Seize the day by Saul Bellow. American Literature

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1. Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Seize the Day is
the title of the collection of three short novellas and a
one-act play by Saul Bellow that was published in 1956.
It was his fourth book and the title novella (Seize the
Day) was adapted into a film by the same name in
1986. Seize the Day was republished as a single short
novel in 1958. The novel's theme is the well-known
American Dream based on Materialism sans emotional
and spiritual values. The ultimate American Dream is to
succeed in life -mostly by becoming rich.

2. However, the Dream is not reachable for everyone and
the novel explores how the pursuit of it can destroy a
person. The novel explores failure, suffering, deception,
isolation, and the idea of Carpe Diem (Celebrate the
Present).
Characters of Seize the Day:
Wilhelm Adler or Tommy Wilhelm is the main
character. He is married, but his wife and children are
living apart from him. He asks for divorce but his
wife Margaret declines divorcing him and keeps

3. demanding more money to raise their two boys. His
mistress Olivia is fed up with him because he cannot get
a divorce and marry her. While Wilhelm is a Jew, Olivia
is a Catholic and finds it distressing to be sleeping with a
married man, and encourages Wilhelm to get divorced.
Wilhelm is a failed actor while his father, Doctor
Adler is a successful and famous physician who is now
retired. Wilhelm seeks financial help from his father but
Doctor Adler refuses to help him because he disapproves
of his ways and scolds him for his failures and

4. slovenliness. Wilhelm Adler has no stable source of
income and to pay Margaret and get a divorce, he
continues borrowing money and betting in the stock
market. He is knee-deep in financial troubles. Dr.
Tamkin is a supposed psychologist who impresses
Wilhelm and gains his trust. Wilhelm continues to invest
money in the Stock Market on the advice of Dr. Tamkin
who suggests investing in lard and rye will prove to be
profitable. However, Dr. Tamkin proves to be a
fraud. Maurice Venice is a photographer and talent

5. scout who met Wilhelm when he was a young college
going student. Maurice found Wilhelm very handsome
and advised him to try acting in Hollywood. But when
Maurice took a camera screening test of Wilhelm, he
found that Wilhelm was not photogenic and advised him
to drop the idea of acting. However, Wilhelm was
convinced that he would succeed as an actor but he
failed. Catherine is Wilhelm's sister in her forties. Like
Wilhelm, she is also a struggling artist and seeks
monetary help from her father.

6. Dr. Adler declines helping Catherine too because he
believes she is not good at painting.
Summary of Seize the Day:
Wilhelm Adler is a middle-aged married man in his
forties who is living in a luxurious residential hotel in
Manhattan called the Gloriana. Many other retired
people in the Jewish community live in the same hotel,
however, Wilhelm Adler isn't retired, nor does he have
any stable means of earning. He is the son of a very
successful and reputed physician Doctor Adler who is

7. now retired and who also lives in the same hotel.
Wilhelm had a bright future but he committed some
mistakes in the past that have ruined his present. During
his college days, he met Maurice Venice, a talent hunter
and photographer who encouraged him to try acting in
Hollywood. However, after the screening test, Maurice
warned him that he tests poorly on camera and he must
stay away from acting. Wilhelm ignored his advice and
dropped out of college to pursue acting in Hollywood.

8. After wasting many years, he ended up in a sales job and
got married to Margaret with whom he has two sons.
However, he is not happy with Margaret and is having
an affair with Olivia who works with him. Olivia, being
la Catholic insists that he should get a divorce and marry
her before they may consummate their relationship.
Margaret isn't willing to divorce him and continues to
demand more money for the upbringing of her sons.
Wilhelm was expecting a raise and promotion as an
executive in the firm he works for.

9. But one of the executives of the company promoted his
own son-in-law in place of Wilhelm. Wilhelm felt
cheated and disrespected, and in anger, he resigned from
the firm. Now, he has no source of income while he is
spending the limited money he got after his wealthy
mother's death.
Wilhelm decided to try his luck in the stock market so
that he may gain some big amount by the help of which
he may get a divorce from Margaret.
He has made acquaintance with Dr. Tamkin, a

10. psychiatrist who also lives in the same hotel. Wilhelm is
impressed by Dr. Tamkin for his knowledge of the stock
market, and thus he trusts Tamkin to invest his last
dollars in lard but that proves to be a failure. He hopes
the stock of lard may go high, but for the time being, he
is worried since he has no more money.
Wilhelm asked his father for financial help but Doctor
Adler refused to help him out because he didn't approve
his ways. Doctor Adler does not respect Wilhelm,
considering him slovenly and a failure in his work and

11. marriage. Doctor Adler and one of his friends Mr. Perls
warn Wilhelm not to trust Tamkin and laugh at Tamkin's
dubious credentials as a doctor of psychology and his tall
tales of inventions.
Doctor Tamkin has taken control of Wilhelm's money
and invests it as per his wishes. Dr. Tamkin invested a
big amount of Wilhelm's money in lard which didn't
work well for Wilhelm.
When Wilhelm goes to meet Dr. Tamkin to discuss his
financial troubles and if there are any possibilities of

12. profits in the stock market, Dr. Tamkin tells him that he
should not worry too much because it won't help him
anyway. He takes Wilhelm to the brokerage office
how the investments are going. Some prices are down,
but others hold steady. Tamkin explains that he recently
invested some money in a hedge of rye, and this should
offset some unexpected losses. Wilhelm wonders why he
continues to trust Dr. Tamkin while his investments
never turn out profitable.
At the brokerage office, Tamkin notices that the price of

13. rye stocks appears to be going up. Tamkin feels enthused
and takes Wilhelm for lunch. They talk about Margaret
and Olivia and Dr. Tamkin tells Wilhelm stories of his
patients. It seems just about everyone has a strange
mental issue if Tamkin is to be believed. Wilhelm
wonders if anything Tamkin says is true. Growing
impatient, Wilhelm insists they leave for the brokerage
office. Tamkin assures Wilhelm he can't lose money, as
modern technology pulls money out before prices drop
too low. Tamkin leaves Wilhelm with the expensive

14. lunch bill before excusing himself temporarily. Despite
his financial troubles, Wilhelm is forced to pay for the
expensive lunch. He goes back to the brokerage office to
check the stock market and gets shocked when he sees
that the rye price dropped abysmally, and now there is
nothing left. He realizes that Tamkin has wasted all his
money. He tries to seek him so that he may blame him
for his losses but fails to find him.
Wilhelm is now penniless. He goes back to the hotel and
asks his father again for some help.

15. He asks his father to cover up his rent for this month but
Doctor Adler refuses and sternly tells him that it is time
when he either should go back to his home and live with
Margaret or get a job. Wilhelm hardly has any choice.
He calls Margaret but she is not interested in his
troubles. She doesn't want him to return home unless he
returns to the sales job.
Wilhelm is heartbroken. He finds it too disrespectful to
go back to the same job that he resigned. Moreover, he is
not sure he will get that job back.

16. Sorrowfully, he goes to Broadway where he notices a
funeral parlor. He thinks he just saw Dr. Tamkin at the
funeral parlor and rushes towards him to catch him and
blame him for his losses. However, Tamkin notices him
coming towards him and scuttles away. As Dr. Tamkin
vanishes in the crowd Wilhelm is left in a line to view
the open casket. Seeing the dead man before him makes
his feelings of despair and shame swell, and he begins
crying loudly. The other funeral-goers wonder who he is.