Free write: Most titles give us an idea what the story is about, and what we will experience if we read. But some authors use titles to do more than that; some use metaphors so their titles create additional meanings.
In the world of sports, talent scouts, managers, coaches, writers and fans examine the talent of newcomers and wonder whether they will be successful. A player whose skills seem to need no training, or whose skills seem God-given, is called a natural.
In the Middle Ages (approx. 500A.D. to 1350 A.D.), the term natural referred to an idiot, a kind of foolish innocent person whom it was thought God protected.
How does Bernard Malamud use the title of the book to allude to Roy as a natural in both senses?
Discussion
1. NYTimes Book Review
2. Allegory
3. Parzival/Percival: What parallels are present?
4. p. 26: What are we to make of Harriet's questioning of Ray: "Isn't there something over and above earthly things—some more glorious meaning to one's life and activities?"
5. Where can we see myth-making in the first section?
6. Symbols present and what might they signify?
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