Bernard Malamud The Natural Essay

Bernard Malamud’s creation of a hero figure in The Natural, depicts the public’s need for an undying leader, and through Malamud’s allusion of Pop Fisher as the Fisher King, the creation of “winning” as the Holy Grail , and Carl Jung’s construct of the hero cycle, it is apparent that the creation of a hero needs to continue in order to “heal” and feed society’s standards.
The creation of Pop Fisher as a character in The Natural, not only establishes a mentor figure for Roy Hobbs, but also gives him his purpose as a hero. As the coach of the New York Knights, Pop Fisher encourages and pushes the players, including Roy, to perform to their best ability, allowing for special talents like Roy to emerge from the crowd and become a symbol of heroism.

Similarly, in the Arthurian legend of the Perceval and the Fisher King, Perceval does not fully become himself until he meets the king and learns of his task, “Although no one tells him, the boy now becomes aware of his own name: it is Perceval,” (Annis). Without the figure of the Fisher King, the hero, in the case of The Natural it is Roy Hobbs, may go on without much of a future and lacking inspiration. Pop Fisher is there to guide Roy and push him into being the best player he can be, “I feel I have been waiting for [you] my whole life. So take care of yourself,” (Malamud 119). Through the process of gaining fame, Roy starts to forget his true purpose as the character of “Perceval” to focus on himself. He does not complete his quest because of Pop Fisher’s dream of winning, instead he does it for the selfish dream of being the best. In the last game of the novel, Pop Fisher encourages Roy to play his best, and continue his quest demanding him, “I feel I am entitled to it. I feel if I win it just this once—I will be satisfied…go in there and do you damnedest,” (210). Pop Fisher’s words put the situation into perspective for Roy giving him more incentive to not participate in the Judge’s plan of losing the game. In a last attempt to complete Roy’s character of Perceval Pop pleads, “Go on in, keep us alive,” (224). By being truthful and appealing to Roy with heartfelt emotion, Pop Fisher puts the quest back in Roy’s mind, setting him on the journey to fulfill the character of Perceval and become a true hero. Not achieving the Holy Grail leads Roy to fail his quest as the Perceval figure, but without the mentor figure of Pop Fisher he would not have realized his true potential from the start. The figure of Pop Fisher in The Natural can be compared to the Fisher King as he gives Roy Hobbs, his Perceval, the mission in order to fulfill the role of the hero.
The idea of “winning” is seen as the ultimate Holy Grail, and in order to truly fulfill the quest and become a true hero Roy must attain the Holy Grail in the most “natural” way possible.

At the start of the his season with the Knights, Roy is completely ignored and left on the bench, Pop Fisher instead places his faith on other players leaving Roy to sit back, “I will locate you a place on this bench with the rest of my All-Stars,” (43). Pop chooses to make fun of Roy in his first encounter out of disbelief that he will be beneficial to the team. He chooses to be believe in Bumper, his star player at the moment, hoping that he may be the hero that gets him his win. After the death of Bump, Roy is put into the game more often, and becomes the true hero of the team. His talents are discussed in the daily newspapers his status of the hero is accepted by everyone. The team managers and the public, believe that Roy is a “gift from God” sent to help make them the best team, and they push him to perform to his best ability, “Win for us, you were meant to,” (219). The public begins to see Roy going down the hero path, but in order to truly become a hero in their eyes he must first attain the Holy Grail, and show his true worth. Their push for him to become the best player stems from their belief that he is the best, and in order to become the hero he must attain the physical representation of “winning,” in this case it is the pennant, to prove his heroic abilities. What the fickle crowds do not understand is that in the journey, Roy can still become a great person and a legend without fulfilling his role of a hero. From the his first day with the Knights Roy has had his mind in the game, willing to prove his worth to everyone around him, “It took me fifteen years to get here. I cam for more than the ride and I will leave my mark around here,” (58). Roy know he has a potential and wants to showcase that by becoming the hero everyone needs. To become a hero one must attain

the Holy Grail, proving oneself to the public, but Roy’s failure to achieve the Holy Grail does not take away any of his great ability and efforts, “With Hobbs' failure in his Grail Quest, though, Malamud troublingly suggests that the hero is an illusion in modern society.” (Annis). The belief from the various characters in the novel that Roy’s past achievements are not worth anything because of his failure to attain the Holy Grail suggest that not only is the hero is an illusion, but also that the hero itself does not hold much importance, as society will merely move on and find someone else to place their shallow belief in. The idea of the hero does not truly exist in the society that Malamud places Roy in, their idea of a true hero, similarly to their dedication to the Knights, is fickle and without much passion. If Roy were to attain the Holy Grail, winning the final game and earning the pennant, he would become a true hero to Pop Fisher and those that pushed him to become the best, but his fame would be short lived in the public eye, the same way it is when he fails his quest, because the fans quickly move on to the next “to be hero.” Winning the Holy Grail is seen as a must have accomplishment for Roy, but in the end his hero status is not defined by the Holy Grail, but merely by his public perception and genuine ability.
Through the creation of fickle fans and audiences at the Knights’ game, Malamud emphasizes the importance of a true hero, defined by Jung’s archetype of a hero. Jung constructs the hero archetype based on the idea of a hero cycle and a “hero scoresheet.” In order to become a hero, one must have had an interesting or unusual birth, initiation, or death, “The culture hero’s story begins with his miraculous or in some other way unusual birth…he is usually then abandoned,” (Underberg). The reader and the Knights fans do not know much about Roy’s birth, except for the fact the he is abandoned and orphaned. This mystery that comes with Roy’s life adds to the his hero mentality, making people more interested in him and elevating him to a higher status. Roy proves to be hero material when he goes out of the way promising to achieve the unachievable, “Maybe I might break my back while I am at it, but I will do my best—the best I am able to do— to be the greatest there ever was in the game,” (Malamud 108). This verbal confirmation from Roy encourages others to trust him, and already makes him sort of a hero to fans. His willingness to embody the true hero mentality, gives him points on the “hero score sheet,” for going out of his way to reach the impossible. Although, Roy has yet to reach true hero status, the public puts him on a hero pedestal as he gets better due to their need of a hero. Without the courageous Perceval, Roy, leading the Knights the fans have no one to look forward to or cheer on after Bumper’s death. After going through a slump and meeting Iris, who gives Roy the strength to get out of the slump, she leaves him with a few words of wisdom, “Without heroes we’re all plain people and don’t know how far we can go,” (148). The hero stereotype, although an illusion in modern society, can be beneficial in encouraging others to pursue their best. At the end of the book, after losing the final game that would take them to the World Series, a young boy confronts Roy asking him if the conspiracy theories against him are true. The look of pain and sadness on the young boy’s face after Roy confirms it by crying into his hands, break the illusion of grandeur of the hero in society. Roy truly never reached hero status, as he never won the “Holy Grail,” but was nonetheless elevated to a status above his fellow teammates. His status as a hero and the face of the Knights only occurs because of the fan’s need to to have someone to rely on, “A hero is a hero only because the people say he is…[and] The United States still searches for heroes, still seeks them out,” (Edelstein). No matter how much a hero Roy was not, the fans and the public still make him a hero out of necessity. The public seeks out a hero, and by Roy’s display of skill, he becomes the hero. This elevated status as a faux hero of course makes Roy’s fall even bigger because he is already so close to being considered a true hero. Because heroes are hard to come by through Jung’s construction, any person that displays signs of heroism automatically makes them heroes. The construction of a hero is largely based on the perception of the audience, but it must also follow the strict guidelines of Jung’s construction including the hero scoresheet and the grandiose life.
The Natural shows the true beliefs of the construction of the hero character in our society. Hero’s are seen as people above anyone else, but to fit the hero bill one must be truly exceptional and that is rare in our society. In the Natural, Roy Hobbs gives his best to become this figure for society, but because of human temptation and nature, he ends up failing, and his desires overpower him.. This idea that heroes aren’t allowed to have simple human desires and are placed on a pedestal is what separates them from truly being role models and is what makes them hard to come by.