Self Discovery in Saul Bellows Henderson the Rain King :: Henderson the Rain King

Self Disco real in capital of Minnesota Bellows Henderson the Rain King Have you ever felt like a complete social out cast? Some ace who has annoyance fitting in and has never quite found their true calling. macrocosm shunned by those circumferent to him and be unaccepted by society, the character in this novel is a perfect example. Saul Bellows character Eugene Henderson, in, Henderson the Rain King, (1959), is a man who struggles to change his ways and find out his true calling.In this novel, a 55-year old man, tries to get through a mid-life crisis. The millionaire decides to go to Africa in an attempt to find himself. He meets two tribes while there. The first one he nearly destroys in an attempt to rid their watering mend of frogs. The next tribe helps Henderson the most on his quest. He unknowingly participates in a ritual to bring rain to the tribe, the success of which leads to his acclamation as Sungo, or Rain King. This experience with the tribe helps him to realize t hat his true fate is as a healer. He returns back to America, planning to enter medical school.Eugene Henderson blend ins off the book as a unpredictable man, with little conscious(p) to guide him. It seems as though he almost intentionally hurts those closest to him. After telling his wife that he has had enough of everything, and that he was departure to blow his brains out, he explains that this hurt his wife for more than one reason. maybe the most apparent reason was that Her father had committed suicide in the same way, with a pistol (11). Throwing tantrums like these, cause him to be very unlikable in the beginning of the novel.Once he has arrived in Africa, you start to see a different side of him. Then after leaving the first tribe and staying with the second one for a while, his personality unfeignedly begins to grow on you. He explains that, At one time, much originally in this life of mine, suffering had a certain spice (263). I feel that this shows how he is gro wing as a person and macrocosm able to find out more about who he unfeignedly is.Towards the end of the novel, the change that has come over him becomes really apparent. After a conversation with the king, he says, For his sake I accepted the discipline of being like a lion.