论文部分内容阅读
【ABSTRACT 】： Saul Bellow （1915- ）， as a winner of the NobelPrice for Literature， is one of the most famous novelists in contemporaryAmerican literature world. The language of his works is accurate andincisive， and the content is rich， profound and realistic. Seize the Day isBellow. s most tightly built novel. In my reading of the book， I try tointerpret the novel from the setting， the imagery and the characterization.
【Key Words】： Seize the Day；setting；imagery；isolation；characterization
The man is 44-year-old Tommy Wilhelm who， like some of Bellow'sother fictional leading roles Augie March， Eugene Henderson， and MosesHerzog， is a little piece of the chaos of twentieth-century urban Americadistilled into a single confused character. Wilhelm is a native New Yorker，a failed actor， and an unemployed former sales executive. He is separatedfrom his wife， who always selfishly demands from him money that hedoesn't have， and his two sons he loves. His only financial support now isfrom his father， a successful physician who is annoyed by his son's lack ofdiscipline but brags about his past accomplishments to anyone who willlisten.
Wilhelm has a friend named Dr. Tamkin who professes to be apsychologist， has many various interests but dubious talents， and persuadeshim to invest his last dollar in lard commodities. Tamkin， a world traveler，has told Wilhelm that he "had attended some of the Egyptian royal familyas a psychiatrist，" a statement that evokes an image of the biblical Josephprophesying for the Pharaoh seven years of plenty followed by seven yearsof famine； but Tamkin's optimistic expectation for lard is all profit， no loss.His philosophy is that the future is not worth the worry； live for the"here-and-now"： seize the day. He is undoubtedly a cheat， but in Wilhelm'seyes he means well. And this is the speech of Tamkin：
Wilhelm is not very religious and has not planned to attend asynagogue， but he recognizes the importance of saying Yiskor for his deadmother； his sincere but idle threat to the unknown hoodlums who wreckedthe bench next to her grave will not suffice to honor her memory. Ironically，the place where he ultimately atones is the funeral of a man who isevidently not Jewish （open casket， presence of flowers） -- and he weepswith the knowledge that death is all we achieve from life. Seize the day，indeed， is not a regular day in the life of the modern man because it is a"day of reckoning，" a day in which someone that is truly dead will give theprotagonist a jolt of life. Unlike many modern masterpieces， Bellow haschosen a positive ending for his novel. He has also allowed his protagonistconnections with the modern world. In Times Square， for example，Wilhelm had felt connected to the "larger body" of humanity. He begins tofeel an internal connection to the external world and， thus， the two halvesof the soul begin to merge and unite （real / pretender ）. Furthermore，Bellow complicates the dilemma of modernity by adding a very humanand positive element. Bellow seems to be saying that the predicament ofmodern man goes far beyond the typical pessimism and isolation becauseit has the potential of reaching understanding and love.
【Key Words】： Seize the Day；setting；imagery；isolation；characterization
The man is 44-year-old Tommy Wilhelm who， like some of Bellow'sother fictional leading roles Augie March， Eugene Henderson， and MosesHerzog， is a little piece of the chaos of twentieth-century urban Americadistilled into a single confused character. Wilhelm is a native New Yorker，a failed actor， and an unemployed former sales executive. He is separatedfrom his wife， who always selfishly demands from him money that hedoesn't have， and his two sons he loves. His only financial support now isfrom his father， a successful physician who is annoyed by his son's lack ofdiscipline but brags about his past accomplishments to anyone who willlisten.
Wilhelm has a friend named Dr. Tamkin who professes to be apsychologist， has many various interests but dubious talents， and persuadeshim to invest his last dollar in lard commodities. Tamkin， a world traveler，has told Wilhelm that he "had attended some of the Egyptian royal familyas a psychiatrist，" a statement that evokes an image of the biblical Josephprophesying for the Pharaoh seven years of plenty followed by seven yearsof famine； but Tamkin's optimistic expectation for lard is all profit， no loss.His philosophy is that the future is not worth the worry； live for the"here-and-now"： seize the day. He is undoubtedly a cheat， but in Wilhelm'seyes he means well. And this is the speech of Tamkin：
Wilhelm is not very religious and has not planned to attend asynagogue， but he recognizes the importance of saying Yiskor for his deadmother； his sincere but idle threat to the unknown hoodlums who wreckedthe bench next to her grave will not suffice to honor her memory. Ironically，the place where he ultimately atones is the funeral of a man who isevidently not Jewish （open casket， presence of flowers） -- and he weepswith the knowledge that death is all we achieve from life. Seize the day，indeed， is not a regular day in the life of the modern man because it is a"day of reckoning，" a day in which someone that is truly dead will give theprotagonist a jolt of life. Unlike many modern masterpieces， Bellow haschosen a positive ending for his novel. He has also allowed his protagonistconnections with the modern world. In Times Square， for example，Wilhelm had felt connected to the "larger body" of humanity. He begins tofeel an internal connection to the external world and， thus， the two halvesof the soul begin to merge and unite （real / pretender ）. Furthermore，Bellow complicates the dilemma of modernity by adding a very humanand positive element. Bellow seems to be saying that the predicament ofmodern man goes far beyond the typical pessimism and isolation becauseit has the potential of reaching understanding and love.