achievements But he has no sympathy for Wilhelm s failures He believes his son s troubles are caused by his own foolishness When Wilhelm comes to him for help Dr Adler refuses He says coldly You brought it on yourself This shows the emotional distance between them Dr Adler cares more for his reputation than his son s suffering He wants to appear respectable before others He feels ashamed of Wilhelm s failure Their relationship shows a deep generation gap The father belongs to a world of discipline and success while the son struggles in a world full of confusion and emotional needs The Father-Son Conflict The main emotional conflict in Seize the Day is between Wilhelm s heart and his father s mind Wilhelm craves love understanding and moral support But Dr Adler offers only logic and criticism Wilhelm desperately needs his father s help and says What do I expect I expect help But his father does not provide any financial or emotional support Wilhelm feels unloved and alone even when living near his father He realizes The money makes the difference Their relationship shows how modern life weakens family bonds In this novel the father represents success reason and pride while the son represents emotion failure and need The absence of affection between them becomes a symbol of the coldness of modern society Dr Tamkin The False Friend In contrast to Dr Adler Dr Tamkin pretends to understand Wilhelm He speaks in a friendly and spiritual way He tells Wilhelm to trust him and invest money in the stock market At first Tamkin seems wise and caring He talks about emotions and freedom This fact gives Wilhelm a feeling of hope Tamkin tells him to live in the present and not worry about the past or future He says Only the present is real the here-and-now Seize the day Tamkin s advice sounds good but it is manipulative It leads Wilhelm to invest all his savings in the risky stock market without thinking about the risks In the end Tamkin cheats Wilhelm and disappears with his money Through this Bellow shows how lonely people often fall into the hands of deceivers Wilhelm s trust in Tamkin shows his deep hunger for someone who will understand and support him a need his father never fulfilled Symbolic Meaning of the Two Figures Dr Adler and Dr Tamkin represent two opposite worlds Dr Adler stands for cold reality practical selfish and proud Dr Tamkin represents false dreams comforting lies and emotional illusion Wilhelm stands helpless between them One hurts him with truth the other destroys him with lies Both in their own way push Wilhelm toward self-realization By the end when Wilhelm breaks down at a stranger s funeral he finally accepts his emotions and faces life honestly He sank deeper than sorrow toward the consummation of his heart's ultimate need This breakdown becomes his moment of emotional release and spiritual awakening In fine both Dr Adler and Dr Tamkin play vital roles in shaping Wilhelm s inner world His father s coldness and Tamkin s deceit teach him painful lessons about life The conflict between father and son shows the emotional emptiness of modern life In the end Wilhelm learns that to truly seize the day he must stop depending on others and face his own feelings with honesty and courage