Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1979 Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King: A Fusion of the Comic and the Serious George William Russo Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Russo, George William, "Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King: A Fusion of the Comic and the Serious" (1979). Masters Theses. 3156. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3156 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses .. 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Author I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because ------·-------- Date Author m -Saul B0l l 0\J ' s He .:.ders o~: the Rain KiQ.g : A Fus i o~ of the Comic and the Seri ous (TITLE) BY GEORGE WILLlAJ."1 RUSS-- O THESIS SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts i r E~Gli sh IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1979 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE ~ 2, 19 79 DATE ADVISER li#ARTMOO/HEAD -. .. - ~- ·--- 7 ' · • • -. ; ;. ~ ·.. -, , . ......,_oy T)., . A. in Enc;l i s r.. , Su•y:i ttcr~ j ~1 o: •.rt5 :.1.l !'ul -'.:'i 1 ~.no~t o? the r c:q ·~ 5.~-- c· :"'_ tf' :'.:'o ·" t>0 dcr::r~e of rna~; tcr of Arts i n E:1:3lish at th1; C' r ,"..-~·-:atP S ~}:0c: :i. 0 £' !:;nr; t er n IlJ.1.no.is lh'!ivcrsi t t 8~.. l'i 111!.~)To:·~ , II i: nm I ,~ 1979 Bellow's comic vision points to a compromise between the romantic notion that self-perfection is attainable and the pessimistic notion that man is ultimately impotent and thus destined to fail. Th::-ough Hendersor:, Bello..v slio':;s that although man does not--and ultimately CC.;"1 7) Gt-- completely free himself of somatic demands a~d limitations, he is nevertheless not defeated by them and thus not left a victim of emotionless observations. Bellow draws upon four sources in Henderson's nature to create the humor in the novel and highlights Eugene Henderson as a comic hero by dramatizing that He~derson proves to be his own ironist. These sources can be sub­ sumed under the general heading of the body's encumbrance of the spirit. The first is Henderson's highly affective nature which often fcrces him to act in contradictory and inconsistent ways. The second source of the comic lies in Henderson's unsophisticated manners and robust speech, his slang idiom, and the rugged humor which Henderson initiates, all of which tend to highlight the incongruity of a character rooted in the physical world seriously pursuing spiritual development. Thirdly, Bellow finds a source of comedy in Henderson's exaggerated sense of fate, in his obsession with personal misfortune and mortality. His relentless brooding and rebellion against life's terms ultimately take on a comically rigid and incongruous quality in terms of the uncommon advantages and material wealth that Henderson enjoys. The fourth and most important source of comedy stems from Bellow's ironic dramatization of Henderson's concerted attempts to deny the inescapable needs and desires of physical being. This denial becomes as comic as Henderson's gigantic b·ody itself, in that his body repeatedly demands to be recongnized. Bellow makes unmistakably clear, nevertheless, that Henderson's move toward accommodation encompasses both and awareness and acceptance of his spiritual and somatic being directly in relation to the demands of reafity in a physical world . Acknowledgments I wish to express my gratitude first of all to Professor John J. Kelleher, my adviser, for his encouragement, wise counsel, and inspiring example as a scholar. For his helpful suggestions and comments I wish also to thank Professor Frank Stokes. I should also like to thank Dr. Walter Lazenby, Chairman of English Graduate Studies, and Dr. James ·Quivey, Head of the English Department, for t ~eir inval uable assistance which greatly facilitated the completion of my study. Above all, I wish to acknowledge my lasting appreciation to my p~rents, Sophia and Henry Russo, for instilling in me the value of education and for their unlimited understanding. Table of Contents Chapter Page 1. Henderson: A Summary of the Serio-Comic Quest •• l 2. Bellow's Comic Treatment of Henderson ••••••••••• 18 Highly Affective Nature •••••••••••••••••••• 20 Unsophisticated Manners and Robust Speech •• 23 An Exaggerated Sense .2.f. Fate ••••••••••••••• 26 The Inescapable Body ••••••••••••••••••••••• 30 3. Conclusion ••.•........•..•••...........••.•••.•• 45 Bibliography Chapter 1 Henderson: A Summary of the Serio-Comic Quest Saul Bellow's early novels 1 focus on the unique pre- dicaments of individuals who attempt to cope with chaos and death in modern life. Coping becomes an overwhelming job because the Bellow hero struggles to assert his identity in a world where self and ordinary existence are made to seem insignificant, dwarfed by the immensity of society and by the finality of a death- dealing universe. Because each protagonist attempts to get a grip on existence--that is, to perceive meani..ng and value in the chaos--he is burdened by what Alfred Kazin calls a "speculative quest, 112 a need to assim­ ilate his particular destiny within the general scheme of h_ uman r1~es t iny.. At times, life becomes a nightmare of psycho- logical conflicts. The hero perceives his own misfortune and impending doom in the people around him while st:riving t o accommodate hinse:..f to a hostile environment which engu.l:'s ~:i !:l. • Bellow's he~oes not only instinctively hunger for human brot herhood and, ultimately, love, but also seek to allevi­ ate the diffidence and :paralysis ·which accompany immersion in the ho3t:U.e environment. D~amatized in the protagonists' str uiz-,~l es to perceive meaning and value in life is Bellow's reaction to the pessimistic notion of human impotence before ·=:1:1e superior forces of l ife. Although Bellow's heroes stri ve to find an inner, spiritual, peace in the chaos, 2 their spiritual aspirations are at times encumbered by their physical bodies. This encumbrance, however, is not treated as tragic. On the contrary, Bellow treats the encumbrance of the spirit by the body as a comic characteristic inherently inseparable from human nature. All the protagonists of Bellow's early work possess comic flaws or peculiarities which arise from their bodily existence and which characterize their affective natures; these comic flaws or peculiarities, moreover, are insepar- ably linked to the spiritual ' struggle to find meaning and value in a chaotic universe. Bodily existence includes much more than nere flesh and bone; it involves intense feelings and desires, appetites, and acute sensibilities, all of which are deeply rooted in the body. Bellow sees the physical side of man's being as inextricably linked to his spiritual being, expressing itself at times in a comic or absurd manner, especially when an intense and questing spirit is involved. What makes BelJ.oN ' s work so ur...iquely comic is his characteristic use of ironic contrast to heighten the incongruity which may sometimes exist between the desires of the spirit and those of the body in order to dramatize his sympathetic recognition that the body is essential to the functioning of the spirit , that tb.e spirit exercises its p ower solely through the body. Perhaps the best illu­ stration of Bellow's comic mode is found in the protagonist of Henderson the Rain King (1959), Bellow's fifth work. In Eugene Henderson., one sees Bellow dramatizing the epitome of the anxioD.s and questing spirit struggling to aspire-- 3 but weighed down by physical being. Henderson embodies the comic characteristics, the affective nature, and the intensely questing spirit of the typical Bellow hero. Bellow takes great pains to show in a more pronounced way than in his earlier novels that although an immense and stubborn body may at times respond comically and even ill-naturedly and cantankerously to the desires of the spirit, the comic element rooted in physical being is inextricably part of the spirit's attempt to exercise its power through the body. One can find the makings' of the middle-aged and dis­ illusioned Henderson iri Joseph, the protagonist of the Dangling Man (1944), Bellow's seminal work. Although on a serious philosophical quest, Joseph does not always act in a manner that one might expect of a person on such a quest. He argues vehemently, for example, with a waitress over burnt toast and vtlth his niece over similar trifles. Although these actions may not make the reader laugh, they do illustrate Bellow's use of ironic contrast to ridicule Joseph's seemingly absurd outbursts of temper over such inconsequential matters as burnt toast.