Critical Response To The Natural Essay

Everyone is a literary critic in their own sense, furthermore; everyone has his or her own experiences that shape their individual lives. These experiences change how they may perceive a specific situation. The varying perceptions of a book is part of what makes critical analysis important as no two people will have identical thoughts after reading a particular piece of literature. The novel The Natural by Bernard Malamud is one such novel in which people perceive various situations the main character, Roy Hobbs, is in. There are three main critical response that are associated with the novel. The first is he contemporary viewpoint that many critics had in 1952 when the novel was released. The second occurred after the release of the film adapted

His new book followed a pretentious character, Roy Hobbs, who seemingly possessed all the skills necessary to become an iconic baseball player. This rise was put to rest after a near fatal gun shot to the stomach stopped him from becoming a player for the Chicago Cubs (27). Most critics agree Malamud gained the inspiration for this from the shooting of the Yankees first basemen, Eddie Whitcrys.(CITE). This is only the first instance in which Roy Hobbs falls victim to the woes of women. Malamud's idea of placing this tragedy at the start of the story foreshadowed what the reader would later interpret one of the major character flaws in Roy Hobbs

Percival is a young knight who is on a quest, from King Author, to find the holy grail, when he arrives in the castle of the Fisher King. The only thing that is able to heal the king is the holy grail and in the end Percival was able to heal the king. Malamud's The Natural follows a similar story with several reference to King Author and the knights of the round table. Most literary critics are able to see that the team name and Pop Fisher's name are direct reference to Fisher King. However, only some are in agreement that Roy is Percival and the holy grail is the pennant. These few critics claim when Roy wins he is, in affect, bringing Pop closer to the pennant or rather the holy grail.(CITE) Roy's first hit as a member of the Knights is also seen as a correlation to the Fisher King legend. When Roy strikes the first pitch a crack of thunder erupts in the desolate sky bringing with it rain that lasts for several days.(CITE) This rain cures the knights field and brings it back to its green glory. Another connection some make between the character Percival and Roy is there desire for fame and glory. Roy is obsessed with “being one of the greatest baseball players of all time” and eve proclaims it to both Harriet and Iris (CITW 23). Percival is the same way as he is willing to do anything in order to become a true