Wilhelm the Lonely: Seize the Day: Chapters 1-3

The novel, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow, begins by introducing Wilhelm, a guy in his forties who is tiered of life and pictures himself as a complete failure. He has no hope at all, his family is against him and he is in his way to bankruptcy. The tone that this character uses is very dark and egocentric, as he reveals himself completely to the reader. It is probably one the few books that I have read that makes such an introspective of one person that profoundly.

In the first three chapter of this book, the main characters questions himself a lot and attempts to answer this question, always resulting in the worst possible answer. The following are some examples of the questions that Wilhelm makes, “He had put forth plenty of effort, but that was not the same as working hard, was it? (4) ... “And while the losses were small they weren’t gains, were they? (5) In these examples we can see how he manages to feel so stupid and useless all the time, without the help of anyone else. In the first quote he degrades his achievements because he doubts that he did put hard work into them. He doesn’t give any credit to himself. In the second citation, he shows how negative he is, not believing that a loss is actually a gain, as many people say. He has no hope that things will get better, so he assumes his defeats as losses instead of considering them as new opportunities to grow as a person. This tone is very dark and fearful and full of questions which give the impression that the he is unsure about what he is saying. The voice is also very personal and the omniscient narrator gets inside Wilhelm’s head most of the time, reveling the essence of his thoughts. These elements show how this man is so isolated and hidden away from society and from the rest of the world. He always feels like a stranger when surrounded by people and he can’t open up completely to someone, not even his father, because he feels misunderstood. The fact that Wilhem feels that he’s running out of breath, shows the reader that he is in a way drowning in his own sadness and is not able to come out to breathe. “Dumb and incompetent, he struggled for breath...”(46)

Wilhelm, has other problems that are very common for people that are going through a mid-life crisis and that relates a lot to the Crying of Lot 49. This issue is connected to drug abuse, especially of pills. As we saw in Pynchon’s novel, many characters are induced into the world of drugs, and they are not only the young hippies, but also the older characters like Dr. Hilarious and Mucho Mass. They begin to consume because they feel that they don’t have anything else to do and they are alone in the world. Wilhelm feels the same way too, and he begins to take different types of pills to see if he feels better when taking them. In a way, this is being paranoid, which also relates to the Crying of Lot 49. “Meanwhile I suggest you cut down on drugs- ‘You exaggerate that, Dad. I don’t really, I give my self a little boost against-’ He almost pronounced the word misery but he kept his resolution not to complain.” (42) In that segment it is evident that he takes those medicines trying to achieve some happiness or stability, but doesn’t really achieve it. He takes them to fight his misery, but he is actually increasing it. This is another reason for him feeling like he is drowning and he can’t escape it, not even with drugs.

Finally, as I continue to read the novel, I realize that the author has established a very interesting element to the time scheme. The story is taking place during one single day, which relates directly to the title of the novel. It will be intriguing to see what will happen next, because it has to be very extraordinary for Wilhelm to realize that he has to seize that particular day. This approach is very clever as well, because it shows the reader that most of the time people don’t realize that they do many things during one day, and that most of the times we waste out time. He wants the readers to reflect about the changes they can make on their lives by using their time wisely during one day, and how they can appreciate life more by doing so.