Leaving the Yellow House | The Dual Nature of Hattie Waggoner

In the following
essay, Korb explores the dual nature of Hattie
Waggoner and other characters and elements of
‘‘Leaving the Yellow House.’’

Saul Bellow’s ‘‘Leaving the Yellow House’’ is one of his most frequently anthologized and discussed pieces of fiction, yet in many ways it is atypical of his body of work. It is set in the western desert, not the city, and its protagonist is a woman disinclined to intellectual or spiritual matters. However, the story is as complex as any of Bellow’s other works. In Hattie Waggoner, Bellow creates a character with an unintentional duplicitous nature. Hattie’s tendency toward prevarication—to herself as well as to others—leads her to create an unstable and...

[The entire page is 1734 words long]

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