The Natural by Bernard Malamud

Jessica writes:
I am currently half way through my independent reading book, “The Natural” by Bernard Malamud. As I have been reading I have noticed how “Wonderboy” is Malamud’s way of showing Roy Hobbs, the main character through a baseball bat.
Roy Hobbs is the main character in the novel that has so far made a journey from the country to New York with the hope of playing for the New York Knights. The thirty four year old takes the train with Sam Simpson, the man who is trying to recruit him, and carries with him an old bassoon case. For a good portion of the beginning of the book, Malamud keeps the reader wondering what is in the case as he asks through various characters, what exactly it is Roy’s storing in that case. We don’t actually find out until we keep reading a little further.
The reader is introduced to the object in the bassoon case when Roy goes up to bat against Al Fowler. He hits all the hard pitches thrown at him with a lot of power, especially considering the fact that he’s one of the older players, and does so outstanding, Pop, the head coach, calls him over to inspect his bat. The bassoon case had been holding his secret weapon which was engraved with the name “Wonderboy”. Roy had engraved the name Wonderboy into the bat after making it himself. He explained to Pop that he gave it this name because he wanted it to be “a very good bat.” (63) A tree had been stuck by lightning where he used to live and he liked the wood inside of the split tree so much he carved out a bat for himself.
This bat named Wonderboy plays a very important role in the novel and I believe it a symbol that relates to the main character. Roy is just like his bat because he was nothing but an unknown country boy until he goes to New York and is discovered. His bat was once a tree by a river where he used to live and he was able to carve it out and make it an amazing bat that can hit anything. This is a major symbol in the novel which Malamud used to help the reader get a better understanding of who Roy Hobbs is and where he came from. Wonderboy really symbolizes how unknown Roy was before he went to try out for the New York Knights.