How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
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.