"To Carry His Life To A Certain DEPTH": An Archetypal Criticism Of Henderson The Rain King

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) is a distinguished American novelist. As a well-read scholar writer, he took a great interest in philosophy, history, sociology and anthropology. Bellow won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize and in 1976 he was the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.Henderson the Rain King (1959) is one of Bellow’s representative works. Henderson, the titular hero, narrates in retrospection his journey in Africa. Though he is a millionaire, Henderson feels barren spiritually. To answer his intense call of "I want", he flies to Africa and engages in an odyssey of "carrying his life to a certain DEPTH". At the end of the story, Henderson finishes his search in Africa, awakening his soul from slumber. He will be able to go back to America with a new face and expect a new life.This thesis, employing Northrop Frye’s Archetypal criticism, aims to reveal the exploration of life depth suggested in the archetypes of seasons, of colors and of animals.Henderson’s travel in Africa is a search for truth. His journey starts and ends in winter. When he arrives in Africa, all his endeavors are done in summer. What he undergoes in the two African tribes coincide with the adventures in what Frye calls Romance. It shows the archetypal plot of Quest. Red and green are the two dominant colors in the novel. These two colors, running through the whole story, are used to describe Lily, Dahfu and Henderson and have layers of symbolic meanings. The pigs, the sheep and the lions represent different values. The archetypes of the seasons, the colors and the animals reveal Henderson’s pilgrimage to carry his life to a certain depth, showing the awakening of his soul.