Out Of The Wasteland

In modern society, material wealth became overwhelmingly abundant, but mankind has fallen into cataclysmic spiritual crisis. Saul Bellow, as a “humanist” with a profound sense of social responsibility, refuses to leave the protagonist--Henderson in his novel Henderson the Rain King doomed in perpetual self-isolation and non-action; nevertheless, he lets his hero persistently undergo spiritual exploration even go deep into the primitive African tribes to probe for the remedies of self-salvation. This thesis, based on the perspective of Bakhtin’s carnivalization and dialogism, is aimed at illustrating Bellow’s humanistic thought by exploring the protagonist Henderson’s soul redemption journey out of the spiritual “wasteland” in the modern society by establishing a mutual trust and caring relationship between people through equal dialogues.The whole thesis consists of three parts: introduction, the body and conclusion. The introduction part provides readers with a brief survey of Saul Bellow and the creation background of Henderson the Rain King, together with a literature review of predecessors’ studies and the fundamental connotation of Bakhtin’s carnivalization and dialogism applied in this thesis. The body includes three chapters: Chapter One dwells on the protagonist Henderson’s sufferings in the modern world which includes the conflicts with others and self, and his anxiety about death; Chapter Two elaborates on Henderson’s struggles in the primitive African tribes, which includes his carnivalized crowning and decrowning experiences in Arnewi and Wariri tribes, and conducting equal dialogues and exchanges respectively with the author, other characters of the novel and himself; Chapter Three explores the self-salvation of Henderson the Rain King out of the spiritual predicament by his choice between being and becoming, seeking the courage to face death and returning to society. Through the above analysis, the thesis points out modern people’s way to salvation that has been put forward by Bellow through this novel, i.e. conducting dialogues on the basis of equality via the deconstruction of authority and the hierarchical rank differential, we human beings will achieve mutual-understanding, create emotional attachment on each other, shoulder our responsibilities, and get out of the “wasteland”.