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.