Corruption In Bernard Malamud's The Natural

The Great Depression struck out many during its run in the 20th century. From 1929-1939, unemployment struck one in every four people. And additional events such as the Dust Bowl, forced many farmers to the city looking for work, doing anything they could to obtain what little money they could. From the twenty-five cent, the twenty cent, and the fifteen cent worker, anything was worth it for money. And with anyone doing anything in order to get money, corruption was high, as well as the greed for said money. These aspects, along with the national pastime of baseball are all incorporated in Bernard Malamud's novel, The Natural.

During this time though, the national pastime of baseball was still dominant, with money being offered just to play

a sport your good at. Thus was the dream Roy Hobbs,in Bernard Malamud's The Natural, to play in this league. His initial claim to fame was striking out Walter "The Whammer" Whambold.

However this success is cut short when a Harriet Bird shoots him, who has previously murdered two other star athletes, sidelining him for fifteen years. Fifteen years later, after finally getting a chance to play, Roy Hobbs starts to become a national sensation in this sport. However the corruption and the need for money was still evident in the League from the times of the Great Depression. As Roy's rise to fame continues, old faces reamerge, offering him chances at money he never thought he could, however at a very high price.

In his initial return after living through the attempt on his life, Roy is a rookie for the New York Knights, going through what rookies would usually go through. Being the butt of most jokes of the team, and not getting much of a shot. However the few times he gets in the game, he shows his true potential for the game. His chance to show what he was finally capable of came after star Bump Bailey is not playing hard. He later plays a very good game and takes over for Bump after a freak accident. Where Bump ran into a outfield wall, resulting in his death. As he began to start, his rise to fame came as well. As his fame grew, the old face of Max Mercy appeared. Max Mercy's reappearance is our

first scene at prospect of money throughout the book. Despite carrying the team, Roy is still paid very little, so he goes to the Judges office for a pay raise, however Pop warns Roy of the corruption in the judge. Here the judge doesn't pay Roy any money at all, which is when Mercy appears. He then offers Roy the chance at "$5,000" for articles about his past, but Roy declines. Here we see the first two examples of corruption within the story. The judge, being a known conmen by Pops, refuses to pay Roy. Even though Roy is clearly better than Bump, who was making $35,000 before his untimely death, and even Charges Roy for another uniform. He then says "'The love of money is the root of all evil,'" to Roy. This quote shows the motivation of the judge, that he wants money, that he wants to keep it for himself and for no one to have it. That the money he wants and craves, is his motivation. and the root of his evil deeds. This is Roy's first sight of corruption in the book, and a common theme of greed within the book. Max Mercy is man of greed, feeding off of others success and fame to fill his own wallets. As evident by his offering to Roy of $5,000 dollars, just so he can grow rich off of Roy's backstory. The second is with the judge, despite being a knownconmen, Roy still tries to get his share of cash for helping his team. However Roy is left disappointed as the judge not only does not give him a pay raise, but force Roy to pay for an extra uniform.
This theme of corruption and greed still continue well into the novel, with more sayings from the judge. They are still off the same note however. The judge says that "... emphasis upon money will pervert your values. One cannot begin to imagine how one's life may alter for the worse under the impetus of wealth-seeking." Here the judge is emphasizing what money and wealth can do to us. That if we let all this money go to our heads, we shall lose our values, and our said values will be corrupted. Our original values is what lead us to achieving our wealth in the first place, whether it's being a frugal shopper, being wise with our money, or just being a blue collar worker. If we let our new found wealth get to our head, and lose our foundation, we will end up in a worst spot, and most likely in a position of poverty. That is what the judge is trying to argue for us. That despite him being a conmen and scamming Roy, he knows of the allure of money, and what it could do to people. That so many people in this time period were dirt poor, that they would any chance to strike it rich. And the judge is emphasizing the fact that if people lose their core values when they become rich, or just wealthier, if we start being more flamboyant with our purchases or lifestyles, we will be even worse off than before.
As Roy's fame rises and more people get to know his name, the corruption and greed within this book peeks. With a chance for his team to reach National League pennant, Roy is faced with a critical decision, that shows the greed and corruption within humanity. Roy could lose his own life in his final game, and with this knowledge, as well as wanting to start a family with Memo, he begins to set aside his previous morals at a chance for money from the judge, letting the corruption take over him at a guarantee for money, by throwing the game. "Twenty-five thousand for dropping the game is not enough," said Roy, then the judge responds with "Thiry and no more", which Roy responds with "Thirty-five" to which the judge responds with "You are impossible to deal with-but I accept." In this back and forward dialogue between Roy and the judge, we finally see dirt on Roy, some dirt that Mary has been trying to find throughout the novel. We finally see Roy's character break, and he loses his values that the Judge had previously preached. The money finally got to Roy, he put himself before the team for the first time, because he knew his days of playing the sport he loved were numbered, and that he could die in his last game. So Roy finally snapped, his morally righteous character finally broke, he put himself and his family over his team. He put the future of his family, over the future of his team. And this decision, this snap in character, this sense of corruption finally seeping into Roy's character is the climax for the book. Despite him later trying to redeem himself by winning the game, this collapse in character, this corruption finally taking him over, is a major climax in the book. Where we realize that even our morally just protagonist, can still succumb to human greed and corruption.
Max Mercy himself is a character representing greed in the book itself. Despite him meeting Roy at the beginning of the story, his fascination of Roy is his main motivation in the story. He is always trying to get answers out of Roy, such as his second meaning with Roy where he bribes Roy for his background. And throughout the rest of the novel his greed takes over, trying to find dirt on Roy, the story that would ruin Roy in the eyes of everybody. His greed and goal finally was revealed to us in the last pages of the book, where a newspaper was titled "Suspicion of Hobb's Sellout- Max Mercy". This revelation points that Mercy finally found the dirt on Roy that he was looking for, and as a result, all of Roy's history in baseball, "will be excluded from the game and all his records forever destroyed." This greed of Max Mercy, was his purpose in this book, this greed for trying to find something juicy on Roy, ultimately embodies the greed and corruption within this book.
The success of The Natural, has brought in under criticism and praise. One such of its criticisms is that "...protagonist attaches himself to the false women and turns away from the true women." as explained Diane Andrews Henningfeld. Overall, this statement proves to be true, especially in the case of Roy Hobbs. Initially, he almost aligns himself with Harriet Bird until he gets shot, and then with Memo Paris, who leads him on for most of the novel, being blind to the love that Iris has for him. Generally this criticism of the protagonist is quite accurate. Another criticism of this book, is that "Malamud's successful use of baseball in this novel has been commonly attributed to his use of myth...". However I disagree with this assertion made by Frederick W. Turner III, unlike most of us, was likely well read in myth. The majority of our population is not well read in this subject and thus, money of us readers will not understand the historical and mythical gods that have been included in Malamud's novel. Instead, the appeal of the novel comes from it's comeback story ,and it's feel good moments. However it's ultimate appeal is that our protagonist lost, that the ending isn't cliche, it's not a fairy tail ending like most myths. The book ends with Roy's career in baseball possibly not existing at all, when this was his dream from the start of the novel. Overall, the criticism of Malamud's novel our accurate, and over us multiple insights on a readers point of view of this novel, whether it is one well rad in mythos, or one that has little knowledge on the subject.
Overall, Bernard Malamud's novel The Natural, gives us insight on our human morals, and what money can do to them. Often money, and the allure of it can corrupt even the most morally righteous characters, such as Roy Hobbs, who chooses money over his team. Additionally the human aspect of greed was well represented in this story, as Max Mercy provided as a physical existence of greed in this story, being overwhelmingly intrigued and motivated by the aspect of Roy Hobbs, looking for something wrong with the man and being overcomed with this goal throughout the novel. These two themes, of greed and corruption, as well as the influence of money are all hallmarks in the darker times of 20th century, particularly post World War 1. Corruption was high in this era, especially in sports, such as the supposed fixing of the 1919 World Series in baseball. Greed was also a huge part of this era, as people were greedy for everything, especially in the age of prohibition where everyone wanted alcohol. Or people just wanting money. Throughout all of this wealth has been a significant factor in both wealth and greed, seeing as it can be a catalyst in both, and was certainly a catalyst in The Natural as well as in 1920's. The aspects of this corruption and greed relte back to a theme of modernism in this book, such as complete loss of morality. As seen when Royfinally gives in and places himself before the team. The criticism of the book offered insightful looks into the mythical side of the book, depending on how well red the reader was on. Overall, The Natural explored more darker morals of our human nature, in particular greed and corruption, and it's comeback story that fell short offered an ending that was relevant for the themes of the story, and the problems for the era.