Saul bellow's henderson, the rain king — a coming to terms with his self and with the world around

Resumo

As the plot focuses on Henderson, our starting point wil be a presentation of his most important characteristics, so we can better understand the developing of the action. Henderson, at the age of fifty-five, is not a happy man. Although he has a nice wife and kids, plenty of money and time to enjoy life and its pleasures, he thinks he has made a mess of his life. Physically, he describes himself as "six feet four inches tall. Two hundred and thirty pounds - An enormous head, rugged, with hair like Persian lamb's fur. Suspicious eyes, usually narrowed. Blustering ways. A great nose" (p.8). His appearance is, to say the least, remarkable. And he made it still more remarkable by the kind of clothes he liked to wear. He is a person who requires " large and real emotions" (p. 25) and that is why he was happy when he was in the war; /the civilian life bored him. Although he is always quarreling and many times "behaved like a bum", he wants to belong, to be accepted. On p. 256, when he's telling about one of his experiences with king Dahfu, what kind of words came instinctively from his mouth? "and certain words crept into my roars, like "God", "Help", "Lord Have Mercy"... plus snatches from the Messiah (he was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, etcetera". He feels there is a similarity between the Messiah and himself. Another aspect of his contradictory personality is the combination of sensitivity and a taste for hard manual work. The same hands that have"thrown down boars and pinned them and gelded them" (p. 32) also played the violin.