Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 1117-1126
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.353 1117
A
NXIETY AND
P
ERPLEXITY OF
C
HOICE
:
A
P
SYCHOANALYTIC
I
NTERPRETATION OF
H
ENDERSON THE
R
AIN
K
ING
Juan Gao
Abstract
In the famous American novelHenderson the Rain King, the protagonist Henderson faces severe spiritual barrenness, despite his material richness. Drawing on the related literature, this paper conducts a systematic psychoanalysis of the choice anxiety and perplexity of the protagonist with Freudian psychoanalysis theory. The inner anxiety and perplexity of the protagonist in the rich society were expounded, the conflict between his Id and Ego and the struggles in his psychology were analysed, revealing his actual anxiety and perplexity in the shadow of death. In addition, the author also interpreted the conflict between the Ego and the reality, and explains his psychology of actively seeking a way out, the merge of the Ego and the Superego, and the ultimate epiphany and redemption. The research results provide a reference for psychoanalytic interpretation of the other classic works with mentally ill protagonists.
Key words: Henderson the Rain King, Henderson, Psychoanalytical Interpretation, Freudian Psychoanalysis Theory, Anxiety and Perplexity.
Received: 17-02-19 | Accepted: 22-08-19
INTRODUCTION
Henderson the Rain King is one of the masterpieces of American famous writer and Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow. The hero Henderson was born in a wealthy American Jewish family; compared with his abundant material life, his spiritual world was like a barren land, full of inner restlessness and chaos all the time. In the developed material civilization of the United States, Henderson lost himself and didn't know what he really wants. Driven by the
inner voice of “I want, I want, I want”, he made
a crazy decision of travelling to Africa; In
Bellow’s conceptions and imagination, during the African journey away from modern civilization, Henderson's soul was baptized by the original and he eventually found his spiritual belonging. Different from other protagonists in
Saul Bellow’s novels, Henderson had no financial
Henan Finance University, Zhengzhou 450000, China. E-Mail: [email protected]
burden nor the sense of humility caused by others, and he had not cared for his Jewish identity. However, Henderson still lived an uncomfortable and unsatisfied life; he was eccentric, obviously suffering from mental illnesses, or even mental perplexity. Henderson's trip to Africa is a process of psychological
diagnosis. Many scholars have made
psychoanalysis of Henderson's mental chaos using Freud's theory of psychoanalysis; when the strong desire of the Ego has not been satisfied, neurological anxiety would appear; at the same time, the dissatisfaction with reality and the Superego would bring realistic anxiety and mental anxiety (Bellow, 1958).
Anxiety is first and foremost a psychological concept and it is a non-directional awakening state that is generated after perceiving danger; that is, anxiety is a reflection of the pain of being aware of dangerous stimuli while has no ability
to cope with it; and it’s also an undirected painful reflection of an individual's inner fear. Pain is not only a temporary state, it can become a personality trait that leads to schizophrenia.
JUAN GAO
1118
Scholars define anxiety as the uneasiness caused by a certain value being threatened, and this value is regarded by the individual as the root of his or her existence. The danger stimuli may
come from the individuals’ physical or
psychological existence, such as the threat of death, the loss of freedom, the feeling of meaningless, or the value of personal identification. The most important reason for the increase of modern people's anxiety is the breakdown of various values in modern society, which makes people unable to survive according to their own wishes in the contemporary society which is dominated by tools and rationality, and thus, they feel deep despair and loneliness and generate psychic anxiety and mental disorder. Anxiety is a kind of vague and specific impatience during which people lost the touch between the Ego and the realistic world, and therefore, from which what is dying in anxiety is the relationship between the Ego and the realistic world. Therefore, the anxiety has no specific objects but it is not completely illogical (Eriksson, 2017).
Based on a summary of previous studies, this paper conducts a systematic psychoanalysis of the choice anxiety and perplexity on Henderson
with Freudian psychoanalysis theory. It
expounds his inner anxiety and perplexity in the affluent society, analyzes the conflict between his Id and Ego and the struggles in his psychology; it also reveals his actual anxiety and perplexity in the shadow of death, interprets his suffering between the Ego and the reality, and proposes his psychology of actively seeking a way out, the merge of the Ego and the Superego, and the ultimate epiphany and redemption. The study results of this paper provide a reference for the further researches on the psychoanalytic
interpretation of Henderson the Rain King. The
chapters of this paper are organized as follows: Section 2 analyzes Anderson's individual anxiety and perplexity in the affluent society; Section 3 interprets Anderson's realistic anxiety and perplexity in the shadow of death; Section 4 proposes Anderson's approaches of resolving his inner anxiety and perplexity of choice; and Section 5 is the conclusion.
INDIVIDUAL ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY IN THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY
Struggling between the Id and the Ego
Freud admits that a more realistic reason for anxiety is the existence of danger. In short, the
instinctive response of a person to a potential danger is the real cause of anxiety, regardless of real danger or imaginary danger; he also believes that when facing danger or feeling the possibility of it, people will generate anxiety because of the fear, so, anxiety and fear are inseparable. Anxiety is an emotional state that can only be experienced through human Ego, and the unbalanced interaction between Ego and other personalities would result in anxiety. In Freud's theories, the Id is a ruthless and disorderly hell, full of original desire and oppression, and craving for eruption, and anxiety will generate if the Id is not released (Figure 1), and such anxiety is fully reflected in Henderson. When the strong desires of the Ego cannot be satisfied, neurological anxiety will occur; and at the same time, the dissatisfaction with reality and Superego will bring realistic anxiety and mental anxiety. The main difference between Jung and Freud is their understandings of the subconscious; Freud believes that the subconscious is a mysterious feeling power hidden under the ordinary consciousness and the power of this feeling is influenced by the inner driving force of human beings. The opposite of the subconscious is consciousness (Quayum, 1995). According to Freud, consciousness includes Ego and inner feelings, while subconsciousness includes the instinct and the Superego.
Figure 1
.
Mental iceberg of Freudian
psychoanalysis theory
Neurological anxiety, realistic anxiety, and mental anxiety are all reflected in Henderson to vary degrees, either directly or indirectly. The close correlation between the Id and the Ego, the
ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY OF CHOICE: A PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF HENDERSON THE RAIN KING 1119
conflict between the Ego and the reality, and the combination of the Ego and the Superego together have caused the mental illnesses of
Henderson. Henderson’s mysterious shouting of
“I want, I want, I want”, the excess energy in his body and the death atmosphere surrounding him had intensified the relationship between the Ego and the Id of him, leading to the occurrence of mental illnesses. At the same time, the chaos of reality, the impetuousness of the American society in the 1960s and 1970s caused conflicts between the Ego and the reality, and induced paranoia and schizophrenia in Henderson, which is one of the reasons why Henderson chose to escape and travel to Africa to find a real world that is more suitable for him. The third factor that causes anxiety is the contradiction between the Ego and the Superego, manifested as mania, especially depression. Henderson's father is a mapping of his Superego and the communication between the two actually represents the healing process of Henderson's mental illness. Through all these psychoanalyses, Bellow wanted to show us that no one can escape the anxiety of reality and individuals should take anxiety for granted, and leave in balance with anxiety, simply supressing anxiety would only make it worse.
Struggling psychology between the Id and the Ego
For most critics, psychoanalysis is most appropriate for the interpretation of the conflict between the Id and the Ego; this is especially
true for the analysis of Henderson’s mental
disorders, especially before he left for Africa. After finish this novel, readers can hardly forget the mysterious call rising from the depths of the soul of the protagonist who had a prestigious family background as a white man and inherited a huge legacy from his father. Henderson had a dominant position in American society, but he had never felt happy; on the contrary, he was deeply alienated from the extremely boring American life after the war, and the wealth and status he possessed not only failed to help him, but accelerate the process of alienation; ironically, what his great financial freedom made him felt is incompetence and depression. For mental illnesses, physical labour is by no means an appropriate treatment, because the most critical relationship between the Id and the Ego has not been resolved (George, 2015). According to Freud's pathology, under this tension, Henderson's condition at this stage should be
hysteria; the corresponding treatment plan was to find out what were the desires of his Id first, and then use proper methods to satisfy these desires.
Henderson adopted the method of self-wrestling; he fought with his enemies in his concept, and constantly explored himself for regaining a new life; and finally, he defeated the virtual enemy in his mind and completed the transformation of life. It revealed that the legendary works with exploration as the theme are similar to rituals and dreams. Based on the rituals and the dream under research, the two symbolic structures are considered to be the same: the former reflects that the richness in spirit had overcome the barren in materials, and the satisfaction in materials and spirits gained from adventures can be regarded as the fruitful results of the adventure; the latter reflects the process of the satisfaction of human desires, and his kind of satisfaction will save people from mental crisis, and the re-recognition after adventure or struggle can also be regarded as the result of the adventure as well; and it also integrated rituals with dreams to discuss the psychological needs of people. Furthermore, it divided the legend into six phases: the first three correspond to the first three phases of the tragedy, and the last three phases correspond to the last three phases of the comedy. The six phases had both sadness and happiness, ups and
downs, which had constituted the protagonist’s
movement. These phases reflected the search theme of the hero, and the hero's origin and youth age were ignored because this work mainly studies Henderson's changes during his middle age, so this juvenile and youth ages had not been taken into consideration. In this way, Henderson's path of exploration had developed from the four phases to a satisfactory ending.
REALISTIC ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH
Struggling psychology between the Ego and the reality
In the 1960s and 1970s United States, it is
appropriate to describe Henderson’s travel to
Africa as a pursuit of truth as the times back then was full of vanity and inanity. The realistic anxiety exhibited in Henderson was the sign of schizophrenia, which was caused by the conflict
between Henderson’s character and the reality
JUAN GAO
1120
people's spirits became increasingly empty and helpless, and Henderson was an example; although he had a prominent background, he longed for spiritual abundance, and disdained material desires. He loathed the American society and fought his neighbours and the American culture by raising pigs. Freudian psychiatry believes that people have the desire to die and this desire is often due to the dissatisfaction with reality, and people don't have to be dead for real to ease this desire; in most cases, it was realized or vented via violent means. If the Id can not obtain responses or satisfaction, the contradiction between the Id and the reality would become increasingly prominent. Therefore, Henderson chose Africa as an environment to realize and pursue his Id, and at this point, an interesting phenomenon appeared in the novel: the reality of the United States lacked what Henderson wanted, and Africa was full of the truth and the Ego he expected. Therefore, he decided to go to Africa to get rid of the fetter, to escape from the material desire, to pursue his Id, and to self-heal. In the developed material civilization of the United States, Henderson lost himself and did not know what he wanted. He was incompatible with this society: he had a strong body and powerful physical strength, but he did not know what he can do and he did not have the respect he deserved; he had a lot of money, but he
couldn’t find the meaning and fun of life from
the luxurious life. He fell into a kind of inexplicable manic status, causing troubles
everywhere and fighting with people.
Henderson’s inexplicable madness broke out from time to time, he was nearly 50 years old, but he was like an urchin and a madman capable
of wrong doings in people’s minds. Although
Henderson had great body strength and held a bridge that was blown up by mines in Italy until the engineers came to repair it, however, he did not gain the respect of people: he was an unwelcome Jew in the mind of white people; he was a headache at the school; had it not been for his family name Henderson, he would have been kicked out of college. His elder brother died in an accident, and his father hoped the one that died was him although both were his sons and he would feel sad if Henderson had died. He was ridiculed by his wife, in her eyes, Henderson was useless and could do nothing. Figure 2 shows the
distribution of Henderson’s psychological
elements in relation chart of the Ego proportion
and consciousness degree.
Everyone overcomes anxiety and seeks the sense of superiority in different ways; and different attitudes toward anxiety can lead to different outcomes. If an individual cannot face anxiety correctly or adopt an isolated or confrontational attitude towards the outside world, it will have serious negative effects. When an individual adopts an isolated and negative
attitude, he or she wouldn’t dare to face the
reality, and would give up the ideas of self-improvement or changing the surrounding environment; when an individual adopts a confrontational attitude and overemphasizes personal superiority, he/she would become arrogant, peacockish, sugarcoating, and self-righteous. Isolation and confrontation will not solve the problem correctly and they will aggravate the anxiety, in such cases, people are prone to depression and falling into melancholy deeper and deeper, forming a vicious anxious emotion (Hull, 1971). Conversely, if an individual can face his/her own defects correctly, adopt a cooperative and tolerant attitude towards the outside world, actively seek appropriate compensation and make positive contributions to their groups, then they can surpass anxiety and cultivate a confident life view. Those who can deal with anxiety correctly will cultivate their interests and constantly seek opportunities to cooperate with others to solve the difficulties, thus they would have more chances of success. Therefore, the key to overcoming anxiety is to develop a cooperative attitude and cultivate
people’s sense for the society.
Figure 2
.
Distribution of
Henderson’
s
psychological elements in relation chart of
the Ego proportion and consciousness
degree
ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY OF CHOICE: A PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF HENDERSON THE RAIN KING 1121
Realistic anxiety and perplexity
The contradiction between the Ego and the Superego is one of the causes of anxiety, and its symptoms are manifested as mania, especially depressive disorders. Henderson was no exception for this illness because he could not effectively communicate with his superego, and the embodiment of his superego in the story was Henderson's father, and King Dahfu, the Wariri chief he met in Africa. The readers have every reason to believe that, besides satisfying the survival desires and searching for the ultimate reality, Henderson chose to explore Africa for another extremely important purpose, which is to find a substitute for his Superego who could bring ideals and conscience to himself, as well as the fatherly love that had long been longing for. Still according to Freud's theory, the so-called Superego is generally achieved through two ways, namely the internalization of the moral standards of the father generation and the social ethics. At that time, the American society was severely degraded due to material worship, and it was no longer possible to assume the responsibility of moral supervision and guidance as before. As for the other way of achieving the
Superego—Henderson’s father, the situation is
even worse, since childhood, Henderson and his father lacked real emotional communication, and the gap between them left a great shadow in the heart of young Henderson.
The distribution of Henderson’s psychological
elements in relation chart of the Id proportion and consciousness degree is shown in Figure 3. The conflict between the Ego and the Superego is manifested as mania and psychological imbalance; Henderson is no exception because he can't communicate with his Superego. The Superego here is his father and King Dahfu the Wariri chief he met in Africa. In addition to satisfying the survival desire, another purpose of his being in Africa is to find a substitute for his Superego which could teach him conscience and give him the fatherly love he longed for a long time. Freud believes that the Superego is the internalization of social ethics and the morality of the father generation. As mentioned earlier, after the Second World War, the United States was extremely cult of material, the society was severely degraded and could no longer bear morality and ethics; it was even less optimistic in terms of his father, Henderson and his father
lacked communication since Henderson’s
childhood, and the gap had left a huge shadow in his heart. The death of King Dahfu might made the readers think that Henderson's exploration of the meaning of life is in vain; however, the process of his pursuit had dispelled his anxiety (O'loughlin, 2016). The death of Dahfu is seemingly a tragedy, but it is actually good for Henderson: he could search for the truth and his Ego on his own, and in fact, Dahfu would hinder Henderson's pursuit; and therefore, Dahfu, who is the embodiment of the truth, is actually an obstacle that must be removed, otherwise Henderson couldn't get rid of his own perplexity and start to seek for the truth by himself; as a
result, Dahfu’s resigning is actually the true
return of Henderson.
Figure 3
.
Distribution of
Henderson’
s
psychological elements in relation chart of
the Id proportion and consciousness degree
Henderson’s dual and opposite personalities is the interaction between the real world and the dream. Therefore, even when Henderson came to the wild Africa, he still remembered everything from his adolescence to manhood; the reality and the dream are often or always intertwined; and the extroverted and the introverted fight each other (LeMahieu, 2010). Certain memories of the real world would always
come back as Henderson was under
psychological changes, his memories were erratic, seemed like unconnected fragments appearing from time to time. In fact, just like his trip to Africa, Henderson experienced one thing after another, and his memories had become a spiritual journey of his. Although the African journey in the novel had exhibited the dreamworld, the memory was actually an integral part of the real world. In the opinion of
JUAN GAO
1122
the author, the dreamworld and or the process of the travel actually represented the process of the psychological healing. The things in real world had been mapped into Henderson's dreams, and psychotherapy had been carried out through the combination of the real world and the dream world. When the King Dahfu was killed, the dream was shattered, Henderson woke up and returned to reality, and his mental disorder was balanced.
RESCUING PATHS TO RESOLVE ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY
Psychology of actively seeking a way out
In Henderson, the rejection of the material society, the pursuit of the meaning of life, the evaluation of various attitudes towards life, and the ideals and fantasies had been reflected. Henderson was neither a millionaire in real life nor a typical figure in realistic works, his millionaire identity was just a proof used by the author to show to the readers that born in
wealth couldn’t fulfil one’s life and make the
spirit satisfied; on the contrary, too much money
can only bind people’s hands and feet, making them depressed and morally degenerate; only by breaking away from the shackles of material wealth can people freely explore the true
meaning of life. Henderson’s ideological and
spiritual state reflected the spiritual emptiness and chaos of some upper-class people in American society after war, these people have their thoughts, unwilling to be satisfied with their parasitic lives, and this has reflected that some intellectuals do have spiritual crisis. Therefore, although some plots of this novel were absurd, unlike Don Quixote, neither had Henderson been trapped in his own fantasies, nor detached from reality or acted recklessly. He is a person with self-conscious, and this book is about his mental crisis, his new life, his painful introspection and his self-examination. Behind
his glorious millionaire identity, Henderson’s
mind and spirit is a barren land unable to bear rich fruits, and he did not know how to stop his suicidal intention. He had planned a long time in his mind to search for the purpose in Africa, and he had finally achieved his ideal and arrived his
spiritual Utopia. However, Henderson’s path of
self-exploration was unreachable and it can be seen from the novel that this epic reborn is just an imagination of Henderson and thousands of Americans who have similar experiences, and
eventually they had to face the realistic society with numerous hidden crisis again. Figure 4
shows the distribution of Henderson’s
psychological elements in relation chart of the Superego proportion and consciousness degree. Henderson's successful portrayal has found a way out for the catharsis of the middle-aged American middle class and it stroke a chord in them. Similar to Henderson, they were rich in material and empty in spirit. This huge contradiction became more and more prominent in the United States after the Second World War, people at that time couldn't find their spiritual home. Step by step, Henderson was exploring his road of self-salvation; however, raising pigs was a deed that is very different from his status, destroying the living environment in Africa was a manifestation of Henderson's ignorance and childishness, moving the statue had reflected
Henderson’s contradiction between the brute
force and the spirit; so far, his whereabouts and actions were a farce full of doubts, and the answer had not yet been found (Greenberg, 2018).
The self-nature can potentially combine all
the mental processes, content and
characteristics of consciousness and sub-consciousness into an organic whole; when the personality of consciousness encounters various problems in life, the self-nature will mobilize the collective subconscious to offer necessary help to meet people's needs. It coordinates the conflict between consciousness and sub-consciousness, making it a brand-new matter
with creativity. In Jung's view, the
subconsciousness exists as a compensation for consciousness, therefore, as the core of consciousness, the Ego is closely connected with
the self-nature, which is the core of people’s
spirit and can only play its role the conscious self is involved. Jung believes that with the growth of age, only after the middle age would people form a firm and lasting connection with their self-nature through the accumulation of life experience. When people have reached the goal of their primary life stage, they would inevitably search for the meaning of their existence further. Many middle-aged people can't find their meaning of life, so they would fall into spiritual emptiness, decadence, and the vicious circle of mental disorders. The spiritual emptiness of Henderson came from the imbalance of the human heart caused by the rich society. Therefore, in the end, Henderson
ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY OF CHOICE: A PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF HENDERSON THE RAIN KING 1123
completed the spiritual baptism in his life; he was over 50 years old when he had truly matured, and the power that had helped him was his own.
Figure
4
.
Distribution
of
different
Henderson’
s psychological elements in
relation chart of the Superego proportion
and consciousness degree
Merge of the Ego and the superego
Henderson's attitudes toward anxiety and his redundant experience of things and moral values showed that he had fallen into a mental crisis, which brings readers into the conflicts deep inside him. In the novel, the narration of the anxiety of the Henderson before his trip to Africa is moving very slow, and the reader's attention is attracted by the reasons of his trip to Africa while this part is not very clear. Henderson repeatedly expressed a same viewpoint to himself, some of which were profound, but it had not pushed the plots of the story at all. For example, in the third chapter, without any special statement, he had mention his motives of raising pigs for the first time, but he suddenly realized that this had not involved his reason for coming to Africa at all, so he wanted to talk about his father but he stopped before started talking. Then the story switched to his time in the army when he had been stripped off by others to check for the lice, which led to the incident of being hit by the wood chips and discovering the
truth often comes with the life’s blow (Kris, 2016). And after that, he no longer stopped to think about the coherence, and all pieces were presented to the readers like scattered pearls: raising pigs, moiling, playing the violin like his father, falling in love and conflicts with Lily, all these events were juxtaposed, but they had not
changed the original intention of Henderson's narration, and the unordered recurrence of these memories had only repeated his anxiety. Henderson's personality and psychology were still in his early life stage; he is a person whose instinctive desires and impulses would
control his behaviours, so he couldn’t cope with
his relationship with society and others rationally, and he had kept some childish
hobbies, and he’s just as cocky and arrogant as a
child. In addition, readers can see from many places in the book that he lacked the sense of responsibility for society, family and himself, and had not assumed his responsibility as a son, as a husband, or as a father. Against the opposition of everyone else, Dahfu had raised a lioness that was regarded as a witch by other members of the tribe, and he had insisted his deeds no matter what others said. Although he did not mean to show anything to Henderson, via his deeds
Henderson had perceived Dahfu’s courage and
strength as an adult man, and realized that adults should have their own judgment, clearly know what they are doing, be brave and keep
going, and they mustn’t be interfered,
controlled, and led by others. During most of the long journey, Henderson was in a state of madness and chaos, and his body was very weak.
Death had brushes with death but hadn’t fall
down. Finally, after had experienced all kinds of tests and deadly emotions, he had gained his new life. Figure 5 shows the relative proportions of the Id, Ego and Superego of Henderson in different experiences.
Figure 5
.
Relative proportions of the Id, Ego
and Superego of Henderson under different
experiences
JUAN GAO
1124
Henderson’s pain laid in that he could not
find the ultimate meaning of life, and he was unable to face and accept the absurdity of reality, thus he had fallen into serious mental crisis. He had once considered to give up the ultimate meaning and pursue some smaller meanings, such as going to medical school and
become a doctor to help people, but he couldn’t
make up his minded, and he was sneered by his wife, so he had not taken any real actions. He gave his subjective initiative into play, and opened up another spiritual path for himself when his life path had met a dead end. Whether Henderson had the ability to tackle the unknown is a mystery to the readers, however, regardless of reality or dreams, he had begun his spiritual self-redemption. Henderson had struggled the two steps and eventually completed them during his trip in Africa. Enlightened by Queen Willatale of the Arnewi tribe, Henderson began to realize that he should accept the absurdity of reality and face the reality with a placid attitude. After that, Henderson came to the Wariri tribe where he had encountered death for several times, and finally he had a sudden awakening during his close contact with the free lion, accepted the truth of death, got rid of the fear of death, and could calmly look at the death in the face (Eriksson, 2014).
Final epiphany and redemption
Before going to Africa, Henderson’s life was
in a closed and chaotic status; for him, everything kept getting worse, and he suffered from the torture of the sense of guilt in his trouble life. Although he had inherited a fortune from his father, he considered himself an idler and a loser. As the only survivor of the family, he thought that he was fiddling about
doing nothing and he wouldn’t be a qualified
successor, so he felt nervous and had once thought of suicide. However, he did commit suicide, instead he chose to travel to Africa. In Africa, when Henderson took the initiative to help the hunger-stricken Arnewi tribe to get rid of the frogs, his desire for achievement reached its peak. When he failed, he signed mournfully
and said: "Can’t I satisfy my inner desire?" With his shame and failure, Henderson came to the Wariri tribe to decide to challenge the statue of Mummah. In fact, Henderson's trip to Africa is an unconscious and realistic experience for him, especially when he was facing the eyes of the lioness, he had to overcome his timidity and
accept the terrible reality (Noth, 2015). Henderson saved himself from the desire to achieve something, and finally found the link point between the Ego and the reality.
Henderson’s relative proportion of the Id,
Ego and Superego and relative degree of consciousness before and after going to Africa in shown in Figure 6. In the course of his trip to Africa, love played a crucial role in the inner change of Henderson; during the rain-seeking ritual, it was the power of love that changed Henderson's view of the goddess Mummah, he regarded the goddess as a challenge and felt that what he was lifting was a living person. The successful rain ritual suggested that love was the key to Henderson's spiritual awakening. Another example is about the lion Atti, and it was
Henderson’s love and respect for King Dahfu that forced him to face the frightening lion Atti, he did not want to lose the friendship of Dahfu, and this heartfelt love had driven Henderson, a man who was a natural-born risk averter, to go back and face the lion in the lair. Later, the fear faded, and he began to observe the lion, judge its reactions, understand its movements, and Henderson was also full of love there. Although this confrontation with death is a hell-like test for Henderson, it awakened him unexpectedly and made him realize the death-beyond reality which is supported by the power of love; Henderson's love was not limited to these, but extended to his children, it was this unearthed power of love that had waken up the sleep of his spirit.
The anxiety has important significance, although its meaning might be partially destructive, it also has a constructive part. Henderson finally gathered his courage and went to the hinterland of Africa to wake up the numb sleeping soul; an important factor was the awakening of the consciousness of his hidden in his heart. In the novel, there are two direct
manifestations of Henderson’s death
consciousness; one was at the aquarium during the battle of marine life and it can be said that this death consciousness suddenly appeared in Henderson's mind without warning (Carson, Ludwig, & Welch, 2016). Most people, like Henderson, at some moment in the hearts, will have association about death and produce normal anxiety, and such anxiety that is connected with death is a common form of anxiety, and it is a proof of the limited nature of human life. The second death experience can be
ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY OF CHOICE: A PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETATION OF HENDERSON THE RAIN KING 1125
Figure 6
.
Henderson
’
s relative proportion of the Id, Ego and Superego (a) and relative degree of
consciousness (b) before and after going to Africa
said to be an important reason for Henderson's direct epiphany to go to Africa; compared with the previous death consciousness, this time he had more profound thoughts about death. The
first time Henderson’s understanding about
death was just the worries that ordinary people had for death, which was just imaginary fears; but this time, some one near him had died suddenly, so this impact on Henderson was much more powerful and direct. The death of a living soul gave him a new cognition of death which was a summary and sublimation of the questions he had been thinking about for all this time.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the analysis of previous researches,
this paper conducted a systematic
psychoanalysis of the choice anxiety and
perplexity on Henderson with Freudian
psychoanalysis theory. It expounded his inner anxiety and perplexity in the affluent society, analyzed the conflict between his Id and Ego and the struggles in his psychology; it also revealed his actual anxiety and perplexity in the shadow of death, interpreted his suffering between the Ego and the reality, and proposed his psychology of actively seeking a way out, the merge of the Ego and the Superego, and the ultimate
epiphany and redemption. Neurological
anxiety, realistic anxiety, and mental anxiety had all been reflected in Henderson to vary degrees, either directly or indirectly. The close correlation between the Id and the Ego, the conflict between the Ego and the reality, and the combination of the Ego and the Superego together have caused the mental illnesses of Henderson. Henderson adopted the method of self-wrestling; he fought with his enemies in his concept, and constantly
explored himself for regaining a new life; and finally, he defeated the virtual enemy in his mind and completed the transformation of life.
Henderson’s dual and opposite personalities is
the interaction between the real world and the dream. Therefore, even when Henderson came to the wild Africa, he still remembered everything from his adolescence to manhood; the reality and the dream are often or always intertwined; and the extroverted and the introverted fight each other. Henderson finally gathered his courage and went to the hinterland of Africa to wake up the numb sleeping soul; an important factor was the awakening of the consciousness of his hidden in his heart. The study results of this paper provided a reference for the further researches on the psychoanalytic
interpretation of Henderson the Rain King.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge:Henan Province Teacher Education Curriculum Reform Research Project, "Research on English Major Curriculum Reform under the Background of College Entrance Examination System Reform", project
number: 2014-JSJYLX-064.Henan Education
Science Planning Project, "Investigation on the Status Quo of English Majors' Dictionary Use and Countermeasures", project number: [2017]-JKJXA-041.
REFERENCES
Bellow, S. (1958). Henderson the Rain King.
Hudson Review, 11(1), 11-28.
Carson, A., Ludwig, L., & Welch, K. (2016). Psychologic theories in functional neurologic
JUAN GAO
1126
139, 105-120.
Eriksson, J. (2014). The form of the soul-on the
body in Freud’s psychoanalysis. The
Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 37(2), 99-106.
Eriksson, J. (2017). Freedom–the abyssal ground
of Freudian psychoanalysis. The Scandinavian
Psychoanalytic Review, 40(2), 105-111. George, J. M. M. D. (2015). Freud and
psychoanalysis. American Journal of Digestive
Diseases, 10(4), 858-860.
Greenberg, D. E. (2018). A review of Cold War
Freud: Psychoanalysis in an age of
catastrophes, by Dagmar Herzog. The
International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 99(6), 1468-1473.
Hull, B. D. (1971). " Henderson the Rain King" and
William James. Criticism, 13(4), 402-414.
Kris, A. O. (2016). Freud, psychoanalysis and
death. Journal of the American
Psychoanalytic Association, 64(2), 447. LeMahieu, M. (2010). Worldly Acts and Sentient
Things: The Persistence of Agency from Stein
to DeLillo. Modernism/modernity, 17(1),
249-250.
Noth, I. (2015). “Beyond Freud and Jung”: Sabina
Spielrein’s Contribution to Child
Psychoanalysis and Developmental
Psychology. Pastoral Psychology, 64(2),
279-286.
O'loughlin, M. (2016). Review of What is
psychoanalysis: 100 years after Freud’s
‘secretcommittee’.
Quayum, M. A. (1995). Bellow's" Henderson the Rain King" as an Allegory for the Fifties.
