Becoming A Hero In The Natural, By Bernard Mallamud

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In life, there are times when every human being will face challenging obstacles. In the beginning of the novel The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, demonstrates a theme that heroes are not always what we expect them to be as people, and more often than not their flaws bring their personal tragedy. Roy’s life changing experience happen when he was in Harriet’s hotel room and was shot in the stomach by her. At that moment, of course Roy has struggled with keeping up with his baseball career but, toward the end not only that heroes have their priorities straight in life: they become a better human being once they have overcome the traumatic experience. It took Roy years to overcome his difficult experience that put his baseball career in jeopardy. Throughout his experience, he never gave up on his passion and love for baseball, which motivated him to try to become the best baseball player. From there, he eventually got back on that baseball field as not only a new and improved baseball player but an inspiration to people. Tragic downfalls of heroes in our society made them a stronger human being as they are today. As for Roy, throughout his long, tragic downfall, he eventually learned a lot of life experiences …show more content…

“We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.”(Bernard 152). This quotation helped Roy understood that if he wanted to be happy with his life, he can’t give up on something he truly loved and to turn things around. People are going to suffer in life to make a stronger future. In Roy’s case, he loved baseball so he didn 't let one factor, the tragedy negatively affects him from achieving his dreams. Fast forwarding 12-13 years into Roy’s life, he made a comeback on the baseball field playing for a horrible team called the "NY

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