On "Henderson The Rain King" In The Jewish Consciousness

Saul Bellow is one of the characters play a significant role in the Americanliterary world in twentieth Century.As a Jewish American writer, he was a collectionof Jewish and American experiences.The works of Bellow reflct universal humansurvival situation after World War II."Henderson the Rain King" is a masterpiececreated by Bellow in his middle age, which describes the suffering due to spiritualemptiness and the exploration made in the real world and the ideal world by anAmerican Jewish millionaire. It reflects the decline and dilemma of soul in theaffluent society after World War II.This thesis analyse the Jewish sense contained in "Henderson the Rain King".This paper is divided into four chapters.The first chapter make a simple introductionabout the sources of the the Jewish awareness in the thought of Saul Bellow.Thesecond chapter analyzes three Jewish motifs reflected in the novel, namely "crucifixion-salvation" motif,"father and son" motif and "wandering" motif. The thirdchapter studies the use of Jewish archetype from three aspects:the structure,characters and symbols.The fourth chapter analyzes the traditional Jewish valuescontained in the novel, including paying attention to people and life as well asuniversal love spirit.This paper makes a detailed interpretation of the novel in the Jewish historicaland cultural connotations, in order to allow the reader to better grasp the writingpurpose and cultural meaning of "Henderson the Rain King".