How has Saul Bellow depicted American life and society in Seize the Day?
 |
| American society in seized the day |
"Seize the Day" is a splendid novella written by the
most acclaimed American Jewish novelist Saul Bellow. This American writer was
awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in literature in 1976 for his outstanding
contribution to American literature. Saul Bellow has depicted American life and
society in his masterpiece novel "Seize the Day" very nicely. Tommy
Wilhelm is the protagonist or central character of this novella. He is the
victim of his faults. He is responsible for his downfall. Tommy is a person of
failure. He is 40 years old American. This novella deals with some themes such
as- frustration, loneliness, American life, lack of cordiality, and so on.
Though Tommy is the hero Saul Bellow shows the hard reality that the American people are
extremely fond of money and wealth. They do not understand anything without
money and popularity. They lead an artificial life. Most of them do not have
morality and ethics. They have no time to practice religion. Money is their
second God. Even a father loves his son considering money and wealth. Dr. Adler
is the father of Tommy. He does not love his son because he has no money. The
American society is replete with artificiality, lack of cordiality and so on.
The depiction of American life and society in Seize the Day is given below.
The setting is Hotel Gloriana, New York. Tommy Wilhelm is a
lazy person who does not deserve to survive in this materialistic and
competitive world. He is totally opposite to his father. Here, we can not tell
the fact that "like father, like son." He has two sons. He does not
have a good relationship with his wife Margaret. They live separately. He gives her
divorce but she does not accept it. Because if she accepts it, he will marry
his Christian girlfriend Olive. He will also stop sending money to her. His
father is Dr. Adler who is very rich and money-minded. We do think that Tommy
Wilhelm is a victimized hero. Because he is a victim of the negligence of his
father, wife, girlfriend Olive, etc. He is also a victim of social inequality
and injustice. When Tommy’s father ignores his appeal, Tommy says,
“They spend money! Holy money! Beautiful money!”
Tommy is a person of failure from the beginning of his life
until the end. He is responsible for being unsuccessful in every sector. He joined
a job as a salesman. But his owner fired him from the job because he was unable
to convince the shop keepers. A salesman must be smart, intelligent, and
industrious. But he was a very lazy person. Laziness brings about his
suffering. For his laziness, his wife did not live with him. For laziness, he
was suffering financially. His father did not love him because of his sloth and
indifference. So, everything happened because of his bad habit. His father
forbade him to mix with Dr. Tamkin because he was a fraud. But he did not pay
heed to his father. Later, he invested his money behind the share market. Dr.
Tamkin suggested him to invest the money. At last, he lost his money in the
share market. He understood the character of loafer Dr. Tamkin. Here he is a
victim. Regarding love, Dr. Tamkin says,
“If love is life, love it.”
Dr Adler is very unsympathetic and unfriendly to his own
son. He feels proud of his merit and status. He never thinks of the betterment
of his own son. It seems to us that
Wilhelm is not his son. He is a very stern and practical
person. He is the worshipper of money and wealth. He believes that money is a
must in our life. He does not understand anything without money. He thinks that
money brings happiness and mental peace. He also thinks that we can buy
happiness with money. Since he is a rich man, he thinks himself as a happy
person. On the other hand, his son Wilhelm is very helpless. He does not have
enough money. Wilhelm shows his failure everywhere. He is unfit in every job.
He is very much respectful to his father. He knows that it is a sacred duty of
a son to respect his own father and mother. His father insults him many times
but he never disrespects his father. His father is very indifferent to him.
Adler is very cruel and unkind to him.
Tommy Wilhelm is a person of failure. He wanted to be a hero
in Hollywood as he was a good looking person. He went to Hollywood but failed
to be a hero. In business he failed. It seems that he was born to be a person
of failure. His father never thought of his career. Love for his son is
valueless to Dr. Adler. His attitude to his son is not father like. There is
not a lack of respect for Wilhelm to his father. He loves and respects his father
from the core of his heart. It is not an artificial love. It is sacred love.
But his father loves money more than anything. He thinks that money makes the
difference between a son and a father. He also thinks that a moneyless person
has no value in this world.
Finally, we can say that “Seize the Day" deals with the
real picture of American life and society. If we want to have a clear notion
about American life and society, we should go through this novel with
concentration. We know that literature is the expression of life and society.
This is the positive side of literature. We see the artificial society of the
Americans by reading this novel. The novelist deserves our love and adoration
for this masterpiece.