Bending calypso: A search for meaning in Friedrich Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra is seemingly a polemic on Christianity, with Zarathusra being the bete noire of the pious and devout. One could conversely, due to the similarities between Zarathustra and the Christian scriptures, argue Nietzsche as well as Zarathustra uphold Christianity. However, neither of these black-and-white explanations are adequate towards the goal of understanding Zarathustra because, as I argue, his text is meant to explicate and display a spiritual journey and process, one in which Christianity must be overcome due to its unhealthy spiritual repercussions, being recognized as a malady and thus a starting point for spiritual growth; much like Nietzsche believes that Socrates' philosophy reminds us of the need of its antithesis, art, for the formation of Greek tragedy. From the tension between Zatrathustra and his antithesis, Jesus, arises a healthy, progressive spirit which has utilized the past, Christianity, to propel itself into the future.