The Natural: Day 5

Free write:
Vengeance/revenge: noun — punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong
Justice: noun — the quality of being fair and reasonable; the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this.

Is Roy seeking justice or vengeance/revenge for what Harriet Bird did to him? Does the distinction matter? Does a hero seek out one over the other?

Discussion
1. In what ways is Malamud showing the reader that Roy has changed very little since the start of the novel and in showing this, what kind of heroic figure is Malamud creating?

2. "You work at is so — sometimes you even look desperate — but to him it was a playful game and so was his life" (107). What is Memo's take on Roy as a baseball player? How does that compare with how she saw Bump? How would Memo define the word hero?

3. Where in the reading can we see signs of Memo's toxic nature? What does her toxicity tell us about Roy? About Roy's ability?

4. Roy & Memo are like Gatsby & Daisy ... how?

5. Read aloud: "He woke in the locker room, stretched out on a bench. ...All night long he waited for the bloody silver bullet" (126-8). In what ways does this passage demonstrate Roy's failure to understand his role in terms of healing the Fisher King? What does this passage tell us about Roy's truest desires?

6. What does the woman in the stands stand up for? What does she give Roy that Memo cannot?