Rebirth After Contradiction

Saul Bellow is widely recognized as American's preeminent novelist. His stature asa postwar American novelist can only be compared to that of Hemingway and Faulkner. As aNobel Laureate, winner of several awards, and the subject of over three thousands articles,Bellow's reputation seems assured. Thus far, he has written seventeen volumes of fictionincluding novels, novellas, and volumes of short stories. This is a remarkable body of work,which qualifies him not only as a major American writer but also as an international heavyweight. Henderson the Rain King is one of Saul Bellow's novels. This novel showsHenderson, the protagonist's loneliness, frustration and desperation. And through spiritualpilgrimage, he achieves rebirth from contradiction.This thesis is composed of four parts. The first part starts with the introduction ofBellow's life experience, writing career and critic of this novel, leading to a betterunderstanding of the relationship between the author and the book.In the second part, I focus on the analysis of protagonist's spiritual progress fromfour sides: the spirit's chaos, the spirit's despair, the spirit's tranquility, and the spirit's rebirth.This four steps show the protagonist's spiritual progress from perplex, despair, tranquility torebirth.The third part analyzes the symbolic meaning of images, which show theprotagonist's contradictions of his heart. The images include the pig which represents thealienated and lazy life, the cattle represents the pure of Arnewi, the lion which represents thereform, and the bear is loneliness. The symbolic meaning of these images reflects thecontradiction of the protagonist. The fourth part analyzes the spiritual pilgrimage from the philosophic aspect.Existentialism is the soul of the novel and the spirit of protagonist gets mature and regeneratein the contradictions by philosophic discussion of the idea "what do I want", "who am I",and"ask for change" with Dahfu.In conclusion I reveal the significance of this novel, show the author's intention ofthis work. Henderson's ambivalence just shows Bellow's concerns about the society. Bellowcreated a living but flaw protagonist, Henderson, through whose eyes American culture can bescrutinized and lamented. Thus Henderson the Rain King explores the theme of modern man'sbewildering quest for spiritual discernment. Henderson is actually the reflection of Americanpeople in the 60s.