Rhetoric Study (Required)

"The field was overrun with droopy players. Half a dozen were bunched near the gate of the cage, waiting to be pitched to by Al Fowler, whom Pop had ordered to throw batting practice for not bearing down in the clutches yesterday. Some of the men were at the sidelines, throwing catch. A few were shagging flies in the field, a group was playing pepper. On the line between home and first Earl Wilson was hacking out grounders to Allie Stubbs, Cal Baker at short, Hank Benz, the third baseman, and Emil Lajong, who played first. No one seemed to be thoroughly awake, but when Roy went into the batting cage they came to life and observed him"(62).

This is an example of one of many passages that show Malamud's writing style. As shown in the passage above, Malamud uses backround information to set a scene or a point he is about to portray. He slowly tells the reader in the passage above about how the players are slow, sluggish, and not really paying attention to what they are supposed to be doing. I think he does this to sort of give the reader a feel for what is going on in the book at the time.

The way he gives you a description of where the players are and what they are all doing really makes you feel like you are there and can see the players actions and attitides. I think he does this because he wants you to understand the scene better, because it will impact your response to the passage more. Saying that, I think Malamud uses simple sentences and simple words to get his point across, like in the passage above: he wants us to see the impact Roy has on the players and on the game of baseball.

"No one seemed to be thoroughly awake, but when Roy went into the batting cage they came to life and observed him"(62).

The way he describes Roy also gives you a feel about how heroic and almost supernatural he is compared to the other players. You can tell Malamud is trying to do this because he almost describes everything Roy does in a mystical or life changing sense. In this passage, he talks about how when Roy came to hit, all the players "came to life" and were, in a sense, inspired. This is just one example of a passage that has typical diction, description, and comparison in which Roy is portrayed as supernatural.

Girl Problems

Throughout the book, one main conflict for Roy was Roy vs. girl. In the beginning of the book, Roy meets a girl on the train named Harriet, when he is still a young man. We can see his lust for her throughout the first chapter.

"Never before had he felt so tongue-tied in front of a girl, a looker too. Now if he had her in her bed-"(28).

It turn out that Harriet is a crazy killer who tries to kill athletes, and ends up shooting Roy, which puts him out of baseball for quite a while.

Next is Memo, who Roy is crazy for. Throughout most of the book, Roy is constantly thinking about Memo, who is just getting over hear dead boyfriend, who was the star baseball player for the Knights. When she does go out on a few dates with Roy, Roy ends up empty handed as he asks her for a kiss and other actions. After he ends up empty handed, he usually plays his next game horribly, going into horrible slumps. At the end, we find out that Memo hates Roy and blames him for the death of her ex-boyfriend, Bump Bailey.

"You filthy scum, I hate your guts and always have since the day you murdered Bump"(230).

The last girl is Iris Lemon, who essentially gets Roy out of his slump he is in because of Memo. Iris is sort of like a fall back for Roy because Roy can't get Memo. Although Iris seems like a good thing for Roy, she ends up becoming pregnant with Roy's child, and that forces Roy to accept the offer to throw the pennant instructed by the Judge. Roy then loses the game and becomes a loser to all of his fans.

It is obvious that Roy couldn't control his feelings towards girls. This gets him into trouble throughout the book and causes him many painful memories, both physically and mentally. These girls might symbolize temptations, or distractions in "The Natural," because everytime Roy is doing well, a new girl comes along, and Roy falls for each and every one of them. This causes Roy to become unsuccesful in baseball, and life.

Book vs. movie

After I finished the book, I decided to rent the movie to compare it with the book and see if there were any changes or anything interesting I could pick up on. After finishing the movie, I was easily able to distinguish the differences between the book and the movie. I've decided to talk about the major differences that I saw when comparing the movie to the book.

The first difference I noticed was that there was an absence or a change in many scenes. For example, there is no car scene with Memo and Roy in the movie, Roy is a right fielder instead of a left fielder in the movie, and also, Iris, Roy's "girlfriend," is not a grandmother in the movie like she is in the book. Another major important difference is that in the movie, Iris has a teenage son that is revealed to be Roy's son too, because Roy and Iris grew up together when they were younger. This changed the movie a lot for me, because I could tell that Iris and Roy were going to end up together, because he liked her way much more in the movie. In the novel, Roy was much more drawn to Memo, and it was easy to tell he was thinking about her a lot of the time.

"Roy was thinking about Memo. If not for her he wouldn't be here trying to make himself at ease with this one"(146).

Quotes like the one above show Roy's constant thinking of Memo, while in the movie, I didn't see that at all .

What surprised me the most was the ending of the movie. As I awaited to see Roy lose the game purposely, bury Wonderboy, and become a loser who betrayes his city, I was surprised to see that none of this actually happened in the movie. In the ending of the movie, Roy steps up and hits a home run to win the game for the Knights, and then the Judge is fired. Roy and Iris then presumably live happily ever after with their son, and lots of money.

With all the changes, it was almost a completely different plot. I had to say that I liked the movie more, because there was the fairy-tale ending, and I hate to see the main character 'lose' at the end of a novel. With this being said, it is safe to say that Barry Levinson, who directed "The Natural," wanted to change some points in the novel to give it a heroic feel.

Character Study (Required)

Roy Hobbs is the main character of the book. Roy starts out an average farmer, who has dreams of becoming a Major League Baseball Player. He plays on the New York Knights, and leads the league in many categories. Roy has many women problems throughout the book, including Harriet Bird, a woman who shot him, Memo, a woman Roy is attracted to throughout the book, and Iris, who is having Roy's baby. Roy ends up throwing the game that would get his team into the playoffs for, and everybody in the team loses faith in him.

"The fans no longer confused talent with genius. When they cheered, they cheered for Roy Hobbs alone. People wondered about him, wanted news of his life and career"(88).

We see the impact Roy initially makes on the fans of New York, and what a hero he was thought to be.

Memo is the niece of Pop Fisher, who Roy falls in love with. Memo was dating Bump until he died, and Roy falls in love with her, but she doesn't love him back. We find out that Memo actually despises Roy because she blames him for the death of Bump. Memo is sort of a distraction to Roy; whenever Roy is thinking or goes out on a date with Memo, he starts to play worse and strikes out a lot.

"She walked out of the lobby, with her silver bracelets tinkling, swaying a little on her high heels, as if she had not too long ago learned to walk on them, and went with her beautiful body away, for which Roy everlastingly fried Bump Baily in the deep fat of his abomination. It was for her he waited"(72).

We see the distraction Memo presents to Roy Hobbs.

Next is Pop Fisher, who is the coach of the New York Knights. Pop doesn't play Roy at first, but then decides to play him, and becomes fond of Roy both as a man and a baseball player. He wants to win a World Series more than anything, and depends on Roy to help him.

"It's been a blasted dry season. No rains at all. The grass is worn scabby in the outfield and the infield is cracking. My heart feels as dry as dirt for the little I have to show for all my years in the game"(39).

We see Pop in the beginning of the book and how he is very doubtful and wants to win with a Major League team for once.

Iris Lemon is a woman who Roy has a baby with during the story. She comes to some of his games and offers him support. She is a grandmother at 33, and is practically in love with Roy. Although she loves Roy, he is too busy being distracted by Memo. Although this is the case, it seems like they are meant to be, because usually when they go on a date or see each other, Roy plays very well.

"It seemed perfectly natural to Iris to be waiting for him, with her shoes off to ease her feet, here on the park grass. He had been in her mind so often in the past month she could not conceive of him as a stranger, though he certainly was"(143).

This shows the reader the first time Iris and Roy go out on a date, and how inloved with him she already is, even though he is a stranger to him.

Next is Judge Goodwill Banner, who own the New York Knights. The judge is portrayed as a bad man in the book, trying to run the Knights organization incorrectly by betting against his team and players. He also persuades Roy to throw the game for the pennant, which results in the Judge getting beat up by Roy. The judge is overall a cheap menace whom nobody appreciates.

"The Judge, a massive rumpled figure in a large chair before an empty mahogany desk, was wearing a black fedora with a round pot crown and smoking, under grizzled eyebrows, a fat, black King Oscar I"(89).

From this description we can see how the author is trying to portray the Judge: rich, and a controller.

Conclusion

In the final chapter of "The Natural," Roy Hobbs ventures up to the Judges office and beats up Gus, as well as the judge, and "showered the thousand dollar bills on his wormy head"(230). We also find out that Memo has hated Roy all along. "I hate your guts and always have since the day you murdered Bump"(230).

Not only does this happen, but we see Roy come out of the office, and no one recognizes him, except for a little boy who hits him with a newspaper. When Roy reads it, it explains his whole story and how he sold himself out to the judge. In the last scene, the little boy asks Roy if this was true, and Roy could do nothing except cry. "And he lifted his hands to his face and wept many bitter tears"(231).

I did not like this ending at all, because I thought it was too realistic, and it was very upsetting. I didn't like the fact that Roy decided to throw the game for money, and then ends up giving all the money back and becoming a loser. This sort of brings down how I portrayed Roy, and it made me think that there was not really any hope for him to be succesful for the rest of his life. Also, the end does not tell the reader what happens in the future, but it seems bad.

I think Bernard Malamud decided to end the story this way to make it seem as realistic as possible, and to not have the common fairy tale ending. It also allows the reader to debate what happens to Roy in the future, like what happens with him and Iris, and how he is going to raise his daughter. Although the ending is different from the typical fictional story, I did not like the negative ending to such a likeable and heroic character.

Turning bad into good

Bump was the New York Knights star outfielder, who not only was best on the team, but also the league. When Roy is sent up to the majors to play with the Knights, his position was left field, the same as Bump's. Because of this, Roy was not able to play unless something happened to Bump. Fortunately, for Roy, something did.

"Thinking this way he ran harder, though Zipp's geese honked madly at his back, and with a magnificent twisting jump, he trapped the ball in his iron fingers. Yet the wall continued to advance, and though the redheaded lady of his choice was on her feet shrieking, Bump bumped it with a skull-breaking bang, and the wall embraced his broken body"(76).

As we can tell from the passage above Bump "broke" his body, eventually dying. Although we see this as a tragic incident, it is one that turns out very good for Roy, and the plot of the story could not have continued to move if Bump hadn't died. For if he was not injured, Bump would have remained on the field for the rest of the year, leaving Roy on the bench, never to play. Fortunately, this did happen, and Roy got to start for the Knights, showing them his tremendous skill and competitivenes. Also, because Roy got so famous, he found his long-lost love, as well as his son.

Unfortunately there was a death in the novel, but for the reader, and Roy, the death was something that needed to happen for the plot to keep going and for Roy to become the man and baseball player he wanted to be.

Image Study (Required)

"Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere where it was biggets. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few days of rain splattered on the ground. The ball screamed toward the pitcher and seemed suddenly to dive down at his feet. He grabbed it to throw to first and realized to his horror that he held only the cover. The rest of it, unraveling cotton thread as it rode, was headed into the outfield"(74).

This image shows significance because not only does it show us the mystical power of wonderboy, but it gives us an idea of the strength, and skill Roy Hobbs has to hit the ball out of the cover. This passage is not only easy to understand because of the simile and imagery, but it gives the reader suspense as well, because it says that he cracked the ball into the sky, but then the pitcher picks up something. It made me want to read further to find out what happened to the ball and where he actually hit it.

"The Judge, a massive rumpled figure in a large chair before an empty mahogany desk, was wearing a black fedora witha round pot crown and smoking, under grizzled eyebrows, a fat. black King Oscar I"(89).

We are introduced to the judge, part owner of the team. The image above, although not saying much about the judge, can be very revealing. We see the big judge sitting behind a desk and smoking a cigar. When I read this the first thing I compared this image to was like a boss from the mob. This was very interesting to me because it was the first time the reader learns about the judge, and it gives a negative connotation to him. This passage is very significant because it characterizes a person who will later be key in the novel.

"At the clubhouse the next morning the unshaven Knights were glum and redeyed. They moved around listlessly and cursed each step. Angry fist fights broke out among them. They were sore at themselves and the world, yet when Roy came in and headed for his locker they looked up and watched with interest"(60).

Roy Hobbs is portrayed as someone who is obviously going to change the team around. In this passage, he lights up the room and stopped people fighting just by walking in it. To me, this passage signifies the foreshadowing that Roy Hobbs is going to change the team dramatically by improving it in some sort of way. This picture depicts what I think the players looked like in the dugout without Roy Hobbs.

"When it was night he dragged the two halves of the bat into the left field, and with his jackknife cut a long rectangular slash into the turf and dug out the earth. With his hands he deepened the grave in the dry earth and packed the sides tight. Then he placed the broken bat in it"(228).

This passage is talking about wonderboy. The scene is almost in a sense like a grave burial for a person. I think that this passage is very significant because it gives the reader an idea of how much Roy relies on that bat and how he sees it as almost a person. I also think it is important that he puts that bat into the ground of the baseball field, because that is where it should be buried: its home.