Try to Seize the Day

Picture yourself in the middle of a crowd walking through 5th avenue as the mob pushes you from side to side. Loitering smells and stirring colors mix in the air. It is here, in the middle of New York City where the novel written by Saul Bellow depicts the daily life of a man facing his own failure. Feelings inside the author gather to create Tommy Wilhelm the unsuccessful actor whose dreams crashed at a certain period of his life. A period marked by ten decisions that changed the course of his life. The worse thing is that these decisions where taken without any kind of supportive ideas or explainable reasons. During this special day he keeps remembering his unwanted past. During this few pages he describes the encounter with Maurice Venice, the first step to Wilhelm's disastrous life. The sensible details of each scene make of this book a close reality of the human heart.
“I was too mature for college.” Can this be called satire against oneself ? This declaration explains the immaturity of the character itself. Falsity, lack of confidence and a great way to hide mistaken decisions, are few of the characteristics of Wilhelm. The main character goes through a period of crisis which his own childhood cannot describe with all his problems, like divorce, unemployment, etc. His desperation turns to indignity and humiliation. Nevertheless he conserves an inner peace with himself. The detail in each memory awakens human emotions. Aimed for the reader's emotions this book becomes a masterpiece of reality.
Profound thinking and questioning take this character to the deepest spot in the human heart it is this that attracts the reader. “Listen, everywhere there are people trying hard, miserable, in trouble, downcast, tired, trying and trying. They need a break, right? A break-through, a help, luck, or sympathy. ‘That certainly is the truth,’ said Wilhelm. ” (page 18). It is this style of phrases that touch the majority of the people, because probably they are experiencing it also. Around the globe people suffer for thousands of reasons, and Bellow finds the best way to summarize it all in just a couple of sentences. There few pages made me feel sorrow for the unlucky things Wilhelm have to overcome for his stupid decisions. In any case, Wilhelm never takes a reasonable decision, it is his fault foe being where he is now. This feeling resembles the movies. I feel so sorry for Venice and even more for Wilhelm although it is a fictional character. I really hope this book will not continue with this fooling of emotions.