An Interpretation Of Henderson’s Spiritual Journey In Henderson The Rain King From The Perspective Of Symbolism

As a Nobel Prize winner in literrature, Saul Bellow has been regarded as one of the most famous writers in the 20 th century. Bellow is good at portraying people’s mental state in modern society and depicting the complicated mental world of the protagonists, which reflects his deep thought on people’s mental state under the enormous material prosperity in modern society. Modern man’s existential dilemma is truly depicted in Bellow’s works including Henderson the Rain King, which is published in 1959. Bellow’s insightful probing of modern man’s spiritual crisis is clearly shown in the novel.This thesis tries to analyze Henderson, the Rain King’s spiritual journry from the perspective of symbolism. Through analyzing the protagonist—Henderson’s spiritual crisis, spiritual transformation and spiritual renewal from the perspective of symbolism, this thesis discusses the representation of Henderson’s spiritual crisis in modern opulent society, the process of his quest for the true meaning of life, the results of gaining the enlightenment of life and spiritual renewal,which inspires readers to quest for the value of life continually in reality.This thesis is composed of three parts: introduction, body part and conclusion.The first part is introduction, which mainly introduces Saul Bellow’s life, works and his creation characteristics, the theme of the novel Henderson the Rain King and the research review about it at home and abroad.The second part includes four chapters. Chapter one looks back to the origin of symbolism and probes into the concepts and functions of symbol and symbolism respectively. The symbols and their symbolic meanings in Henderson the Rain King are also discussed briefly in this part.Chapter two analyzes the symbolic meanings of the “bear”, the “pig”, “I want” and the “octopus” respectively, explores Henderson’s spiritual loneliness, spiritual chaos, spiritual barrenness and fear of death, which are the embodiments of Henderson’s spiritual crisis.Chapter three analyzes Henderson’s spiritual journey in Africa in detail. It makes an analysis of Henderson’s spiritual transformation from spiritual awakening to spiritual growth by giving symbolic interpretations of “trip to Arnewi tribe”, “Queen Willatale”, “the Arnewi”, “trip to Wariri tribe”, “King Dahfu”, “rain-making ceremony” and the “lion”. The trip to Arnewi tribe and the trip to Wariri tribe are of great importance to Henderson’s spiritual transformation.Chapter four focuses on the symbols about Henderson’s spiritual renewal, which are the “kid”, “she wants, he want, they want” and “Newfoundland”, and shows that Henderson understands the essence of life and how to achieve his life value. In addition, readers can have a deep understanding of Henderson’s trips to Africa, which is not only a travel but also a spiritual journey for exploring the true meaning of life.The last part is conclusion. Through the analysis of symbols and their symbolic meanings in the novel, this thesis summarizes Henderson’s spiritual journey. Henderson walks away from his spiritual crisis, gets spiritual renewal and the true meaning of life through his spiritual journey, which inspires readers to keeps a watchful eye on spiritual condition and quests for the true meaning of life constantly.