Hotel Society: Five Gilded Stars - Seize the Day

Seize the Day is set in 1950’s New York City. Tommy Wilhelm lives in Hotel Gloriana in which his father also lives. The hotel is a luxurious, upper class residence with many retirees living their final years in a comfortable place. Tommy however, is in the middle of his life and living a very different life from the rest of the inhabitants of the building, or at least it seems that way. Tommy is jobless, in economic turmoil, his last savings are at steak and his father is disappointed in him. He is living a contradiction, he is broke and under a lot of pressure while he is living in luxury and apparent tranquility. He appears to be just as anyone else in the building, worry-free and personally calm. Just to maintain this appearance he invests his last savings into a stock market entrepreneurship. “Thus Wilhelm had had to pretend at the outset that his interest in the market was theoretical.” (pg 57)
As the reader knows what goes on inside Wilhelm’s head, he can find great contrast amongst the vivid descriptions of the novel with the reality going inside Wilhelm. “Between white tablecloths, and glassware and glancing silverware, through overfull light, the long figure of Mr. Perls went away into the darkness of the lobby.” (pg 39) Such a vivid description of the setting creates a big contrast with the frustration and anger going through Tommy’s head at the time. The author did this in order to enhance the theme of personal problems and how humans hide them. This impressed me even more as the author did not invent a location that would clearly contrast with Wilhelm’s emotions, but Bellow blended his intentions with realism to make the novel flow easily and not force contrasts into the reader’s mind.
As I continued reading the book I noticed how many other people had problems just as Wilhelm. Dr.Tamkin probably has many financial problems and is a simple con artist, yet he seems very stable and calm. Very similarly to Wilhelm, Tamkin hides his troubles from society. This made me wonder if everyone in the Hotel had troubles just like them, and I believe it is so. Everyone has their own problems but generally they are hidden from society. Hotel Gloriana represents society and its gilded appearance. Just like a gilded piece of jewelry the outside looks beautiful and powerful, like the Gloriana’s lobby. The inside of society, its individuals are troubled and wear masks hiding their problems. They are the very people who live in the Hotel. I can greatly relate to Wilhelm as I hide my emotions from most people. Why I do it, I don’t know but probably it is to avoid being hurt by others. I also feel that if I trust only a few people with my real emotions it makes those people all the more important to me and my emotions much stronger and worth feeling, rather than losing interest in them as everybody knows them making them lose their true meanings.