Summary:
After a long conversation with his father about his problems in the past, Wilhelm realizes that his father doesn't often symphasize with him and instead pushes the blame on him; he wanted help. The reason why the doctor would not help, or lend money to his son, was because he's seen so many elderly people libing in the hotel doing the same for their kids but with no good result. After the disappointing conversation with his father, he bumped into Dr. Tamkin who was a somewhat shady or suspicious character whom Wilhelm was somewhat investing partners with, but the doctor had not been putting his share, and Wilhelm was near bankrupt. Wilhelm revealed that nearly everyone in that hotel had a secret history to them, which made it harder for him to trust people. Dr. Tamkin explains to Wilhelm that he helps friends psychologically too, and would prefer working with patients without 'financial rewards' because he looks for spiritual compensation and find that helping people look a the present instead of the past is more rewarding. He encurages people to 'seize the day.' Eventually, Dr. Tamkin admitted that he has been secretly 'treating him'. But how? Wilhelm had not noticed anything; yet he was pleased that someone gave him the kindness and mercy he so desperately wanted. Dr. Tamkin gave him a poem called Mechanism vs. Functionalism, which, it's contents, confuses Wilhelm. The doctor explains to him that 'thou' was Wilhelm (he was thinking about him when writing), the hero of the poem being sick humanity and mechanism and money is destruct. The main point was that if he had confidence in nature, then he wouldn't fear anything and would be compensated. With this, Wilhelm starts to change his way of thinking and is determined to 'believe that he must, that he could and would recover the good things, the happy things..'' (Bellow 96). Dr. Tamkin advises Wilhelm about stocks and his marital problems. When the stocks fell, Tamkin--and the money invested by both men-- were no where to be found! Apparently he was going on a ''vacation to Maine''. Desperate once again, he tries to find solace from his father, whom angers him more, and then a phone call for money from his wife, Margaret; he feels suffocated. On his way away from the phone booth, he say Tamkin...at a funeral. He saw the corpes and cried, for why should this man die when he lived? He released all his stress, grief, and problems through tears.
Quote:
His father said, "I can't give you any money. There would be no end to it if I started. You and your sister would take every last buck from me. I'm still alive, not dead. I am still here. Life isn't over yet. I am as much alive as you or anyone. And I want nobody on my back. Get off! And I give you the same advice, Wilky. Carry nobody on your back. " (Bellow 67)
Reaction:
I chose this quote because it showed the reason why his father didn't help or lend any more money to Wilhelm. He was in a way, like Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart by Achebe, whom doesn't like any form of laziness, and believes in hard work. Here, Wilhelm's father is the hard worker and refuses to spoil his child, which would create a burden to him, and cause his son to be lazy. It's not that his father didn't care about him, it's that he wanted Wilhelm to be more self-dependent.
