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  • Essay / The use of motif to represent isolation in Seize The Day

    In Seize the Day, Bellow addresses the well-known dilemma of the desperately isolated and deeply alone individual, caused by societal aggression and the faults of his own. character, at the beginning of the story, Tommy finds himself in debt to his wife and the hotel. Forty-three years old, huge, bearish, overly emotional and very dependent, he is caught in a heartless world. In this world, there is no attention or real communication between men. People talk to each other, do business, pass the time of day, but do so only superficially; the human heart is never reached; masks and deception are the rule. There is no compassion, no understanding, no love. Tommy has been naked and miserably alone since losing his job and has no sense of belonging in the community of men. Tommy Wilhelm, the protagonist of Seize the Day, is a character in turmoil. He suffers, among other things, from the loss of his job, financial instability, the separation from his wife and his relationship with his father. He is a man in search of self whom the reader is allowed to observe and follow throughout a single important day of his life, a day that is called his "day of judgment." The book begins: “When it came to hiding his troubles, Tommy Wilhelm was no less capable than his neighbors. So at least he thought…” Concealment is a problem that arises. Significantly, Tommy had been a doer, albeit a failed one, as well as a salesman. He had learned to wear masks, play roles and “sell” himself. However, on the day the story takes place, Tommy must shed all that and discover who he really is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayUsing money as a motif, Bellow shows Wilhelm's isolation through his unconventional views. “How they love money... They love money!” Holy money! Nice money!...If you didn't have it, you were an idiot...if only he could find a way out of it. (Below, 36). Wilhelm directly states that he does not want to be obsessed with this money. These are Tommy's thoughts in Chapter II, in response to his father's boasting about how Tommy had earned "five figures." The quote indicates Tommy's disdain for money and also highlights the level of importance placed on money in the society in which Tommy lives. The quote suggests a negative attitude towards the "they" in the quote, those who love money. The "they" refers to his father, Dr. Adler, and his "friend" Mr. Perls. Although he criticizes those who can only think about money, Tommy himself spends much of the book's final chapters worrying and finding himself in a state of severe anxiety. nervousness about the money he has invested in the market. Furthermore, money seems to be something he cannot get away from, or rather detach himself from, in the consumer society in which he lives. Additionally, as the book progresses, Tommy will have to shed various roles and ideas to become his true self and allow that true self to surface. He will have to be abandoned by his father and his surrogate father, Dr. Tamkin, for example, so that he stops considering himself only as a “son in the eyes of a father”. In this case, he will also have to lose all his money to be able to free himself from it and its influence. “I can no longer stand city life and I miss the countryside. There's too much pressure here for me. (44). The city serves to create the background for crowds and technology in Tommy's world. This serves to illustrate his disconnection with the worldoutside, the world around him. The city is mentioned several times throughout the novel: Tommy constantly claims his hatred towards it. He much prefers to live in the countryside, because he is not used to it. However, there are times when he finds himself in tune with the city crowd. Thus, this urban landscape can both serve as a dark backdrop to Tommy's life, the very symbol of what he is trying to escape, or it can be a force that allows him to feel solidarity with his neighbor. Tommy, it's obvious, plays many roles. He plays the role of Adler's son, a role from which he finds it difficult to escape. He cares too much about how his father sees him. And he often becomes the “failure” he believes his father sees in him. He has been an actor, hospital nurse, ditch digger, toy salesman, auto salesman and public relations manager for a hotel in Cuba. So he was many characters and never himself. Under his masks, as the reader has the privilege of discovering through interior monologues, he is truly an introvert locked in the body of a man forced to be extroverted, he is also sensitive and almost, sometimes feminine. This femininity, however, is criticized and criticized by her father when he accuses her of having had a relationship with a man in his office. By using Wilhelm's father's fixation on insignificant aspects of Wilhelm's life as a motif, Bellow demonstrates isolation. “Get away from me now. It's torture for me to look at you, you bastard! cried Dr. Adler. (110) - how his father reacts when he makes a bad decision about money. Even Tommy's father, Dr. Adler, refuses to get involved in his son's desperate loneliness. Tommy needs money which he assumes his father could easily provide, but Adler is very pained, even turns away, when the subject is brought up. Again and again he appeals to his father for compassion and money. But his appeal is always in vain, because his father's response is always a cold, detached, but bitter and angry, analytical denunciation of Tommy's past failures and current ignominy. Indeed, his father is ashamed of his son. “It made Tommy deeply bitter that his father spoke to him so fondly about his well-being” (10). Tommy even wonders if his father has lost the sense of family. His relationship with his father mainly consists of getting money from him, and this money is always wasted by him. He accuses his father of only thinking in terms of money because he doesn't want to give it to him to waste it, to play on the market. He feels like he doesn't have enough, so he maintains his relationship with his father even though it isn't comfortable. The most difficult challenge in understanding Dr. Adler, Tommy's father, is that we must first realize that we are seeing Dr. Adler through Tommy's eyes. It's hard to trust the point of view of an ever-changing character. For example, his son often vilifies Adler, however, we must question the malice to truly understand Adler's character. Additionally, it is Tommy who often vilifies what his father says to him and, at times, even seems to misunderstand. This isn't to say that Adler isn't cruel at times, it's just to say that his nastiness and seemingly tyrannical behavior needs to be questioned from one perspective. By showing the motive for Wilhelm's confusion with society's infatuation with money and the way money is treated, Bellow depicts isolation. “You can log in fifty years before you get anywhere. This way, all at once, the world will know who you are. (22). Tommy's ex-wife, Margaret, reinforces his sense of alienation. it is presented to the reader at."