Seize the Day

The character of Wilhelm in Bellow’s novel Seize the Day was truly a pathetic character. He seemed to be more of a looser than Gimple or Bontshe. He is a self-loathing man who cannot seem to make a life for himself, and doesn’t really try to hard in order to do so. It seems to be that at the root of all Wilhelm’s problems is his father. He is the type of man who chooses to lie about the status of his children in society in order to elevate his own.

Wilhelm has obviously failed at life and now expects his father to help him. I say that Wilhelm should get off his butt and help himself. He should not expect a handout from his father just because he hit a rough patch. He was the one who chose to drop out of school, when his father gave him the opportunity to go to college in the first place.

Wilhelm needs to stop complaining and trying to gain his fathers approval. At forty years old, with a wife and two sons of his own, he should be focusing on his own family. It also seems that he is wasting his time. He is looking for approval at a place where he is never going to get it. It is unfortunate that the more someone is unwilling to offer their approval to you, the more you are striving to gain it.