An Archetypal Reading of Henderson the Ring King

时 静

Abstract:Henderson the Rain King (1959) is one of Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellows major and mature novels. Like many great works, this novel can be traced back to some ancient archetypes. This thesis attempts to use archetypal theories to probe into the archetypal quest theme in Henderson the Rain King.

Key words: Henderson the Rain King;quest theme;archetype

中图分类号: H319文献标识码: A文章编号:1672-1578(2009)11-0018-02

Henderson the Rain King (1959) is one of Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellows major and mature novels. Saul Bellow expresses his positive attitude towards human beings in an indifferent and materialistic world in his novel. Hendersons journey to Africa is actually a profound spiritual journey. This thesis attempts to use the approach of archetypal criticism to probe into the archetypal quest theme in Henderson the Rain King.

In the twentieth century, myth and archetypal criticism became an important school of literary criticism. The word “archetype” originates from a Greek word “archetypos”; “Arche” means original or primitive and “typos” means form. The most successful archetypal critic is Northrop Frye. According to Frye, an archetype is “a communicable unit,” “a typical or recurring image” which “connects one poem with another and thereby helps to unify and integrate our literary experience” (Frye 75). Northrop Frye deemed that images, symbols, characters, plot or structures may all form archetypes, if they are recurring in the literature and can arouse idiomatic associations.

An important archetype in Henderson the Rain King is the archetypal quest theme. Quest myth is a central one in mythologies, and constitutes a major archetypal theme in many literary works. “All literary genres are derived from the quest-myth[…] the quest-myth will constitute the first chapter of whatever future hand book of criticism[…]” (Frye, The Archetypes of Literature 18). Quest stories abound in Greek and Roman myths and run through the western literature. It is the story of Odysseus, of Beowulf, of the Buddha and of the Christ. It is a story that humans tell over and over again, yet never straying far form the basic plot, and the same set of characters.

Heroes usually follow the pattern of departure-adventure and return in their quest: A hero separates himself from his family or home, starts his long journey, conquers numerous hardships, endures all sufferings and finishes his mission. The structure of Henderson the Rain King shows a surprising similarity to the quest myth. Hendersons adventure almost follows the same process.

Bellow structures his novel in roughly three parts, and they follows deaparture-quest-return pattern.

The first part happens in America, which states the reason why the protagonist takes his journey to Africa. In Bellows novels, most of his heroes are modern men who are trapped in mental quandaries. Keith Opdahl points out that Bellows heroes are “Ostensible men of love, dependent on the world, but they are at bottom alienated” (Bradbury, “Saul Bellow and Changing History” 133). Henderson is one of them. He is profoundly alienated by the meaningless material of his life in postwar America. America was a paradise in peoples eyes,but in Hendersons eyes, the postwar modern people become indifferent to each other, and paradise is degraded. Like Adam who lost his paradise, Eden, Henderson also lost his through his alienation from the modern world, his fear of death and spiritual chaos,which cause Hendersons self-exile to the primitive Africa to quest for the essence of life, the courage to face death and the salvation of spirit.

The second part is Hendersons journey in Africa, including two subdivisions: the trip to two tribes, Arnewi and Wariri. In each tribe, he meets a spiritual mentor.

The first tribe Henderson encounters is Arnewi, a friendly and docile and therefore “unlucky” African tribe. In Arnewi, Queen Willatale helps him to know himself and the essence of life. There he meets the unsophisticated, kind and friendly cattle-loving Arnewi people. Henderson meets the wisest woman Queen Willatale, his first spiritual mentor who wisely and successfully reads the character of Henderson at their first meeting. He wants Queen Willatale to reveal to him the wisdom and essence of life so that he may conclude form it the best was to live. She tells him: “Grun-tu-molani. Man want to live” (219). Therefore, he accepts her statement regarding the life force as pertaining to himself. This motto always appears in Hendersons mind and it goes through the following parts of the novel. No matter how hard life is, man ought to face all the difficulties bravely and overcome them eventually.

In second tribe Wariri, Dahfu, the king of the Wariri, helps Henderson to know himself better and teaches him to derive courage to face death. Unlike Henderson, Dahfu understands both his life and his death. Henderson learns from Dahfu the ability to conquer death.Dahfu tells Henderson that only knowing “man wants to live” is not enough, moreover, man should know why to live and how to lead a meaning life. “Grun-tu-molani” is just a start. “By urging Henderson to come face-to-face with the lion Atti in her den, Dahfu compels his friend to confront ‘somatically rather than abstractly the fact and terror of death” (Pifer 106).

Like the quest heroes, Henderson here fights against all devils and finishes his mission. Although King Dahfu is dead in the final lion capture action, his help and instructions enable Henderson to achieve harmony with his inner world and the world around him and conquer his previous fear of death to transcend his limitations.

As Edmond Schraepen comments on the novel, “It is a parable of modern mans search for significance and (上接18页)

rediscovery of meaning, of humanitys search for salvation and self-transcendence” (Schraepen 136). As a representative of Adam, of human beings, Henderson indeed obtains the spiritual baptism and renewal through his amazing and valuable experiences. Though Henderson does not literally find a geographical paradise, he does find his spiritual paradise where his mind rests in peace and harmony.

The last part is the return of his trip and the beginning of his new life. With the help of the two mentors, he finally realizes his spiritual salvation and takes a return flight to America, bringing to an end his departure-quest-return round journey. The journey is both a physical and spiritual one and it is a journey of quest for self-realization and spiritual paradise.

Hendersons trip to Africa is an adventure story with many important implications. It is not a trip looking for fun, but a remedy to his “problem of sin, death, salvation, resurrection.” (Goldman 98). Bellow weaves into the quest theme many supporting motifs including paradise lost motif, father and son motif, sin, suffering and salvation motif, initiation motif, death-rebirth motif, and so on, which all help to establish the central theme of spiritual quest and growth. A blindness to the archetypal motifs in Henderson the Rain King will greatly lessen the value of the book.

参考文献:

[1]Bradbury, Malcolm. “Saul Bellow and Changing History,” Saul Bellow: Modern Critical Views[M]. Ed. Bloom, Harold. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

[2]Frye, N. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays[M]. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1975.

[3]Frye, N.. The Archetypes of Literature, Literary Criticism and Myth, Vol 4[M]. Ed. Segal, Robert Alan. New York and London: Gerland Publishing Inc., 1996.

[4]Goldman, L. H. Saul Bellows Moral Vision: A Critical Study of The Jewish Experience[M]. New York: Irvington Publishers, 1983.

[5]Pifer, Ellen. Saul Bellow: Against the Grain[M]. Philadelphia U of Pennsylvania P, 1990.

[6]Schraepen, Edmond. Notes on Henderson the Rain King[M]. Essex: Longman York P, 1981.

作者简介:时静(1981-),女,上海应用技术学院,讲师,研究方向:英美文学。