The Natural (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1952
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: 1930’s-1940’s
- Setting: Chicago and New York
- Principal Characters: Roy Hobbs, Pop Fisher, Memo Paris, Iris Lemon
- Genres: Long fiction, Sports fiction
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, New York City, 1940’s, 1930’s, Chicago, Folklore, Corruption, Baseball
- Locales: New York, NY, Chicago, IL
The Story:
In section one, “Pre-Game,” nineteen-year-old pitcher Roy Hobbs journeyed by train to Chicago for a tryout with the Cubs. He was accompanied by Sam Simpson, an alcoholic former major-league catcher and scout who hoped to use his discovery of Roy to resurrect his scouting career. Roy was a naïve, self-centered, country bumpkin. With his homemade bat, Wonderboy, fashioned from a tree that had been split by lightning and seemed to possess an energy all its own, Roy was, however, a superbly gifted ballplayer.
Also on the train was Walter “the Whammer”...
[The entire page is 2046 words long]
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