Out Of The Waste Land-An Experimental Quest For Salvation In Henderson The Rain King

This thesis focuses upon the thematic study of Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow, based on the idea that Henderson's travel in the story is a metaphorical journey to spiritual salvation. The previous researches on this novel usually stop at the point that Henderson's travel is a spiritual pilgrimage to an imaginary Africa. But for what he goes, what this quest really is, in which way he achieves his purpose (or doesn't achieve it at all), etc, are still questions. The current paper attempts to probe into the details of Henderson's quest once again to discuss these questions and tries to give some answers.The basic notion of the present thesis is that Henderson's story mainly reflects Bellow's "out-of-the-waste-land" view. The "waste land" view in the modern literary world is started by T. S. Eliot with his poem The Waste Land and some other post-WW I writers. People who hold this view usually have a pessimistic attitude toward the modern society, for they regard the spiritual world without a religious faith and morality as a waste land. Unlike many of his contemporary writers, Bellow attempts to find a way out of this waste land, not just pointing out the problems.From this point of view, the dissertation is developed in the following aspects:The first part mainly discusses what the so-called waste land is like. A general view of the waste land is given by analyzing Henderson's mental status and his behaviors. Henderson's personality is considered as a neurotic one according to Karen Horney's theory, and his mental status is quite representative in the spiritual waste land.The second part turns to the point on how to go out of the waste land. By analyzing the metaphorical inner voice "I want", Henderson's fundamental spiritual need is found out. The best way Bellow can provide for going out of this waste land is a religious one: to get salvation through faith in God. The last part of this paper continues with the discussion about Henderson's way to salvation from the mythological and archetypal perspective. By analyzing some important images in the story and their archetypes in religious stories and other myths, Henderson's way is concluded as a regressive one: to go back to the fantastic past to require a spiritual perfection.The thesis concludes that Henderson's quest is a great effort of Bellow to break out of the spiritual waste land, which is a significant step to move on for the whole generation in the history, though with an intense experimental quality.