In the novella "Seize the Day," please provide elements of Wilhelm's character.

In Saul Bellow's novella, Seize the
Day, Wilhelm is a character in the midst of great struggle. Going through a
mid-life crisis, he finds problems converging from all sides. These difficulties affect
him physically as well as mentally and emotionally:

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I just can't catch my
breath...

This sense of
"constriction" is created by Wilhelm's inability to get on his feet in any way: his
floundering existence overwhelms him on every front.

One
element of Wilhelm's character is seen with his struggles to interact in a positive way
with others.  One example is his relationship with his father, Dr. Adler. Both live
under the same roof at the Gloriana Hotel, and Wilhelm and his father do not get along.
Wilhelm's father sees his son as a failure—his life the result of many poor choices he
has made. Wilhelm resents his father's overall censorship and unwillingness to support
his son, even emotionally. Dr. Adler tells Wilhelm he would rather see his son dead than
a burden to him. Wilhelm also struggles with his wife, who he does
not live with (who blames the failed marriage on him)—she will not give him a divorce.
This causes him a great deal of pain as he greatly misses his sons. He is also
"estranged" from his mistress, Olive, and his sister, further indicating how Wilhelm
struggles with making positive connections with other
people.

Wilhelm's character also reflects his lack of
financial competence: he is unable to provide for himself first because he is
unemployed. He has also made some financial investments that have not been successful.
His financial difficulties make him feel insecure and self-conscious. When he asks his
father for help, though he is not referring to economic assistance,
"money" is all his father "hears" when Wilhelm turns to him out of
need.

Wilhelm appears to have given up on himself. His
takes no care with his appearance. He is unkempt in his dress. He is overweight, but
this does not necessitate that he not be neat and clean in how he presents himself. This
is undoubtedly another result of his poor
self-esteem.

Wilhelm is also a poor judge of character,
perhaps even naive about others. When he followed his talent scout, Maurice Venice to
Hollywood twenty-five years before, even when Venice told him that he couldn't really
help Tommy (Wilhelm), Wilhelm did not listen, but stayed there for seven years, never
realizing any success in attempting to become an actor. This happens again with Dr.
Tamkin. Supposedly a psychologist, Tamkin is really a conman, and he bilks Wilhelm out
of his last bit of cash (seven hundred dollars), all the while promising financial
success to a struggling Wilhelm. Wilhelm's poor self-esteem and desire to get back on
his feet financially make him an easy target. Tamkin is especially predatory in knowing
exactly what insecurities of Wilhelm's he needs to play to, to get Wilhelm to "stay in
the game." Wilhelm is not a rational man: he is much too emotionally based to survive in
a world with people like his father and Tamkin.

At the
novel's end, Wilhelm somehow finds himself at a stranger's funeral, and is overcome with
grief—perhaps for the passing of a fellow-human being, but also certainly by a sense of
complete and utter failure that may make him feel he is not that much different than the
dead man.