Dread? Frustration? Seize the Day

In the first two chapters of Seize the Day, I saw something very different from other books we have read so far. We saw in great depth what the main character’s feelings, problems and realities were. Tommy Wilhelm is a middle-aged man during the depression years who lives in the same hotel as his father. Tommy is quite broke and his father is very wealthy, but their relation is not good. Tommy quit his studies to pursue a career as an actor, but failed miserably. His father never supported this idea and as Tommy changed his name for a more artistic one, his father never really forgave him. Despite this, the two ended up living in the same hotel in New York. As his father did not seem to mind about his problems, Tommy sought different ways to pay his children’s education and other bills. An acquaintance, Dr. Tamkin, told him about stock market speculation and Tommy gave him his last savings to spend. To his frustration, lard prices (the commodity he invested in) keep falling. In the beginning of the story, Tommy feels something bad is going to happen and he can only wait for it to do so. He receives his mail and finds some bills his wife sent him. They are not living together, but Catherin won’t divorce unless she gets an illogical amount of things, because of that Catherine is practically bleeding Tommy of all his money. As he sees these bills, he enters the dining room and meets his father for breakfast. They begin an uncomfortable conversation that ranges from many subjects, but ultimately ends with Tommy’s personal problems.
This book uses a different approach to show its message than previous books from Pynchon or Vonnegut. Bellow attempts to depict emotions, characters and settings as realistically as possible in order to make it plausible for the reader to relate to the events that are occurring. The opening phrase, “When it came to concealing his troubles, Tommy Wilhelm was not less capable than the next fellow.” (pg 1) This made a great impact on me initially, yet it gained strength as I read on. The phrase carries a simple meaning at first, humans tend to hide their true emotions, and it’s natural. However, as I read on it made a deeper impact as we saw the terrible problems Tommy has with his father, with money, and with himself. It made me reflect on my own life, on how I hide my true emotions and of how others hide them too. It made me wonder how deeply I know the people around me and why I didn’t really care about them. Further, I thought about the reason of this, why did humans stop expressing their feelings to others and bottled them up inside? Was it money and tradition? That reminded me of Tommy’s father. “It made Wilhelm profoundly bitter that his father could to him with such detachment about his welfare.” (pg 8) In that old man’s tradition, one should not speak of personal problems, but seem calm and secure always. As I read this I thought of my father who tends to be a quiet man, and I wondered if I really knew him thoroughly.
Besides this, Bellow also makes the reader feel tied to the novel by the description of emotions he writes. There are times a single word cannot accurately describe a human emotion and Bellow recognizes this. In these cases he magnificently describes an emotion: “He was aware that his routine was about to break up and he sensed that a huge trouble long presaged but till now formless was due.” (pg 2) This feeling cannot be described in a single word. Dread, frustration, or fear just are not accurate enough. If I share this feeling, I’d describe it as a tidal wave falling upon only you. These descriptions that words cannot fully describe yet as a human we grasp almost perfectly are a great characteristic of the novel.