勿失良辰 Seize the Day

Tommy Wilhelm in Seize the Day is both inspired and burdened by the American myth of success. At the age of twenty, he changes his name from Wilky Adler to Tommy Wilhelm, a name signifying the person he dreams of becoming. He thereby recalls James Gatz, who by calling himself Jay Gatsby thinks he can conjure up the man Daisy Buchanan will find irresistible. Unlike Gatsby, however, Wilhelm has not fled his past; he confronts it daily through his father, who still calls him Wilky. Wilhelm has "never . . . succeeded in feeling like Tommy, and in his soul had always remained Wilky" (p. 25). But he remains optimistic, though the distance between the man he is and the man he aspires to be is an endless source of despair