and pulled my soiled sheets over my head. The stale orange juice on the floor and now my feet had passed tolerable. I sat up quickly, my head began to throb and that was enough. I’d still get up, clean the room, deal with my rancid toes and shave the grizzled beard that had made itself feel at home on my cheeks, but just not yet. Next time I woke the room had been engulfed by darkness and outside was no exception. It was raining heavily, but the thunder and lightning sent an exhilarating chill down my spine. Unfortunately, that didn’t last nearly long enough. The humidity after the storm seemed to tighten shackles keeping me under the sheets. “I’ll wait here,” I said out loud. Someone will come with good news, with a reason to continue on in this dreary world. But nobody came and the next time I managed to raise my head to see the time, it was dawn.