Compare/Contrast Essay Example- Ambition in Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and School Ties
Maddison Connolly
Ms. Clinning
ENG 3U1
30 April, 2013
Ambition: It’s Easy to Dream a Dream, but Much Harder to Live it
Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. It all depends on the principles which direct them.” From this quote, one can see that great ambition is crucial to experience success whether it is achieved in an honest fashion, or a morally questionable one. In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (ADK) and the movie School Ties (ST) a strong sense of ambition is one of the driving topics for the plot and the development of many characters. For example, one can see that Duddy will do anything to achieve his dreams, even if that means betraying his friends or taking part in illegal activities. Although the amount of ambition in both works is very prominent, too much ambition can prove to be detrimental in many ways, and it is evident that ambition proves to be more severe in ST because many characters struggled with common morals and were affected by the mental destruction that comes along with too much ambition.
In ADK, Duddy proves to be too ambitious for his own good throughout the entire novel, as he cares too much about owning land rather than following morals or obeying the law. Just one of these examples would be when Duddy sells contraband comic books. “American comic books were beginning to trickle into the city again, and so Duddy was attracted by this new line... Barney was picked up by the police and fined. Duddy, unfortunately was caught with a large stack on hand. He took fright and threw them in the furnace.” (Richler 56). This quote shows evidence that Duddy began his overly-ambitious ways at a young age by selling pornographic comic books. Moreover, this proves Napoleon Bonaparte’s quote in that those who are ambitious are willing to commit very good or very bad acts in order to succeed. Similarly, morals are lost in ST as
Ms. Clinning
ENG 3U1
30 April, 2013
Ambition: It’s Easy to Dream a Dream, but Much Harder to Live it
Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. It all depends on the principles which direct them.” From this quote, one can see that great ambition is crucial to experience success whether it is achieved in an honest fashion, or a morally questionable one. In the novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (ADK) and the movie School Ties (ST) a strong sense of ambition is one of the driving topics for the plot and the development of many characters. For example, one can see that Duddy will do anything to achieve his dreams, even if that means betraying his friends or taking part in illegal activities. Although the amount of ambition in both works is very prominent, too much ambition can prove to be detrimental in many ways, and it is evident that ambition proves to be more severe in ST because many characters struggled with common morals and were affected by the mental destruction that comes along with too much ambition.
In ADK, Duddy proves to be too ambitious for his own good throughout the entire novel, as he cares too much about owning land rather than following morals or obeying the law. Just one of these examples would be when Duddy sells contraband comic books. “American comic books were beginning to trickle into the city again, and so Duddy was attracted by this new line... Barney was picked up by the police and fined. Duddy, unfortunately was caught with a large stack on hand. He took fright and threw them in the furnace.” (Richler 56). This quote shows evidence that Duddy began his overly-ambitious ways at a young age by selling pornographic comic books. Moreover, this proves Napoleon Bonaparte’s quote in that those who are ambitious are willing to commit very good or very bad acts in order to succeed. Similarly, morals are lost in ST as