Essay On The Natural By Bernard Malamud

The novel The Natural, by Bernard Malamud follows the tragic story of Roy Hobbs, a baseball player who is a prodigy at the game. He is given the opportunity to prove his worth as a player to the world and redeem an underdog team on the brink of failure. While he almosts accomplishes these goals, he falls short not because of lack of skill but because of the temptations he succumbs to due to the dissatisfaction he feels in his life. As the story progresses, Roy is seen less as a perfect idol to root for as the story’s protagonist and more as an everyday human, complete with flaws of his own. Roy’s life shows that even with unimaginable talent in playing baseball, it can still lead to an unfulfilled life through the temptation of money, women, …show more content…
Many of the women that he encounters in the story lead him on a path of destruction, even if he is a baseball player with unimaginable talent. The first women to start the fall of Roy’s career was Harriet Bird, a woman who invited Roy to her room and than shot him. Although Roy kept his life, he lost a fire in himself that did not return until fifteen years later. When he relocated the events to Iris Lemon, he said that afterward “I just couldn't get started again, I lost my confidence and everything I did flopped” (Malamud 151). Despite his skill on the baseball field, Roy is still an everyday human when he is on the other end of a gun barrel. Fifteen years later, he finally gets his chance to play baseball, but makes the same mistake by trying to win the heart of Memo Paris. Memo is shown throughout the story to be extremely dependent on other people, such as when she was married to the rich baseball player Bump before his death and when she spent time with the wealthy gambler Gus. Even though Roy is infatuated by her, his manager Pop gives him a stern warning that “She was my sister's girl and I do love her, but she is always dissatisfied and will snarl you up in her trouble in a way that will weaken your strength if you don't watch out” (Malamud 116). Even with a warning, Roy starts to make the same mistake that he made in the past; being seduced by women that will only end up hurting him in the end. Both of these women take advantage of Roy like they would any other human being, and they do not care about his skill as a baseball player since it does not prevent him from seeing the flaws in these women. Ironically, Roy is given the chance be with a much respectable women, Iris Lemon. Iris is the only women who truly loves Roy but he does not reciprocate that love back. Instead of accepting the women who truly cares for him, Roy follows his temptation of lust