The theme of spiritual isolation is established in the first several pages of the novel when Tommy stops to get his morning newspaper from Rubin, the newspaper vendor. They talk only about the weather, Tommy’s clothes, and last night’s gin game. Even though both men know many intimate details of each other’s personal lives. “None of these could be mentioned, and the great weight of the unspoken left him little to talk about.” (SB, 76). A few lines later, during the same meeting, Tommy thinks: “He [Rubin] meant to be conversationally playful, but his voice had no tone and his eyes, alack and lid-blinded, turned elsewhere. He didn’t want to hear. It was all the same to him” (8).
Even Tommy’s father, Dr. Adler, refuses to become involved in his son’s desperate loneliness. Tommy needs money which he assumes his father could easily supply, but Adler, is greatly pained, even shies away, when the subject is mentioned. Again and again, he appeals to his father for compassion, for money. But his appeal is always futile, for his father’s response are ever a cold, detached, yet bitter and angry analytical denunciation of Tommy’s past failures and present ignominy. Indeed, his father is ashamed of his son. “It made Tommy profoundly bitter that his father should speak to him with such attachment about his welfare” (10). Tommy even wonders if his father has lost his family sense.
Anyhow, Tommy’s subjective complaints about his father are not reliable. Tommy, himself, is very selfish. He always expects to receive and never gives — concern or anything else. His relation with his father is chiefly one of getting money from him, and the money is always wasted by him. Why should his retired old father give money to him? His father has no obligation to do so. He accuses his father of thinking only in terms of money because he won’t give it to him to waste, to gamble in the market. He feels he is not getting enough, so he keeps his relation with his father though it is not comfortable.
In a different way, the circumstances are the same with the rather mysterious Dr. Tamkin. Tommy feels that he can talk to and he understood by him; but here, too, a barrier of communication exists. In the words of Dr. Tamkin, it is impossible to separate truth from fiction, intellect from idiocy. At times, there is no doubt in Tommy’s mind that there is truth, even profound truth, in his philosophical and psychological teachings; at other times, Tommy knows he is being victimized by this combination psychologist, psychiatrist, broker, poet, gambler, counselor, father, and world-travelling philosopher. Hence, he consolation comes from the quarter. In order to get rich without paying any effort, Tommy gives his last savings to Dr. Tamkin for investment in stocks, though he has his doubts. Toward the end of the novel, Tommy finally finds that he has merely been cheated, that Tamkin does not care about him or his problems: “I was the man beneath; Tamkin was on my back, and I thought I was on his. He made me carry him, too, besides Margaret. Like this they ride on me with hoofs and claws. Tear me to pieces, stamp on me and break my bones” (105).
Tommy’s estranged wife, Margaret, reinforces his feeling of alienation. Like Iva in Dangling Man, she is presented to the reader through the mind of her husband, Tommy. Like Madeleine in Herzog, Bellow describes Margaret as a bitch and castrating sadist. She is cruel, cold and disagreeable. Speaking of his wife, Tommy says to his father: “Whenever she can hit me, she hit, and she seems to live for that alone. ... She can do it at long distance” (47-8).
As maintained by Tommy, Margaret is a vampire figure, motivated to remove air from his breath, and drink up his blood. She belongs to the sort of woman who “eat green salad and drink human blood” (H, 56). Margaret would tell him he did not really want a divorce; he was afraid of it. He cried “Take everything I’ve got, Margaret. Let me go to Reno. Don’t you want to marry again?” No. She went out with other men, but took his money. She lived in order to punish him. (94)
Even Tommy’s father, Dr. Adler, refuses to become involved in his son’s desperate loneliness. Tommy needs money which he assumes his father could easily supply, but Adler, is greatly pained, even shies away, when the subject is mentioned. Again and again, he appeals to his father for compassion, for money. But his appeal is always futile, for his father’s response are ever a cold, detached, yet bitter and angry analytical denunciation of Tommy’s past failures and present ignominy. Indeed, his father is ashamed of his son. “It made Tommy profoundly bitter that his father should speak to him with such attachment about his welfare” (10). Tommy even wonders if his father has lost his family sense.
Anyhow, Tommy’s subjective complaints about his father are not reliable. Tommy, himself, is very selfish. He always expects to receive and never gives — concern or anything else. His relation with his father is chiefly one of getting money from him, and the money is always wasted by him. Why should his retired old father give money to him? His father has no obligation to do so. He accuses his father of thinking only in terms of money because he won’t give it to him to waste, to gamble in the market. He feels he is not getting enough, so he keeps his relation with his father though it is not comfortable.
In a different way, the circumstances are the same with the rather mysterious Dr. Tamkin. Tommy feels that he can talk to and he understood by him; but here, too, a barrier of communication exists. In the words of Dr. Tamkin, it is impossible to separate truth from fiction, intellect from idiocy. At times, there is no doubt in Tommy’s mind that there is truth, even profound truth, in his philosophical and psychological teachings; at other times, Tommy knows he is being victimized by this combination psychologist, psychiatrist, broker, poet, gambler, counselor, father, and world-travelling philosopher. Hence, he consolation comes from the quarter. In order to get rich without paying any effort, Tommy gives his last savings to Dr. Tamkin for investment in stocks, though he has his doubts. Toward the end of the novel, Tommy finally finds that he has merely been cheated, that Tamkin does not care about him or his problems: “I was the man beneath; Tamkin was on my back, and I thought I was on his. He made me carry him, too, besides Margaret. Like this they ride on me with hoofs and claws. Tear me to pieces, stamp on me and break my bones” (105).
Tommy’s estranged wife, Margaret, reinforces his feeling of alienation. Like Iva in Dangling Man, she is presented to the reader through the mind of her husband, Tommy. Like Madeleine in Herzog, Bellow describes Margaret as a bitch and castrating sadist. She is cruel, cold and disagreeable. Speaking of his wife, Tommy says to his father: “Whenever she can hit me, she hit, and she seems to live for that alone. ... She can do it at long distance” (47-8).
As maintained by Tommy, Margaret is a vampire figure, motivated to remove air from his breath, and drink up his blood. She belongs to the sort of woman who “eat green salad and drink human blood” (H, 56). Margaret would tell him he did not really want a divorce; he was afraid of it. He cried “Take everything I’ve got, Margaret. Let me go to Reno. Don’t you want to marry again?” No. She went out with other men, but took his money. She lived in order to punish him. (94)
No comments:
Post a Comment