Spiritual Growth Travel-a Transitivity Analysis Of Henderson The Rain King

Saul Bellow (1915-2005), a Nobel Prize winner and an outstanding Jewish-American writer ofthe contemporary period, who is famous for his human understanding and incisive analysis of thecontemporary culture. His fifth novel, Henderson the Rain King, was published in 1959, which hasbeen the object of critical study for over fifty years.This thesis attempts to analyze the journey of Henderson’s spiritual growth from theperspective of transitivity system which is put forward by Halliday. Firstly the frequency ofdifferent processes in the same period is studied; secondly a comparison between the frequencies ofthe same processes in different periods is investigated; thirdly the process itself is explored.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction of Saul Bellow and hisnovel Henderson the Rain King. Chapter Two reviews the previous studies on this novel both inChina and abroad, which draws a conclusion that the theory of transitivity analysis has never beenapplied to this novel and thus it offers a good chance to further study it from a different perspective.Chapter Three is about the transitivity system, especially the six processes (material process, mentalprocess, relational process, behavioral process, verbal process, existential process) which are themain parts of this theory. Chapter Four is the main and largest part, which mainly explores thesuccessful spiritual change of Henderson from the analysis of six processes. His change ends upwith a new“Henderson”who is full of love for others. The last part is Chapter Five, and it is theconclusion of this thesis, that is, Henderson’s journey is marked by a change from inner chaos toinner peace, from escape to integration, from indifference to love.