The Novel Seize the Day
We are now discussing Saul Bellow's novel, Seize the Day. Please post any comments you have from class discussion here.
posted by Dr. Comprone's Blog @ 7:23 AM
Monday, February 9, 2009
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16 Comments:
When I think of "seizing the day," I think of taking every available opportunity to progress. One would seizes the day, conquers it. But, in America, we have been taught to be lazy individuals. Everyone wants a "get rich quick" scheme. The point of the American Dream is to be wealthy enough to NOT work! Seizing requires work. So, shall we "seize the day" until we get money and no longer seize?
Do you feel that the title Seize the Day reflects the American way of life?
This comment relates directly to the theme of the book and to the current financial crisis we are now in.
I think that America does embrace the concept of "Seize the Day". I say this because whether good or bad Americans take advantage of opportunities that involve getting ahead. Trying to "Seize the day" Americans do whatever it takes, even being unethical. In my opinion "seizing the day" is not always a positive thing because sometimes it involves making rash decisions without considering other people. -Jasmin B
Americans are lazy! If we were to stick an average American citizen in another country (Let us use Japan), he/she would NOT be able to easily conform to society. Every other country has the idea of coming to America to get an easier life. America goes to other countries and learns to appreciate the fact that we can get away with being so lazy and get by. That is NOT seizing the day!
Not every American seizes the day, but the idea that there is more opportunity to seize than elsewhere is a dominant belief in this country.
"This happened over and over with everyone you met. You had to translate and translate, explain and explain, back and forth, and it was the punishment of hell itself not to understand or be understood, not to know the crazy from the sane the wise from the fools, the young from the old or the sick from the well."
When we think of society, this definitely tells us much. The level in which we interact with others is determined by these factors. Explanation, translation, and how well you understand and are understood. Hell IS a punishment for those that are not confined to the walls of explanation, translation, and understanding.
"One fact should be clear to you by now. Money-making is aggression. That's the whole thing. The functionalistic explanation is the only one. People come to the market to kill. They say, "I'm going to make a killing. It's not accidental. Only they haven't got the genuine courage to kill and they erect a symbol of it. The money. They make a killing by a fantasy. Now, counting and numbering is always a sadistic activity. Like hitting. In the Bible, the Jews wouldn't allow you to count them. They knew it was sadistic."
I've read about the love of money being the root of all evil, but to compare money making to murder is pretty good. To look at it from this point of view opens certain thoughts. When we take a look at world history and even many activities of today that are considered normal, we can actually find a sadistic nature in this counting and numbering.
Dear Jamal, both of your comments are insightful. Do you feel that the current crisis in Wall Street is a result of excessive competition and a desire to bend the rules to achieve success? Dr. Adler warned Wilhelm about people like Dr. Tamkin: "I think he's pretty common but he's a persuasive man. However, I don't know how reliable he may be" (328). Why do you think Wilhelm doesn't trust his father's advice and wants to believe Dr. Tamkin?
Based on my own experiences (Seen and heard), I've come to realize that the more successful a parent, more so a father, is with his job, the less successful he is with his children. This is because the more he spends building his career, the less time he has to study his children. Their desires, needs, and such things of the like, thus resulting in an Oedipus-like complex of some sort. All children want to be recognized and we can see here that Wilhelm would rather follow some one he does not know than listen to his father (Whom he never got to know growing up). In cases like these, a person will often purposely go against the advice of the parent merely because of the past relationship.
I agree with you, especially since Wilhelm's name has been changed. I think parents who are successful not only do not spend time with their children, but also they expect more from their children than less successful parents. Perhaps this whole story is not about Wilhelm's failure, but about his father's failure to understand the importance of compassion.
There is a balance because we all only have 24 hours in each day. How we spend that time IS up to us but the amount of influence society places on us to BE certain things is extraordinary. If one is GOOD at his/her job, the boss and coworkers won't really care about whether the person's children are on drugs or not, they will simply encourage him/her to continue to move up the "social ladder." America places emphasis on how well one can work. Therefore, men do their best to work harder and strive longer to "meet the quota." Anyone placing emphasis on a man taking care of his children even if it means a pay cut is "Out of the box" and thus isn't "seizing the day."
Also, read passages about how vain Dr. Adler is and how he seems disconnected from his son's experience. Perhaps Dr. Adler never wanted to be a father in the first place. Perhaps one of the messages of this book is that success in a career doesn't always equate with success being a parent. I am also not sure that Dr. Adler's advanced age makes such a difference because it appears to be his philosophical outlook on life that prevents him from seeing what Wilhelm needs: a compassionate father figure.
"The whole secret of this type of speculation... is in the alertness. You have to act fast-buy it and sell it; sell it and buy in again.... Have you stopped to think how much dough people are making in the market?" (Bellow 327)
Do you think that we would be in the current recession/depression if we didn't have people like Tamkin speculating in the stock market?
I believe that Wilhelm entered into this "deal" on his own free will, so he ultimately has accepted the outcome, whether good or bad, by going into the stock market in the first place. -Jas
So, Wilhelm's problem is that he doesn't accept responsibility for the risks he undertakes and for his own failures?
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