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.

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