The Natural: Malamud's Metamyth of a Moral Will Through the Moral Hero

The Natural Malamud's Metamyth of a Moral Will Through the Moral Hero

Roy Hobbs was born to be a Great Man. In addition to the physical gifts of a natural athlete, Roy possesses the traits of a moral hero: empathy, reflectivity, and autonomy. Yet he fails both as baseball hero and moral hero. Why? InThe Natural, Malamud tackles the age-old philosophical problem of fre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soundings (Nashville, Tenn.) Vol. 97; no. 1; pp. 100 - 125
Main Author: Salinas, Oscar
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Pennsylvania State University Press 01-02-2014
Penn State University Press
Subjects:
Baseball
Determinism
Evil
Free will
Games
Heroes
Love
Metaphysics
Moral judgment
Morality
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Summary:Roy Hobbs was born to be a Great Man. In addition to the physical gifts of a natural athlete, Roy possesses the traits of a moral hero: empathy, reflectivity, and autonomy. Yet he fails both as baseball hero and moral hero. Why? InThe Natural, Malamud tackles the age-old philosophical problem of free will versus determinism. Through narrative, he presents the novel argument that though there is no free will, there is the possibility of a moral will through determinism, in particular through the example of the moral hero who has been nurtured to be strong enough to be good.
ISSN:0038-1861
2161-6302
DOI:10.5325/soundings.97.1.0100