The True Self and the Social Selfin Seize the Day: The Case of Wilhelm Adler

Abstract

The self of any human being is a parallel between two main domains: the domain of true self and the domain of social self. In Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day(1956), the nexus between 'true self' and 'social self' is a disturbed one. Bellow depictssuch relationship within the parent- child social context. Wilhelm’s troubled relationship with his father contributes much tohispsychic split.He forges an external ideal tomeet his father’s expectations of him as a successful man.This makes Wilhelm an ideal example to Laing ‘false-self system’.In this paper,the researcher employs the findings of R.D. Laing in his pioneering study on‘false-self system’ and its distinguished characteristics to analyse Wilhelm’s character and to reveal the disturbed relationship with his father. In that manner, the research attempts an interdisciplinary approach that combines a literary and a socio-psychological examination to the novella. The paper devotes the first part to give a theoretical basis for the analysis in the second section of the paper. The last sectionof the paper is to reach a conclusion on whether Bellow’s main character issuccessful in realizing his true self or not. In so doing, the paper attempts to answer pivotal questions namely, what triggers a person to seek having a different personality from his own? Is it possible to have an accepted social self by means of pretence and forging personalities? How far is Saul Bellow’s main character in Seize the Day a representative of Laing’s ‘false-self system’ theory?