Peer Reviewed Open Access

This paper is reviewed in accordance with the Peer Review Program of IRA Academico Research


Identity Loss and Reconstruction in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Day

Jialu Song
Abstract
Mordecai Richler, a contemporary Canadian Jewish writer, reveals the identity confusion faced by Jewish immigrants in their integration into Canadian society through the description of the life experience of the protagonist Duddy Kravitz in his novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959). Meanwhile, in the novel Day (1961), Elie Wiesel, a contemporary American Jewish writer born in Romania, examines how Holocaust survivors lose their identities and attempt to seek identity reconstruction within the context of traumatic memories and guilt through the perspective of the protagonist, Eliezer. This article aims to interpret the manifestations and reasons for identity loss and the possibility of identity reconstruction of the protagonists Duddy Kravitz and Eliezer based on identity theory. Through interpretation, it can be concluded that Duddy is marginalized by mainstream society and blamed for anti-Semitism within the Jewish community, resulting in a significant identity crisis. However, his success in purchasing land offers the possibility for him to escape marginalization and achieve identity reconstruction in mainstream society. Similarly, Eliezer, as a Holocaust survivor, experiences identity loss under the influence of traumatic memories and feelings of guilt, leading to questioning the existence of God and a death wish. Nevertheless, in the later part of the novel, he transitions from an unnamed narrator to “Eliezer”, and the ashes left after his portrait is burned symbolize his completeness, allowing him to regain self-identity.
Keywords
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Day, identity loss, identity reconstruction
Full Text:
PDF
References

Idinopulos, T. A. (1972). The Holocaust in the Stories of Elie Wiesel. Soundings, 200-215. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41177845

Levin, A. (2021). Breaking Silences in the Aftermath of Holocaust Trauma in Elie Wiesel’s Day. Holocaust Studies, 27(3), 351-370. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17504902.2020.1744889

Nivatha, F., & Sharon, L. (2018). Fragmentation or Assimilation? A Study on The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. A Study on The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

Richler, M. (1959). The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. McClelland & Stewart Inc.

Wiesel, E. (1977). The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, Day. New York: Hill and Wang.

金威. (2015). 莫迪凯·里奇勒的《达迪·克拉维茨的学徒》写作手法及结构特点. 高教学刊, (06), 97-98. DOI: 10.19980/j.cn23-1593/g4.2015.06.047

杨建玫 & 常雪梅. (2020). 努鲁丁·法拉赫《地图》中的身份认同危机. 广东外语外贸大学学报, (06), 31-40+69+154.



©IRA Academico Research & its authors
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This article can be used for non-commercial purposes. Mentioning of the publication source is mandatory while referring this article in any future works.