The Story Archive

Seize the Day

Saul Bellow · 1956 CE · Novel · Modern / American · Contemporary

Out of work, separated from a wife who will not divorce him and down to his last few hundred dollars, Tommy Wilhelm spends one day among the retired residents of a Broadway hotel where his successful father also lives. The father will not lend him anything; a psychologist of doubtful credentials is glad to put what remains into lard futures. The shortest thing Bellow wrote, and the one his admirers most often rank first.

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Attributes

Genre
PsychologicalTragedy
Theme
The American DreamWealth & GreedIsolation & AlienationDeath & MortalityGuilt & Conscience
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanTricksterScapegoat
Plot structure
Single DayTragic Reversal
Emotional arc (story shape)
Fall (Tragedy)
Symbol / motif
The CityThe Mask
Conflict
vs Selfvs Society
Mode / tone
RealistIronicTragic
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues