'My Greatest Ambition' by Morris Lurie

About the Author

Morris Lurie was born in Melbourne in 1938. He is better known for his short stories though he has written some novels too. He has won several awards in Australia for fiction. The years spent away from Australia in voluntary exile form the subject matter of much of his writing.

Background/Setting

The main character is a school boy whose greatest ambition is to be a comic strip artist. He was the only one in his class who wanted to be one. The story explores the uncertainties and trials of being an adolescent with unsupportive parents.

Characters/characterization

The main character, called Nu by his parents, is just thirteen but seems a lot more mature for his age. He appears a child only when he talks about trains and the fear he has of them. Otherwise, he is just an adolescent who worries about what clothes to wear to the all-important interview. He talks about his father with barely concealed impatience. One cannot blame because the father can only talk of the cheque. Though very young, the young man had a clear idea what a comic should portray and what its philosophy should be. He copes manfully with the disappointment of the Boy Magazine winding up.

Themes (major and minor)

The main theme is the disappointments life brings to adolescents. Nu wants to be a comic strip artist more than anything else. He confides in his friend Michael Lazarus and not his parents. The parents are dysfunctional, trying to live their lives through their sons. Like all adolescents, Nu is worried about what to wear to the interview than about his comic. Where the comic is concerned, he is on surer ground. He knows its worth. The parents and Nu are definitely not on the same wavelength. The father thinks only of the money the son will earn and the mother basks in her sons fame.

Plot

Nu is a thirteen year old who wants to be a comic strip artist. His friend suggests that he should get his strip published by the Boy magazine. Though Nu does not approve of the

magazine, he decides to go ahead. He is called to an interview which gets cancelled once. When he goes to the office for the interview, he realizes that they the editor had not expected anyone so young. The comics are purchased for fifteen pounds. Nu creates a second set and sends it to the Boy Magazine but they come back with a regret note that informs Nu that the Boy Magazine is winding up publication.

Summary

Nus ambition is to be a comic strip artist. On the advice of his friend, he sends one set to the Boy Magazine. The editor calls him for an interview which excites Nu but he is also worried about clothes and such. His father is only concerned about the money he will make and the mother brags to her friends about her sons cleverness. At the magazine office, he is offered fifteen pounds for his work. The comic strip is published so he makes another one and sends it to Boy Magazine. But it comes back as the magazine is winding up publication.

Analysis

My Greatest Ambition probes the insecurities and inadequacies of adolescence. It is also about how condescendingly adults treat the ambitions and hopes of adolescents. When Nu declares he wants to be a comic strip artist, they think it is a passing fancy and say, Hell grow out of it. Nu chooses to speak to his friend about his ambition as he wants to share it with someone non-judgmental.

My Greatest Ambition is a short story written by Morris Lurie in 1984. The story is about a boy who wants to be a comic-strip artist one day. He explains his friends attitudes towards his job in first person narration. He draws his first comic and then sends it to a magazine for publication with the help of his friend. The magazine really likes his comic and they want to have it. They offer him some money. Lurie the protagonist becomes very excited and draws his second comic. He then again, sends it to the magazine. The magazine rejects his second work and Lurie gets very disappointed. He grew out of comics after that.

This made me think about what dreams people have and what is realistic and what is not. I think that a lot of kids have dreams like becoming famous or having a job such as being an astronaut. In the story the young boys dream is to become a comic writer, i think that this is a realistic job. It is possible and a lot more likely to happen then become famous. A lot of girls at the age of 6 start to dream about being a princess and thats what they want to be when they are older. But as we grow up we start to see reality and we see that becoming a princess is quite impossible and unrealistic.

I had become, like everyone else, a dreamer.

This quote makes me feel bad for the young boy. He really wanted to become a comic writer and even got the offer to get his comic published. But when he wrote his second one they did not want it , and this completely crushed the young boys dream. When he says he had become a dreamer like everyone else it tells us that the boy gave up his dream, and he sees himself as failing to accomplish the one thing he really wanted to do. It is upsetting that after getting his second comic rejected he stopped writing comics and gave up.

I think this story was really good and Morris Lurie did an amazing job. The story was very interesting and realistic. It was also easy to read and understand.

Symbolism

Nu creates his second comic strip which is his life blood with great expectations but it comes back to him not rejected as being unfit but because the magazine itself id closing down. His father has much to say about this turn of events certainly none of it would have been of any consolation to Nu. His mother who has been basking in his fame among friends and family would suddenly have nothing to say.

Important vocabulary and expression

The adults remarked that Nu would grow out of the ambition of being a comic strip artist and that is precisely what happened but not in the way they intended. Instead of encouraging him along, they did not take him seriously. He was good at it; good enough for a magazine to publish it. If they had encouraged him, he would not have been so dejected that he gave it up altogether.

Literary devices used with examples

The whole story is in first person. It gives it an edge and rawness that would have been missing if it had been any other way. My greatest ambition was to be a comic strip artist but I grew out of it. Many of the statements are made with a tongue in cheek kind of humour -My mother thought I was studying in there.

Story:

My Greatest Ambition is a short story about teenager boy and his dream to become a comic-strip artist. This story shows the many sides of our life. Also this story might inspire others. This boy has been wanting to become a comic-strip artist. He has been interested in comic-strip all his life so he decided to draw one. It was his first comic-strip so he didn't want any mistakes. He looked through his comic like 100 times looking for a mistake but it was perfect for him. Later the day, he happened to mention it to Michael, who sits next to

him about his first comic strip. Michael was the one who told the boy about a magazine that publishes comic-strip. So he decided to give a shot. He waited for his reply and finally he got the answer. Magazine decided to buy the comic-strip. He was successful. So this story might become motivation for others who are submitting or trying things for the first time. You don't have to be shy or afraid that you might be declined. You don't know what will happen if you don't try. This story also mentions that this boy doesn't want to be same as others. So he chose to become comic-strip artist. This also might be helpful. There are many people who are special but too shy to show it to the public. So those people try to act as others. We have our own characters, abilities and personalities. We only live once. During that time we have to be ourselves not others. The boy (main character) again submitted his second comic-strip artist to the magazine. He didn't just give up after his 1st success. He tried again. Even if it's successful or not, you have to try again for the things you like to do. This story is full of inspiration and motivation.

How does Lurie portray Nus sense of disillusionment?

In the short story My Greatest Ambition by Morris Lurie, we experience the disillusionment of a thirteen-year-old boy as he tries to live a dream that he initially thought would set him apart from all others. Nus illusion is set up when his father calls him a prince right before Nus meeting. It was the first time that his father had complimented him throughout the duration of the memoir. Even though his father was not directly trying to give Nu false hope, the effect of this praise on Nu seemed to point him to that direction. The reference to a prince relates to success and fortune, which would subconsciously give Nu the impression that he would prosper and become a successful comic strip artist at Boy magazine. The disillusionment begins when he approaches the office. Nu expects the building itself to be grand and imposing but instead he sees a very mediocre building that looked like a factory. He outlines his disappointment when he says: No neon, no massive areas of plate glass, no exotic plants growing in white gravel. Each time he repeated the word no, it added to his growing sense of disappointment. He also uses repetition with the word ordinary as he describes the details of the building, which emphasises his realisation of disillusionment. When Nu is being toured around the factory he says, I was eating an ice-cream, which indirectly makes Nu seem more immature and out of place. This contrasts from the illusion that Nu had earlier of himself walking to work every morningwith a pipe in my (his) mouth. Since his fantasy of being a grown man smoking his pipe and going to work had turned into being a 13 year old in a ridiculous suit eating ice-cream, the disillusionment becomes a more prominent factor in the story.

OR the portrayal of Nu's disappointment. Morris Lurie destroys Nu's illusion of working at "Boy Magazine" through conversation between the editor, Mr. Randell, and his assistant, Jim. After confirming the amount of money to give to Nu, Randell points out a few spelling mistakes to him as seen in the line: "You've spelt it as 'Jungel' which is not, ah, common usage." The way that "ah" is used mid-sentence draws attention to the apprehensiveness of Mr. Randell, indicating the care he needs to take with Nu as he is a child. The way that Nu has misspelled "Jungel" in a submitted work, and has still been paid, shows the extent to which "Boy Magazine" will go to keep Nu happy. The faade created by the two adults is constantly punctured by their hesitations, which, after further conversation causes Nu to hang up his belief of getting a job at "Boy Magazine." After being shown two comics by Mr. Randell and Jim, Nu is show around the presses and given an "ice cream which Jim had sent out a boy to buy"; "Would you like to see How A Great Newspaper Is Produced." The capitalisation of "How A Great Newspaper Is Produced" indicates that it is a title and, as this particular part is repeated by Nu in such a way, it illustrates how the tour of the presses is a ready scripted one which one would give to a child or ignorant adult. When Nu accepts this tour, he is accepting the label of an ignorant child. The "ice cream" symbolises how a child is treated as this would generally make them happy or cheer them up after a bad day. This "ice cream" coupled with an unwanted tour of the factory solidifies the idea that Nu is still a child, and is being treated as such, in the reader's mind.

OR How does Lurie portray Nus sense of disillusionment? The first hint of Nus sense of disillusionment comes in when he arrives at the Boy Magazine offices. The building turned out to be not at all imposing or impressive, and there were no neon, no massive areas of plate glass, no exotic plants. Nu was even more disappointed when he stepped into the interior of the offices because what he saw was so ordinary. The tone of his description of the offices portrays his disappointment as well as the first signs of his dream crashing.

The next clue in suggesting that Nu was dissatisfied was during the tour of the factory. Jim (one of the four men in suits) had sent out a boy to buy Nu an ice cream. Through this small but significant action, it is implied that even though Nu was at a supposedly serious business appointment, he was treated like an immature child. The boy who had gotten the ice cream symbolizes that Nu was unimportant in the eyes of the men, and the ice cream symbolizes that the men think of Nu as an infantile boy that needed treats.

The final clue that points towards Nus sense of disillusionment was when Boy Magazine returned his second comic strip. As mentioned in the text, Nu wrote a letter and mailed his

work to the office but after a month of waiting, the postman dumped his new comic into the letterbox and flew on his merry way down the street. This final action proved that Nus dream as becoming a comic strip artist was officially over. Furthermore, in the last paragraph, Nu thought of being a comic strip artist was risky and unsure, which was exactly what his father had said at the beginning of the story. The comment that Nu made demonstrates that he had become a dreamer himself, even though he loathed it.

OR

In "My Greatest Ambition," by Lurie, Nu's sense of disillusionment is portrayed through his appointment at Boy Magazine. Shortly after arriving at Boy Magazine, Nu is disappointed by the appearance of the area. Looked like a factory, insinuates disappointment, as factory symbolizes industry, far from his glamorous visions of Boy Magazine before his appointment. Describing everything as ordinary, Lurie suggests that he was disappointed by his visit. In the quote, pushed open an ordinary door and stepped into and ordinary foyer the repetition of ordinary emphasizes the plainness of the appointment, showing that his dreams are not magical, but part of a boring everyday process.

After arriving at Boy Magazine headquarters, Nu attends an appointment with the staff of Boy Magazine, where his illusion of a job at the magazine is further damaged. Upon entering the meeting, Nu is treated like a child as opposed to a business prospect. Youre a young man to be drawing comics, conveys a lack of equality between the men and Nu. Young man is an almost condescending term, indicating that the businessmen consider themselves superior to Nu. Additionally, Mr. Randell belittles Nus work. Not, ah, big mistakes, but youve spelt it as jungel, suggests that Mr. Randell does not care much about Nu and does not think much of him. Ah represents a lack of care put into his words while not big mistakes, reflects Mr. Randells opinion of Nu, that he is a child who needs to be consolidated when he fails.

The final nail in the coffin for Nus illusion of getting a job comes when he is taken on a tour of the factory. Nu is still regarded as unimportant and of low priority. Eating an ice cream which Jim had sent a boy out to buy, insinuates that Nu is of little importance, as the job of getting him an ice cream was given to a boy. Additionally, Nu is almost consolidated for his failure with an ice cream, further representing his child like status. Finally, Nus dreams are crushed for good. Like all things it came to an end, symbolises the end of Nus dreams, as his time at Boy Magazine came to an end.

OR

In the short story, "My Greatest Ambition" by Morris Lurie, Nu's sense of disillusionment is first unveiled just as he enters the office for 'Boy Magazine'. Lurie emphasizes this through

the repetition of the word 'ordinary' while describing Nu's first impression of the office. This is the moment when Nu's expectations are not met of having 'neon signs' or 'exotic plants'. Upon realizing the bland nature of the office, he is greatly disappointed. Lurie weaves this into the storyline to remind us of the young age of Nu through his wild expectations that are so far away from reality.

Another quote, that represents his continued disillusionment was "some of the,ah,spelling..." said by Mr. Randell to Nu. Hesitancy is shown by the use of the phrase 'ah', suggesting that Mr. Randell does not feel it fit to treat Nu like an adult and wishes to protect his feelings, like one would do to a young child. This quote once again emphasizes that Mr. Randell does not give importance or respect to Nu but rather thinks of Nu as a young child who is not be taken seriously.

Finally, there is significance with the use of 'Boy' as the name of the magazine. Throughout the short story, Lurie repeats the word 'thirteen' to inform the readers of Nu's age and his pride towards it. Thirteen, traditionally is the establishment of the teen years and maturity but Nu's rejection by 'Boy Magazine' suggested that at that point in time, he was not even as mature as a young boy being rejected by the magazine. It is also a sign that maturity had refused to come to him until that point which is clearly portrayed by his childlike behavior in the story such as his dream of becoming a comic-strip artist, his fluctuating mind and thoughts and focusing his dreams on an object such as the 'Good Suit'. Nu's disillusionment was the story of him maturing and being introduced to the harsh reality of the world.

'My Greatest Ambition' by Morris LurieStory:My Greatest Ambition is a short story about teenager boy and his dream to become a comic-strip artist. This story shows the many sides of our life. Also this story might inspire others. This boy has been wanting to become a comic-strip artist. He has ...How does Lurie portray Nus sense of disillusionment?