Seize the Day (58-114)

Summary: Tommy realizes that many people know what to do, and soon he believed he would recover the good things, the happy things, the easy tranquil things of life. He knew he had made mistakes but it was time to overlook them. Dr. Tamkin and Tommy begin to talk about the investments, even though the lard has gone down, their investment on the rye is rising. The stock on the Rye keeps rising and rising, Tommy thinks they should stop their investment on this since they are already ahead. However, Tamkin tells Tommy he needs to learn to take risks, and to stay in. Tommy then wonders about Tamkin and his personal life, he has some doubts. Whether Tamkin might be creating a fraud with his patients, Dr. Tamkin did not seem the least bit fit to be in an office, and he did not bathe quite as much. While Tamkin wants Tommy to stay in this business, Tommy cannot help but think about Margaret. He begins to remember the times when he was sick and she would care for him.

Next, Tommy and Tamkin go out for breakfast, Tommy wants to eat quickly and get back to the market to handle business. Tamkin tries to persuade Tommy by telling him he thinks too much about his father, and his father's impression on him. However, Tommy goes on to tell Tamkin that he dearly cares about his father and mother. Even though his father may put a lot of pressure on him, he does not want his father to die. Tamkin then began to fabricate his own lie of his father. Tommy begins to think that Tamkin is lying, specially after the story about his alcoholic wife who drowned in Cape Cod. Though Tamkin manages to talk his way through everything, trying to get Tommy's mind off certain things he might be thinking about. Finally, when Tommy manages to leave to the market he notices the drop of numbers in his investments. As he entered the room Mr. Rappaport was putting away his cigars. Mr. Rappaport is not the best looking, but he has quite a lot of money, and Tommy considers that he does not give any of it to his children, who must be in their fifties. Wilhem made agitated calculations, he thought he had even made some mistakes from the difference in numbers. Tamkin along with the money is missing, and the only thing Tommy can think of is it could of been worse.

Tommy goes to his dad once again to ask for help, but he refuses, and Margaret does not make the situation any easier. Tommy becomes very angry, and goes outside. He thinks he sees Tamkin, but he ends up at the funeral of a stranger, where he cries and cries, while everyone wonders who he is, whether he might be a brother, the guest from New Orleans that they were expecting, but they all thought he must be someone close. From this Tommy thought of everything he needed to fix in his life.

Quote: "I can't seem to I'm stupid, Dad, I just can't breathe" (Bellow 105).

Reaction: This is when Wilhem goes to his dad, begging for his help, but his dad does not help and gets inpatient by Wilhem. He tells his dad he feels like his choking inside, that he can't catch his breath. It's the same mistakes over and over again that catch on to him. However, he is not only asking his father for money, he just needs to hear one word from his father, he wants to feel something from his father that his father had not ever given him. Not even his wife had showed him love, love wasn't supposed to come in the form of torture.

Seize the Day (1-57)

Summary: Tommy Wilhem is the protagonist, he stays at Gloria Hotel with a vast population of old people. Wilhem feels out of place here, he was comparatively young, in his middle forties, large and blond, with big shoulders. When Wilhem worried about his appearance it was mainly because of his father. Wilhem liked to wear good clothes, but when he wore them, it piece of clothing seemed to go its own way. However, this morning, as he went to meet with his father for breakfast Wilhem received a compliment on his clothes, and he could not believe it. He took a second look at himself from the glass cupboard. Early in his life, Tommy has been considered star material because of his looks, he even tried to get on the big screen for seven years. However, his pride and laziness must of gotten to him because he stopped trying to pursuit that career. From Tommy's talk with Rubin the man at the newsstand, he reveals his financial status, and how he couldn't join the game the night before. Perhaps, Tommy needs help from his father since Dr. Tamkin, Tommy's psychologists who claims to know about sales doesn't quite know it. Now all Tommy wants is a better life, to no longer be a disappointment to his family.

Tommy's father Dr. Adler, wants him to go back to the five figures type of money he made, and to attend his wife and children, instead of being a pill popper. Margaret, Tommy's wife asks him for money, and refuses to grant him a divorce. Tommy would give Margaret everything, if only she could give him back the dog Scissors, which she refuses to give him as well. Tommy is in love with another woman, and he cannot marry her until he is fully divorced from Margaret. Tommy tries to explain this all to his father, but his father does not seem to understand and tries to compare his own successes to that of his sons failures, and refuses to help Tommy financially. In fact Mr. Adler had told Tommy to stay away from Dr. Tamkin, and now that Tommy has questions about the money he was invested in Dr. Tamkin, Dr. Tamkin tries to change the topic. Tommy begins to think if he should trust this man or not, but either way he had already signed he last one thousand dollars over to him. During Tommy's visit to his psychologist, he receives a poem. This poem gets him to thinking about money, and his obligations.

Quote: "Ass! Idiot! Wild boar! Dumb mule! Slave! Lousy, wallowing hippopotamus" (Bellow 52).

Reaction: This was Wilhem's reaction after speaking with his father, after the discussion they had, insulting one another. Whether Tommy was running his life the wrong way and that he should get a job, and meet his financial needs as well get back with his wife. While Tommy is telling his father that in fact he shouldn't be one to judge when he probably doesn't even remember that day of his mother's death. From this conversation Wilhem had been totally worked up, from this he realizes that he has to carry his peculiar burden, to feel shame, to taste the tears, and to finally think of the importance of business.