Political Connotations In Henderson The Rain King From The Deconstructive Perspective

As a renowned Jewish-American novelist, Bellow shows his deep concern oversociety, culture and humanism throughout his writing career. Clearly aware of theexcessive egocentrism and self-enclosure in contemporary society, Bellow seeks tobreak away from any binary opposition and appeals to the sense of community withreference to Jewish ethical concern. Therefore, the central characters of Bellow’s novelsusually experience social and cultural alienation, suffering from lack of self-knowledgeand a variety of personal and social conflicts. In order to gain a full understanding ofself and others, Bellow always designs spiritual exiles or self-exiles for his protagonists,which largely contributes to their reawakened sense of responsibility when theyeventually return to their own community. To a large extent, Bellow’s de-centralizationshares some similarities with Derrida’s deconstruction.Therefore, based on a close textual reading of Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King,the present study attempts to analyze in detail the political connotations in the novelfrom the deconstructive perspective, regarding which there is still much room for study,judging from the available literature home and abroad. To be specific, in the novel, themost remarkable opposition is the one between whiteness and blackness. In order todeconstruct the dominance of white civilization, Bellow uses some strategies consistentwith Derrida’s deconstructive philosophy, including supplement and inversion ofhierarchy, différance and trace, friendship and messianicity. Firstly, throughHenderson’s experience in African tribes, Bellow proves that black civilization is a“dangerous supplement”, sharing resources, compensating for a certain shortfall inwhiteness itself and even usurping the superiority of the center at a certain moment.Such a design allows an exchange of properties and a new outlook, withoutconventional prejudice, at the mutual inheritance between the two opposites. Moreover,Bellow makes full use of the voice “I want” haunting Henderson throughout the novel,with a detailed description of its change from irritation, to exploration, and to the voiceof return at last. This process can be interpreted by Derrida’s différance, the systematicplay of differences. Through the traces of “I want”, the hidden meaning of the voicegradually manifests itself: human beings should open themselves to others. Furthermore,Henderson’s final understanding of the close relation between self and societyadequately displays Bellow’s political and ethical concern over the community transcending borders of race, religion, language and so on, which resembles Derrida’spolitics of friendship and messianity. Both of them strongly advocate an openness to thewholly other and a return to society with responsibility and love.With penetrating insights into social conflicts and unswerving persistence inJewish ethical commitments, Bellow succeeds in manifesting his political connotationsbetween lines, giving readers a chance to see the world from different perspectives andto reflect on the friendly ways of communication.