Animal Instinct: Seize the Day: chapters 4-5

In chapters four through five, Seize the Day begins to establish a more philosophical and reflective tone. Wilhelm meets with Tamkin in the Hotel and they carry on with their investments in the stock market. While all of this is taking place, Tamkin manages to lecture Wilhelm about life and he teaches him his “seize the day” ideology.

In the first part of chapter four, I found that the use of animals as a way to refer to people was more common, than I thought it was in previous chapters. I had already observed how Wilhelm used animal names to express his feelings towards a person and even himself, but it became more evident in this segment of the text, “Ass! Idiot! Wild boar! Dumb mule! Slave! Lousy, wallowing hippopotamus! Wilhelm called himself as his bending legs carried him from the dinning room (52) The use of this device may have several interpretations. One of them may be that the author wants to show that we humans are still wild animals that have an animalistic instinct as part of their nature and therefore will never adapt fully to the material and mechanical world. The mechanical world is also mentioned in the poem that Tamkin shows to Wilhelm, which he mentions is a criticism towards humanity and an explanation of why mechanism is the responsible for destruction in the world. Further on in the chapter, Tamkin himself uses the animal names to refer to an specific state of a human being as well as he establishes another element that relates to the setting of the story and its importance. “If you only knew one percent of what goes on in the city of New York! You see, I understand what it is when the lonely person begins to feel like an animal. When the night comes and he feels like howling from his window like a wolf.”(63) The first part of this segment makes reference to New York, the setting of the novel. The fact that Wilhelm doesn’t know anything about the people of the city, shows how he is completed alienated from society, and is a total stranger in that town. He is constantly thinking about the country side and how he wants to go back. Within the same context, Tamkin talks about a man that is so lonely that he acts like a wolf, howling for someone else to respond. He is probably talking about Wilhelm because he doesn’t belong in the city and he feels lonely due to his isolation from the rest of the people whom inhabit it. The use of the wolf as a personification of Wilhelm is very clever as it portrays a lot of his lonesome personality.

Tamkin introduces his philosophy to Wilhelm to make him understand that his constant worrying about his future, and the torments of his past are not worth thinking about. “Bringing the people into the here and now. The real universe. That’s the present ‘- moment. The past is no god to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real- the here and now. Seize the day.”(62) This ideology is everywhere, no matter where you are you will know people that think this way, including myself. I remember watching the movie, The Dead Poet’s Society where the new teacher of a very prestigious school, attempted to teach his students to seize the day, Carpe Diem. They began to life their life’s to the fullest and tried to confront their fears. This is precisely what Tamkin is inducing Wilhelm to do, as he sees that his life completely empty and shallow. Some time after he mentions this, another quote appears in the text which is even more specific, “Grasp the hour, the moment, the instant.”(86) This citation reminded me of the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-five. They were always talking about how life is about enjoying each moment and living up to it. Although Wilhelm does not really understand this ideology very much, it is causing certain curiosity as he questions its essence and purpose.

The element of water begins to appear constantly, and it shows its relation to the feeling that Wilhelm had of being drowned and not being able to breathe, in the previous chapters. Water had been mentioned several times, especially by Dr. Adler who emphasized on it being the cure for all the illnesses. This time water appears as the condemnation of Wilhelm, which will lead him to eventually drown, “The waters of the earth are going to roll over me.”(73)