How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The changed name was a mistake, and he would admit it as freely as you liked. But this mistake couldn't be undone now, so why must his father continually remind him how he had sinned? It was too late. (1.106)
Because Wilhelm has never come to terms with his mistakes, he believes that others in his life—especially his father—look down on him too. We think he's pretty spot-on with this one.
Quote #2
What had he to think back on that he could call good? Very, very little. You had to forgive. First, to forgive yourself, and then, general forgiveness. Didn't he suffer from his mistakes far more than his father could? (1.107)
Wilhelm's habit of berating himself whenever he looks in a mirror or thinks about his actions suggests that he isn't capable of forgiving himself for his wrongdoings and mistakes. Homeboy needs to pick up a self-help book or something, because this is getting depressing.
Quote #3
"Oh, God," Wilhelm prayed. "Let me out of my trouble. Let me out of my thoughts, and let me do something better with myself. For all the time I have wasted I am very sorry. Let me out of this clutch and into a different life. For I am all balled up. Have mercy." (1.107)
Although Wilhelm yearns for his father's forgiveness, he does not ask for forgiveness from God. Instead, his heartfelt prayer is for God's compassion and mercy—for relief from his troubles, his failures, and even his own thoughts.
Quote #4
"You make too much of your problems," said the doctor. "They ought not to be turned into a career. Concentrate on real troubles—fatal sickness, accidents." The old man's whole manner said, Wilky, don't start this on me. I have a right to be spared. (2.27)
Just as Wilhelm yearns for kindness and compassion from his father, Dr. Adler wishes that his son would spare him from his never-ending stream of troubles. Neither of the two is very capable of understanding what the other wants, or of giving the other what he needs. If this relationship were a two-way street, it'd be heavily congested with traffic.
Quote #5
He had tried to unburden himself and instead, Wilhelm thought, he had to undergo an inquisition to prove himself worthy of a sympathetic word. Because his father believed that he did all kinds of gross things. (3.87)
Wilhelm is offended when Dr. Adler accuses him of having an affair with another man, but he's less concerned with his father's judgment that he's done wrong by committing adultery. Wilhelm firmly believes that he deserves his father's sympathy and compassion, no strings attached, and he's put out by having to defend himself.
Quote #6
"Ah, Father, Father!" said Wilhelm. "It's always the same thing with you. Look how you lead me on. You always start out to help me with my problems, and be sympathetic and so forth. It gets my hopes up and I begin to be grateful. But before we're through I'm a hundred times more depressed than before. Why is that? You have no sympathy. You want to shift all the blame onto me." (3.95)
Wilhelm wants his father's sympathy and forgiveness, but he doesn't actually want to acknowledge when he's at fault. He may reproach and berate himself horribly and tear himself down when he's feeling blue, but deep down, he can't admit that he's done wrong. And acceptance is the first step to healing—hasn't he ever heard of the twelve step program?
Quote #7
Wilhelm said, "But this means that the world is full of murderers. So it's not the world. It's a kind of hell.
"Sure," the doctor said. "At least a kind of purgatory. You walk on the bodies. They are all around. I can hear them cry de profundis and wring their hands. I hear them, poor human beasts. I can't help hearing. And my eyes are open to it. I have to cry, too." (4.100)
Of all the people in Wilhelm's life, Tamkin is the only one who seems to have a capacity for human kindness and compassion. This makes it all the more ironic that Tamkin ends up scamming him, but at least Tamkin can understand Wilhelm's pain.
Quote #8
Finally old Rappaport did address a few remarks to Wilhelm. He asked him whether he had reserved his seat in the synagogue for Yom Kippur.
"No," said Wilhelm.
"Well, you better hurry up it you expect to say Yiskor for your parents. I never miss."
The novel's narrator doesn't specify how long it is until Yom Kippur, although some critics have suggested that Wilhelm's "day of reckoning" takes place on Erev Yom Kippur, which is basically Yom-Kippur-Eve. One thing we can be sure of is that the novel is set during the High Holy Days. Even though Wilhelm is mostly secular, his self-examination and repentance throughout Seize the Day are tied thematically to Jewish traditions of atonement and repentance.
Quote #9
Can you be the woman I lived with? he started to say. Have you forgotten that we slept so long together? Must you now deal with me like this, and have no mercy? (7.78)
Dr. Adler isn't the only family member to whom Wilhelm turns for compassion and mercy: he expects Margaret, the woman he's left behind with two young sons, to show him some sympathy too.
Quote #10
He begged her, "Margaret, go easy on me. You ought to. I'm at the end of my rope and feel that I'm suffocating. You don't want to be responsible for a person's destruction. You've got to let up. I feel I'm about to burst. [. . .] You've got to let me breathe. If I should keel over, what then? And it's something I can never understand about you. How you can treat someone like this whom you lived with so long. Who gave you the best of himself. Who tried. Who loved you." (7.82)
As he does with his father, Wilhelm expects Margaret's forgiveness and mercy, with no strings attached. He demands compassion and kindness from his family, but cannot humble himself enough to admit that he's done wrong. Yep, this train is going nowhere fast. Or maybe it's already wrecked.