Many novels of the last few decades have been characterized by themes of particular importance: human freedom, insurrection, fatalism, mechanical necessity and obsession, due to the trend of the modern hero. The change in the cultural and literary eras of humanity has seen various figurations of the hero, from the divine and superhuman to the disillusioned and dying one. Conventional heroes were countless men of unusual power, skill, and ability. Their lines were distinguished by their great deeds and sacrifices. Their lives were marked by major problems and difficulties which they overcame and eventually established themselves as heroes. These heroes have now disappeared from the earth. The heroes of modern literature struggle hard to make the best of their overwhelming situations. An Ihab Hassan emphasizes: We see the modern hero as actor and sufferer, rebel and victim, rude and holy. We see him in the mirror of fiction in a dark way, paradoxically as a typical and uncommon man, the outsider of the street. (Five Faces of Hero 28) An ironic and paradoxical model seems to have developed in modern literature, which involves the hero in the struggle to identify himself in a world that is almost always rejected by him as incomprehensible or absurd. Due to the omnivorous nature of the novel as a literary form, both the intellectual theme of challenge and metaphysical anguish are presented not only in sophisticated, cosmopolitan, intellectual environments, but also in provincial atmospheres, where everyday routines, sounds and smells are very familiar. The contemporary hero does not feel forced to talk about his terror in facing the world, his loneliness, the paradoxical nature of his situation, the absurdity of and...... middle of paper...... I scream, Saul. The victim. Penguin Edition, Great Britain: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1960.Chirantan kulshrestha, The Problem of Affirmation in the novels of Saul Bellow, New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1978.Gross Theodore, L. The heroic Ideal in American Literature New York: The Free press, London: collier Macmillan Limited, Gross Theodore. L, 1978.Helen Weinberg, The New Novel in America: The kafkan Modern Contemporary American Fiction Ithaca: Cornell University press, 1972.Ihab Hassan, “Five Faces of a Hero”, Critique vol.iii New York: Frederick: publishing co, 1966.Ihab Hassan, “Five Faces of a Hero”, Critique vol.iii New York: Frederick: publishing co, 1966.Keith Opdahl, The Novels of Saul Bellow University part: Pennsylvania state University press, 1967.Robert R. Dutton, Saul Bellow Boston: Twayne Publishers, revised edition, 1982.