My final Paper- Henderson the Rain King

"For however vast the increase of knowledge and of power which the future may have in store for man, he can scarcely hope to stay the sweep of those great forces which seem to be making silently but relentlessly for the destruction of all this starry universe in which our earth swims as a speck or mote."

Sara Landry

LIT 285

Dr. Michael Sexson

12/06/2010

Henderson the Rain King

            Eugene Henderson is a middle ageing man that is robust in both nature and attitude.  His is a man that is at the point in his life where his has seen many things, but is still searching for something that is missing.  Eugene is a wealthy man, due to inheritance, that is searching for contentment and fulfillment that he sees will never happen because of social status or placement on the monetary latter.  So he decides to set off in life and find what he feels he does not possess.

            Henderson the Rain King winds its way through humor, memories, discontentment, friendship, disaster, and soul searching.  Eugene is an aging man that has gone through a marriage, divorce, and then marriage.  He served his country during the war and ended up with several children and a bad temper.  While reading this novel I was able to feel the effects that this temper had on others around him.  His wife, Lilly, at times seemed removed from his rants and raves, but the real power of his temper was felt after his housekeeper was found dead  because of his yelling.  This was a strong mental image and left an impact on me that Henderson was unhappy with where he was in life.

            Henderson’s journey in becoming a pig farmer added an under tone of humor to what value he put on materialistic things.  He ended up turning most of his estate into a pig farm and, to me, this read as almost a mocking attitude he had towards society and where value is placed.  His actions could be read as if he saw the sadness and waste that money and materialistic things where put before anything else.  I often saw Henderson as a grumpy, lonely old man that had no problem making sure everyone around him was feeling the same.

            After deciding to make a journey with a friend to Africa, Henderson purchased a one way ticket.  Not sure when or if he was going to return home, made him seem stark with life as it was and longing to get more out of it.  Making the decision to split from his friend’s safari after reaching Africa and having a disagreement with the friend’s wife, made Henderson seemed even more eager to find and walk towards the unknown.  I think that often the unknown in life becomes very appealing because of unhappy with where we are in our present situation.  This seemed like the struggle Henderson was having through the first half of the novel.  He was searching for a place in the world, but in the beginning may have not realized it yet.

            Henderson befriended Romilayu, who becomes his guide while in Africa.  He asks Romilayu to take him to the most native, far removed place he can.  They journey together to a remote village and Henderson is in awe at how different a culture and place he is in.  I think that his feeling of being alone was touched upon again during his stay in the Arnewi village.  He was perplexed by villagers that were morning of dying cattle.  He seemed to want to understand the close connection they felt with their cattle but could almost not imagine the reasons why.  His view of livestock and the villagers’ where very different, and he soon saw this after arriving in the Arnewi village.

            The Arnewi villagers would not let their cattle drink out of the local watering hole because it had frogs in it.  They said that the cattle could not drink the water because it was contaminated by the frogs.  Henderson had a hard time understanding this thought, because of his cultural differences and ideas on life existing with other life.  He tried to help out the Arnewi tribe by bombing the frogs, but in the process he ended up destroying the damn that secured their water supply.  Once again Henderson became an outcast and a loner.  He had his friend Romilayu with him; but still did not have a satisfied soul.

            Henderson went to the village of Wariri and befriended Dahfu, the king.  Dahfu soon teaches Henderson how to interact with a lion named Atti. Dahfu shares a philosophy that he has about who people are on the inside and out.  He says that your insides match who you are on the outside.  So if you have the soul of a lion then you will resemble a lion with your appearance.  Henderson has a moment of reflection on this.  He wonders that because of his experiences with pigs, does he resemble a pig.  I think that this was insight on how he was feeling on the inside.  I think Henderson was looking back on his life and how he interacted in it daily.  Picturing himself as a pig showed that he was feeling like one inside.  He was feeling the laziness, selfishness, and stubborn nature that he had lived his life.  This was a moment of self-discovery for Henderson.

            The path that Henderson traveled was an adventure.  He went from being a lonely, grumpy old man to returning home with a new sense of self.  He made a journey, like a lot of us do in our life, to self discovery.  He was trying to figure out why his soul was crying out to him, “I want”.  I think that whether you are a man on a journey in Africa, a college student, or a mythical character, contentment is always trying to be discovered.  ”How shall a man be broken for whom reality has no fixed dwelling!” (Bellow, 1959, p199).

            Henderson’s journey reminded me of the structure of our class.  There were the beginnings in which the unknown existed and some preconceived ideas of what the class was going to be like.  As Henderson set out on his journey to Africa, he was faced with the unknown of what and where his journey would take him.  The middles of his journey were filled with trials and new examination of who he was and how he lived his life.  During the middles of our class there were also trials and realizations of what we did not know and how we perceived myth verses reality.  I gain a whole new idea of what separated these two concepts.  Myth is the reality in which we live our daily lives.  “And moreover, it’s love that makes reality reality. The opposite makes the opposite.” (Bellow, 1959, p 269).   It has formed how we think about friendships, love, and turmoil.  During the ends of our class as well as in Henderson’s journey, there is finale.  Every story must come to an end so that a new one can start and the circle of beginnings, middles, and ends can take place.