American Jews in Bellow´s Seize the Day

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze American Jews in the novel Seize the Day which was written by Saul Bellow. The main focus thereafter is to find out how the book illustrates their immigrant experience in the majority society. Special attention is paid to the novel´s Jewish milieu, themes and various critics´ voices. The characters´ assimilation tendencies, or, on the contrary, maintaining traditions are compared to the attitudes of real Jews at that time. The thesis also summarizes its literary research and gives more general findings about Bellow´s literary presentation of American Jews.