Abstract

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? In The 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.

You do not currently have access to this content.