'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.