The Natural (Identities and Issues in Literature)

The Work

In The Natural, Bernard Malamud indicates his artistic concern with personality development in an allegorical story utilizing baseball to present the challenges the hero must undergo. Roy Hobbs, the new player on the last-place Knights, has the opportunity to help gain the pennant and discover his own identity. Roy, however, cannot bring himself to make the right choices.

Structured in two parallel stories, the novel presents Roy Hobbs’s attempts to succeed. In both stories, Roy undergoes allegorical trials of initiation that test his strength and...

[The entire page is 647 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass