Will to Power in Seize the Day

【摘要】Will to power is Nietzsches philosophy， which is used to research the humans behavior. Will to power is nature of life， the autonomy being the mode of action of life. Nietzsches philosophy indicated that the will to power can be meticulously classified into many types.

Seize the Day is Saul Bellows excellent novel. The will to wealth and the will to social status can be found by analysis typical characters. Peoples will focus on money and status in order to obtain more superior life and had more dignity.

【Key words】Seize the Day ； Will to power

【中圖分类号】G64 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2017）48-0094-02

1.Introduction

Will to power is the mysterious spiritual power. It is the driving force that sets human behaviors and motivations. Nietzsche presupposed that human is always trying to inflict his will upon others. Humans motivation driving from the deep？鄄hearted desire acts on other individual to bring other person under his power in any way. Whatever motivations human have， they would exert peoples will on the outside world.

Saul Bellows novelette Seize the Day has the intense time background. After the civil war， the materialism and ultranationalism is prevalent in the materialistic society. Peoples will to power was restricted by material. The tragicomedy story took place in New York. This is a colorful but blundering world. People earn the means of livelihood and means of production to survive.

2.Will to Power

Will to power is a common force. This philosophy is the life morality based on the affirmation of natural life and surpassed the good and evil. Life， is specifically a will to the accumulation of force： all the processes of life depend on this. The nature of life lies in performing himself， creating himself， and expensing himself. Life is to exert its power. The state of life is the condition of struggling for better existence. The performances of will manifest in various methods upon various people in diverse time and place. According to Nietzsche， the growth of ones own， the protection of ones own， and the domination over others are some of the usual manifestations of ones will. Nietzsche viewed such forces as the original form of will. He supposed that the movement of bodies is motivated by the power acting between forces and bodies. Some researchers also understand the theory as a psychological explanation because Nietzsche applied it to many phenomenon of human behavior. Will to power can be classified into diverse will such as will to food， will to possession， will to tool， and will to assimilation etc. In his manuscript， Nietzsche had classified will to power in many types according to its forms.

Everyones will to power is reflected in the society and the egoism undoubtedly exists. The principle of life is to plunder， conquer， and tread to the dissident and the weak people， which are treated as the tool of growth to get superior status. Will to power is the nature of human， which is. The conquerors reflection of will to power is to control the weak， and makes the weak as their tool and servant. The weak peoples reflection of will to power is abominate and jealousness for the conqueror， and demand for equivalence. Will to existence is the most basic demand. In fact， everything will not satisfy with the basic demand. The organics， which has the will， can certainly pursuit the bigger power and the advantages.

3.Two Types of Will in Seize the Day

As the above analysis， the will to power exists in everywhere in American society， whereas it ignored the morality， law and regulation. However， when further analysis the will to power in Seize the Day， the author discovered that many subordinate divisions under will to power in Seize the Day， whose pursuit directions are different. Nietzsches philosophy indicated that the will to power can be meticulously classified into many types. Through intensive reading Seize the Day， the will to wealth and the will to social status can be found.

3.1 The Will to Wealth in Seize the Day

The will to wealth is obviously manifested in the novelette. People crazy about the material enjoyment， and caught in material hot. People set up their own god， which is material—money. Only the money is their God.

As Bellow described the material society：

How they love money…They adore money！ Holy money！ Beautiful money！ It was getting so that people were feeble？鄄minded about everything except money. While if you didn't have it you were a dummy， a dummy！ You had to excuse yourself from the face of the earth.

All the impulsions are the performance of will to power， which is the persons quality. Will is a kind of intention， the instinct impulse and creative strength. Will can create and expanse human himself. Eager for wealth is the performance of their will to power， which is the motive force of their body. All the people had the same will and they all behaved like this. The society is a collection of people. The value of life transformed into successful in money. The whole novel reflects Americans fear of failure and the competition tension and ruthless capitalist society. The will to power highlight the “vulgar” passion， which is their inner impulse， although this impulse destroyed restrictions and ethical barriers. So people pursuit wealth disregarding the law and morality. Egoism turned peoples dignity into the exchanged value.

Gambling prevailed in American society. Cheating and bribe is common in market exchange. Peoples life is a kind of instinct impulse derived from their will， and the purpose is to let their sense of power enjoy satisfying.

Wilhelms wife—Margaret， is a selfish and mean woman. She always demands money from Wilhelm. She didnt divorce with Wilhelm for the sake of money.

Margaret would not give him a divorce， and he had to support her and the two children. She would regularly agree to divorce him， and then think things over again and set new and more difficult conditions. No court would have awarded her the amounts he paid.

Even when Wilhelm was in deep trouble， Margaret almost drained him.

Four years ago when we broke up I gave her everything—goods， furniture， savings. But still she takes as much from me as before.

The above excerpts show that Margarets will concentrates on pursuit for wealth. Margaret keeps the marriage relationship with Wilhelm only to squeeze more money from Wilhelm. The will to wealth are so strong that the relationship between husband and wife was leaded by the money profit. She cant divorce with Wilhelm because she regards Wilhelm as the source of money.

And the other typical example is Dr. Tamkin. Tamkin cheated Wilhelms remaining money and put all his money in the stock market. He uses fade check and many tricks to defraud the money easily. The business man like Tamkin even can do illegal things to pursuit for money. Tamkin claims various scientific principles to persuade Wilhelm join with him， agitating Wilhelm throw himself into the investment.

“And can you rest—can you sit still while this is going on？” said Dr. Tamkin. “I confess to you I cant. With all this money around you dont want to be a fool while everyone else is making.

Tamkins will to wealth is strong and he forgets the conscience， morality and law. He lives only for money. Anything in the world is insignificance but money.

3.2 The Will to Social Status in Seize the Day

Another performance of will manifested in the novelette is the will to social status. Wilhelms father Dr. Adler performed this will especially incisively and vividly. Dr. Adler has the good income and excellent social status， respected by all the people.

The handsome old doctor stood well above the other old people in the hotel. He was idolized by everyone. This was what people said： “Thats old Professor Adler， who used to teach internal medicine. He was a diagnostician， one of the best in New York， and had a tremendous practice. Isn？蒺t he a wonderful？鄄looking old guy？ Its a pleasure to see such a fine old scientist， clean and immaculate. He stands straight and understands every single thing you say. He still has all his buttons. You can discuss any subject with him.”

The thesis analysis that Dr. Adlers will is focus on the promotion of social status， and he has established a well？鄄known reputation.

… flattered and pampered him. That was what he wanted. He had always been a vain man. To see how his father loved himself sometimes made Wilhelm madly indignant.…The doctor had created his own praise.

Dr. Adler is respected by many people， and he loved his wonderful fame. He was the worshiped doctor because his reputation and social status. He uses his whole life to pursuit his reputation and to promote the social status..

4.Conclusion

Through the theory of will to power， the thesis finds the primary cause of people pursuit for material and status. This thesis explores characters psychological activity and motivation more deeply， thus we can have deep understanding of the characters from Nietzsches perspective.

Reference：

[1]Nietzsche Friedrich. The Will to Power[C]. American： Walter Kaufmann. 1968.

[2]Saul Bellow. Seize the Day[C]. American： Penguin Books Ltd， 1956.

作者簡介：

潘琳，硕士研究生，研究方向：英语语言文学专业英美文学方向，广东科技学院外语系助教。