The Natural

by

Bernard Malamud

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The Natural: Batter Up! Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Two weeks later, Hobbs is making a speech in front of a “sellout crowd” in Knights Field, claiming that he will do his best “to be the greatest there ever was in the game.” Hobbs is being honored with his own “Roy Hobbs Day,” a celebration put on by fans who became outraged by the claims Max Mercy made in an article about Hobbs’s negative experiences negotiating with Banner. Cars drive onto the field, stuffed with consumer goods—food, appliances, and other items—for Hobbs to take away. Hobbs hopes he has not jinxed himself by saying that he will become  the “greatest” player, since the phrase could “tempt the wrath of some mighty powerful ghosts.”
In spite of Banner’s corruption and unjust behavior, Hobbs is briefly redeemed by his fans, who show their support for him by showering him in consumer goods (Malamud based the concept of “Roy Hobbs Day” on real events that were hosted for baseball players during this era). This display motivates Hobbs, who seems determined to prove that he is worthy of these gestures; ironically, though, what Hobbs does with these new items is never mentioned, suggesting that material possessions are not enough for Hobbs—he is always dissatisfied, constantly striving for more achievements.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Baseball and American Vice Theme Icon
Among the gifts given to Hobbs is a check for thirty-six hundred dollars, provided “because everyone thought the Judge,” who watches the proceedings from his tower, “was too cheap to live.” Otto Zipp has given Hobbs a pack of “dull razor blades” with a card that reads: “Here, cut your throat,” but Hobbs doesn’t take it to heart. Hobbs drives around the field in his new Mercedes-Benz and stops before Memo’s box to ask if she will go out with him; she agrees.
Zipp’s threatening “gift” foreshadows the way in which Hobbs’s fans will later turn against him (when he loses his winning streak), contributing to his downfall. Additionally, that Memo agrees to go out with Hobbs after his “day” indicates her own shallow pursuit of wealth: conniving and superficial, Memo sees that Hobbs might be able to offer her a comfortable life.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Later, Memo and Hobbs are driving together to Jones Beach on Long Island, stopping on the way for steaks; night falls, but Hobbs feels that he is making little progress with Memo. It is a confusing situation, since he has “already had” her, yet cannot “have her” now because he has had her in the past. At the same time, Hobbs feels “contentment in moving,” which offsets his own “inside motion”—his anxiety about his future. Hobbs reflects that he sometimes wishes he had no ambitions at all—including his ambition to pursue Memo—and thinks that life was simpler in childhood.
Hobbs feels disillusioned about his pursuit of Memo and wonders why he is trying so hard to earn her attention. This disillusionment wraps into the ambivalence he already feels about his career and his goals in baseball, which he offsets by “moving”—whether that means driving (i.e., physically moving) or simply striving to achieve, working doggedly in each baseball game. Nonetheless, Hobbs still feels nostalgia for a simpler time in his life—childhood—and wishes to return to the past, continuing to doubt the value of his own ambition.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Quotes
Hobbs has a strange suspicion that he is being followed, but the mirror doesn’t show anyone behind them; he remembers, though, that a black sedan had been trailing them down from the city and begins to watch for it. Memo asks to stop at a stream on the way to the beach to go wading; they find one between two towns, but the water is polluted, so wading is not allowed. Memo suggests they watch the water from the bridge and lights a cigarette. Hobbs mentions that he thinks he got enough during his “day” to “furnish a house,” and Memo responds by remarking that Bump was “coming up for a Day just before he died.”
Hobbs’s suspicion that he and Memo are being followed reflects his own anxiety about himself and his actions: he is unsure whether or not he is doing the right thing by pursuing Memo. This scene parallels a later scene in the novel, between Hobbs and Iris; whereas Hobbs and Iris jump into the lake they drive to, Hobbs and Memo do not, suggesting that Hobbs and Iris are a stronger pair—they are willing to take risks together, while Hobbs and Memo are somewhat awkward together, only observing the water. Nevertheless, Hobbs still chooses to pursue Memo, which leads him to make more misguided decisions.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
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Annoyed, Hobbs asks Memo what Bump had that he doesn’t. Memo tells Hobbs that Bump was “carefree and full of life,” and that unlike Hobbs, Bump played ball spontaneously—it was exciting to see him run after a fly ball when he put his mind to it—and without exerting the kind of effort that Hobbs does. Hobbs asks about Sands, whom Memo says is like a “daddy” to her, and she asks him about the magic tricks he performed at the night club. Hobbs admits that he used props from a magic act laid out backstage to pull off the pranks.
Memo confirms what has already been suggested about Hobbs: what makes Hobbs a fantastic player is his energy, drive, and determination, though these are all traits that can be exhausted. Hobbs may not be a total “natural” after all, but merely an extremely hard worker—and what's more, this may not be enough to guarantee him success. Additionally, Hobbs reveals how he pulled off the magic tricks at the club with Sands—suggesting that he is capable of making his abilities seem “magical” and “natural,” though they are not actually so. Memo’s remark that Sands is a “daddy” to her also suggests that she is in cahoots with Sands, who Hobbs believes is connected to Banner—foreshadowing Memo’s later betrayal of Hobbs (for Banner’s own purposes).
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Memo discusses her own life, noting to Hobbs that after her father left her family, she went to Hollywood as a nineteen-year-old to became an actress—encouraged by her success as a beauty pageant contestant—but failed to become famous. Afterwards, she came to New York and “had some more bad times” after her mother died. Memo feels that now that Bump is dead, she will never be happy again; sometimes in the morning she never wants to wake up.
Memo is orphaned and deeply unhappy, and she is thus intent on making her way in the world any way that she can—including by deceiving Hobbs, which she later does. Despite this tragic backstory, Memo is hardly a sympathetic character: that her only dream is to become an actress serves as evidence of her superficial nature, and she seems to contribute to her own unhappiness by prioritizing her own greed and surrounding herself with suspect people (including Bump and Sands).
Themes
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Memo asks Hobbs about himself, noting that Max Mercy says he is “sort of a mystery.” Hobbs cannot bring himself to confide in Memo about his own past, only telling her that he has had some tough times; he is afraid to tell her about what happened in the years after that “first time,” when everything he tried “somehow went to pot.” Instead, Hobbs tells Memo that he knows he will get “where he is going”—that he will become “the champ” and find success—and kisses her. Hobbs tries to fondle Memo’s breast, but she starts crying, telling him that it is injured.
Whereas Hobbs will later confide completely in Iris—telling her all about his troubled past—he is unable to do so with Memo, again suggesting that they are an incompatible pair (though he will continue to pursue her). Memo is clearly put off by Hobbs’s advances, but Hobbs seems oblivious to this.
Themes
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Hobbs and Memo get back into their car, with Memo in the driver’s seat. Hobbs asks her to put on the lights, but she says that she “likes it dark.” Hobbs thinks that Memo needs to drive to work through “whatever she has got on her mind.” He also realizes that though he is tired of Memo, he desires her “more than ever.” Suddenly, he sees an apparition of a young boy followed by a dog in the road and Memo swerves, but the car hits something; Memo insists that it was just “something on the road,” but Hobbs thinks it was the boy and the dog. Memo tells Hobbs that they can’t go back to check if they hit anything because they are being followed by the cops: Hobbs looks back and sees that the black car is speeding after them.
Memo notes that she prefers the darkness, foreshadowing her connection to Judge Banner (who also “likes it dark”)—though Hobbs is still unaware of her true nature. Additionally, Hobbs sees an image in the road that he has already confronted before: it is himself as a child, followed by his faithful dog and representing his own desire to forego his ambitions and thirst for fame and wealth, returning instead to the idyllic simplicity of childhood. Hobbs’s past appears—literally—to haunt him, dragging him away from the present. He also spots the black car that supposedly has been chasing them, worsening his own paranoia.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Hobbs starts driving the car and turns it around, steering it toward the fog coming off of the Sound; the black car loses track of them. He doesn’t see anything in the road where he spotted the boy and his dog before. Distracted, Hobbs runs his car into a tree, sustaining a black eye. Memo bruises her already-injured breast.
Hobbs is distracted by the reappearance of his past life in the form of the spectral image of the boy and his dog—so distracted that he runs his car off the road, demonstrating the destructive power of his own buried past. 
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Pop discovers Memo and Hobbs in the hotel the next morning and is angered that Hobbs has injured himself in the car crash. Hobbs assures him that nothing is wrong with his eye, declaring that he will “die a natural death”—that nothing will kill him “before his time.” Pop is “pacified,” but tells Hobbs to take care of himself. Pop also warns Hobbs to avoid Memo, noting that she is a bad influence on the men around her. Hobbs tells Pop that he loves her, and though she doesn’t feel the same way, he thinks she will someday. Pop hands Hobbs a check for two thousand dollars to make up for the salary the Judge cheated him out of, but Hobbs gives it back to him; the two men struggle to express their feelings of gratitude toward each other.
Despite his anxiety, paranoia, and desire to return to the past—thus giving up his hard-won career—Hobbs boldly claims to Pop that he is invincible, though as the end of the novel will reveal, this overconfidence is baseless: Hobbs is all too mortal. His flawed nature is shown here by the fact that he ignores Pop’s warnings about Memo (though they prove to be correct) and forgets the kindness that Pop shows him in this moment by betraying Pop later on in the novel.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Femininity, Stereotypes, and Destruction Theme Icon
Intent on finding out why Hobbs has returned to the hotel with an injury, Max Mercy pursues Hobbs as he goes up to his hotel room, and Hobbs tries to avoid him; as he runs through the hotel, he imagines he is back in the “blurred black forest,” where he spots the boy and his dog, broken and bleeding in the middle of a road. He decides that they must have been a hallucination, since there was no sign of blood on the car’s bumper or fender; Memo said she only screamed when Hobbs spotted the boy because she saw that they were being chased by cops in the rearview mirror. Hobbs thwarts Max by entering his room before the journalist can take a picture of him.
Hobbs realizes that the image of the boy and the dog could not have been real, but he fails to see the significance of this image as a haunting apparition representing his own past—even as Mercy pursues him in order to glean details about this past. Thus, Hobbs remains oblivious about his psychological wounds, betraying the fact that he has not yet come to terms with his past trauma.
Themes
Ambition, Failure, and the American Dream Theme Icon
Quotes