Symbolism in the Novel Titled the Natural by Bernard Malamud - Essay Example

Hobbs’ ambition to excel in baseball is significantly affected when a woman whose motivation is not known, because she does not give any reason to explain her actions shoots, him in the leg. The novel is based on Hobbs’s challenges of getting back to his feet and getting back into baseball. This paper seeks to discuss symbolism in the novel titled The Natural by Bernard Malamud. There is the part where a tree is struck by lightning and Roy Hobbs proceeds to make a baseball bat out the wood from the struck down tree.

This can be construed to mean that it was Hobbs’ way of being baptized by fire in order to become better. Hobbs is shown being good in the scene as a pitcher, but he is even a better batter where his legend is established for the rest of the novel (Malamund 120). Every time that Hobbs pitched would have restricted if he had not overcome his being shot and the adversity that he faced after the fact, and his reinvention as an even greater ball player. The lightning bolt that hit the tree is indicated to have been on the bat, and his wearing the significant number nine in baseball.

Hobbs and Ted Williams are both illustrated wearing red, and they are both honoured during the final bats of their careers. Hobbs bat is modelled after that of Ted Williams and shoeless Joe Jackson, and Hobbs was prosecuted for throwing a game. All of these great athletes had names for their baseball bats, which they held onto jealously and fervently. The use of symbolism in the novel is vital in helping the reader understand the theme and the meaning of the novel as well as the time in which it took place.

Symbolism takes the form of characters like women who strongly influence Hobbs’ actions and emotions. Harriet Bird is a woman that Hobbs falls in love with first, and he does almost anything possible in his position gain her attention. Harriet Bird uses Hobbs infatuation with her to seduce and lure him into her room where shoots him in the stomach which prevents him from joining the Chicago Cubs. Symbolism is illustrated in major league baseball and how it plays a significant part in the development of both characters and the novel’s story line.

The path, which Roy’s career follows, portrays Eddies Waitkus and Babe Ruth’s career. Eddie Waitkus played for the Chicago Cubs for eleven years and the Philadelphia Phillies, and he was also lured into a crazed female fan’s hotel room and shot in the stomach which ended his career in baseball (Solotaroff 68). The same happens, in the novel, and the protagonist misses fifteen years of his career in baseball. Hobbs agreement with the Judge Banner to throw the final game symbolizes the renowned scandal, in the 1919 World Series, which involved Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago Black Sox.

Multiple Black Sox players took part in throwing and fixing the series for which they received handsome amounts of cash from bookies and other influential people in society (Cheuse & Delbanco 184). Hobbs does the same in the novel, but in this instance, it is the owner of the club who wants him to throw the game in the final regular season game. This is because this game would determine which team would proceed into the postseason, and Roy Hobbs accepts a monetary bribe from Judge Banner for striking-out every time he bats for the team.