Treatment of Self and Society in Saul Bellow’s Selected novels

One of the most striking aspects of America as a dynamic country lies in its
inhabitants as subjects of extreme contrasts and abrupt changes having the polarities of
open roads of immigration and jealous islands of tradition, outgoing internationalism
and defiant. Isolationism ,boisterous Competition and self effacing co-operation. It is in
these polarities of multi coloured teeming cultural city background with his (Bellow’s)
endless of variety of characters and the confusion of values, they try to maintain an idea
of himself amidst there pressures of the objective world. The autonomous choice of
maintaining ,an idea of himself,the protagonists tend to depend on the critical changes
in their familiar geographic and economic vicissitudes. In such a scenario as an
individual the protagonists Choice is to leave or turn in the opposite direction if he
chooses to do so. But in America most of the protagonists as migrants are not learn or
taught to choose to move or stay at one place like a sedentary man as his life style from
the perspectives of his family life. In most of the life styles pattern of these
protagonists(The Adventures of Augie March, Humboldt’s Gift, Herzog, Henderson the
Rain King and The Victim) what appears to be paradoxical in their choice of their
private or individual decision their domestic family history provides with opposite
elements as a potential alternative. This is given much focus on the first chapter.

An analysis on the basis of the historical perspective of their patterns of life

naturally falls on the background of their stay in the cities like Chicago, New York and
African continent. Chicago as a backdrop provides ample scope for Augie March’s
Choice of living, after having had experiences in many places, as portrayed by Bellow, in
a check-board of ethnic neighbourhood, a rest of small time political and financial deals,
still people manage to survive with a kind of dogged nobility. Most of the Americans are
the middle class “business people”. Criminality is a common feature. For example Augie
flirts with criminal behaviour to himself but wind up in some kind of ambivalent
relationship with a criminal whom he detach morally but still aesthetically compelling.
This world of Bellow is a mad world. There is an element of paranoia. This surface out
of too much self-absorption, too much narcissism and too much mechanization. Augie
March has an absent father and accepts his elder brother Simon as a surrogate father .
Almost all the protagonists mentioned above are self-possessed monomaniacs. (A
detailed psychological study on this score is found elaborated in the respective chapter
allotted to each of these novels selected for research).Thus the problem of rejuvenation
with the society surrounded him are dealt in a detailed manner in the second chapter.

In Herzog too Bellow projects this positive image of polarity giving ample scope
for self defense against deeply feared or serenly hoped for opposite extreme. Herzog is a
peculiar ‘reality instructor’ who teaches with lesson that appears to be punishing us.
The next aspect about his Jewish character is that they are both ‘chosen’ and ‘rejected’ –
once again the clement of polarity of self-contradiction. It means they are chosen by
‘God’ but they are rejected by the ‘society’. All of them do not care for their family lives
or physical feature but they love hard and sad humour. How this aspect of these
characters is treated by Bellow shall be expounded in a detailed manner in the research.
Bellow’s imagination does not range very far where his female characters are
concerned. They appear as nympholestic fantasies, peculiarly unconvincing. All
Herzog’s individual traits like his basic trust, his autonomy of function, his initiative
drive ,his industry, his own identity, his intimacy and his ego integrity got crumbled up
on a count of his confronting the selves of his wife and her new paramour. His problem
was the problem of contemporary romantic hero having nihilistic views bordering on
pessimism. That is the dream of man’s heart, whatever may be one’s distrust or resent,
show completion in an incomprehensible way before death. Applying the tools of
Erikson the writer tries to show how Herzog’s transcendental experience on account of
his psychological development by rejecting the knowledge of his intellect but not
rejecting the apparatus that in his intellect .A detailed analysis on this line is to be
discussed Herzog chapter.

Humboldt’s Gift also exposes the self contradictory traditions followed in American
history. The positive values of love and forgiveness that Humboldt practiced in his life
as an artist ultimately resulted in his death. But as a gift he told this philosophy to his
deciple Citrine in a form of a letter achieves his lime light and the riches that success
could bring one as an evolved individual he struggles against the odds of sleep
otherwise death that alone influenced people to engage in deeper self-delusion. He is a
typical Bellow protagonist who dares to meet death and know it what it is. In this
context Citrine psychological parameter’s of Erik H Erikson is applied to Citrine’s basic
trust on his “Intimations of immortality movements in life of divine revelation that helps
him to recognize a somnolent death state gripping humanity.” The truth about sleep
only be could seen from the perspective of an immortal spirit (Humboldt’s Gift 109)

In The Victim too, the two sets of truth that American are taught to live as
slogans “let us get the hell out of here” or let’s stay and keep the bastards out” practiced
within or without as a lofty law as a course of history with its principle advocating
mercenary and Philistine tendencies of American middle class living in Chicago And
New York. In the world of Bellow there are many adult males in a sense that the people
in his world as sons and father, father may real fathers or surrogate fathers, children
and women too present but in a shadowy manner. Bellow’s main concern is the
emotional transaction of males inside the family, brother and brother, son and father,
father hating son and a Machiavellian surrogate father Levanthal in The Victim a
helpless son in the world of tyrannical father. This chapter shall expound in detail how
reconciliation strikes between a Jew and a gentile.

Henderson the Rain King extends the polarities of self contradiction to the
other ethnic racial ground Africa. Einhorn is his spiritual father of Henderson the Rain
King’s real father in tyrannical. Henderson’s problem of his voice I want, I want
stemming out of his sham, doubt, guilt. Inferiority, isolation, basic mistrust and despair
got transcended out his affirmation of experiences he had in his logical outcome of chain
of events that rounded off the psychological development of him. His purpose of visit to
Africa to see essentials and to guard against hallucination .It is his belief in the
immortality of the soul-a typical transcendental idea. To achieve this of his celebrated
self of Henderson what tools Bellow has taken as the psychological parameters of
Erikson shall be well discussed in detail in the chapter devoted for this novel.

After discussing the historical perspective of America’s self contradictory nature

which itself becomes a feature of polarity in the choice of the individual protagonists
pursuit in life the researcher shall launch on the monomaniacal tendencies of them by
applying the psychological parameters of Erik H.Erikson’s (from his book entitled –
Childhood and Society) as

a) Basic Trust Vs Basic Mistrust

b) Autonomy Vs Shame and Doubt

 c) Initiative Vs Guilt

d) Industry Vs Inferiority

e) Identity Vs Role confusion

f) Intimacy Vs isolation

g) Generativity Vs Stagnation

h) Ego integrity Vs Despair

The historical perspectives with its attendant impact of geocentricity hinge on

the psychological mould of the protagonists of these select novels shape them into a
typical pattern of characters in Bellow’s imaginary world of his fictions as being of self
with problems within moving in and along with problems of their world without.

The uniqueness found in the selves of the individual protagonist of these novels
as portrayal by Bellow is they never accept and lead a life after identifying their evils in
their selves as found expressed objectively in the society or the world but try their best
to find a positive idea of himself and lend a progressive life of their own.

The estimate of the individual protagonist’s positive idea about their lives
emerges out of their interaction of their own inner selves with the other factor of the
objective world. In the process of establishing the positive bright patches of their selves
they at times delve deep into their own mental conflicts from which they struggle to
extricate out of their own psychological introspection of ideas mentioned above as their
eight entities pitted against the eight other entities as found in their selves as adverse
factor. The positive ideas of eight factors and the negative ideas of other adverse factors
create in their selves problems for which if they see a solution in their American life
with their twin faith either to accept or live in Hell or within and without drive all
factors of Hell from within and without. Choice of their struggle for identity in the
positive half of his idea against the other subjective adverse one continues even after
the individual’s victory on his sticking to positive idea when he steps into the action and
interaction objective other factors of society with its twin cleavage living in Hell or
driving Hell away. It is in the process of contemplation and choice action protagonists
of these five novels by their positive idea of their selves choose the objective positive
attitude of driving the hell away become beings polarizing the positive factors in their
selves and the society.

This thesis brings out thin element of polarity of the self of the individual and
society by interpreting the historical objective of American social life and the
psychological dictates of the inner positive selves of the individual protagonists and
prove the fact that Saul Bellow, chooses the dictum that the individuals positive idea
shall bring peace and prosperity, harmony and happiness, progress and pleasure here in
life amidst the other adverse factors within the self and without the society. This is dealt
in this concluding chapter.
 Core Course

Critical study of Saul Bellow’s novels

Unit I - Adventures of Augie March

Unit II – Herzog

Unit III – Humboldt’s Gift

Unit IV – The Victim

Unit V – The Henderson The Rain King

 Supportive Course

Critical Approaches to Saul Bellow’s novels

Unit I – Erik H.Erikson’s “Childhood and Society”.

Jacques Lacan’s “The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis”.

Unit II – Erik H.Erikson’s “Youth and Crists”

Jacques Lacan’s “The Triumph of Religion”.

Unit III –

Unit IV – Daniel Fuchs’s “Saul Bellow Vision and Revision”.

Ram Prakash Pradhan’s “The Woman in the Novels of Saul Bellow”.

Unit V- G.Neelakanthan’s ”Saul Bellow”.