He's been in a slump. Can his childhood sweetheart, Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), snap him out of it? The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. It's the last out of the last inning of the crucial play-off game, and everything depends on him. The Natural is about baseball, thus The Natural is about America. Malamud uses a train metaphor to show Hobbs' "inevitable" path to glory. Let's begin at the end of "The Natural". The Natural - Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis. It was the first film produced by TriStar Pictures. The Natural Summary. Bump implies that he purposely tricked Memo into sleeping with Roy, even though Memo is Bump's own girlfriend. plays Roy Hobbs, a young farmboy raised by his father not to push a ploy but to throw a baseball harder than any mortal ever could. Roy’s neighbor, Iris, is a … The protagonist, Roy Hobbs is a young baseball prospect with the world ahead of him. Summary. When "The Natural" opened in 1984, I thought it was the best baseball movie ever made. Bernard Malamud. On the train, Hobbs and Sam encounter Walter “The Whammer” Whambold, a well-known baseball star, and when the train makes a stop at a carnival, Sam organizes a pitching and hitting competition between Hobbs and the Whammer. Bernard Malamud's novel, The Natural, follows the career of baseball player Roy Hobbs from his first false start to his final failure. His bestseller “The Natural Mind: A New Way of Looking at Drugs and the Higher Consciousness,” explores the experience of using consciousness-altering narcotics, with particular attention paid to his own experience, which he … Print Word PDF. On his first full day with the Knights, Roy arrives at the clubhouse, only to become the victim of a number of practical jokes, most played by Bump. Based on the bestselling novel by Bernard Malamud, Robert Redford. This Study Guide consists of approximately 69 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Natural. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. Roy Hobbs, a nineteen-year-old baseball prodigy, is traveling to Chicago with the scout who discovered him, Sam Simpson, to try out for the Chicago Cubs. Andew Weil has made a name for himself as a doctor well-credentialed in Western medicine, as well as an advocate of exotic -- and often controversial -- alternatives to conventional cures. The Natural is a 1984 American sports film based on Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, and Robert Duvall. Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a middle-aged ballplayer making his comeback. She sends him a note revealing that her child is his son. Bump nearly saws up Roy's bat, Wonderboy, but Roy successfully saves it. The American dream of working hard and making something of yourself is encapsulated herein. Like the book, the film recounts the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural" baseball talent, spanning the decades of Roy's career. Roy Hobbs is The Natural. The Natural (1984) Plot Summary (2) A middle-aged unknown comes seemingly out of nowhere to become a legendary baseball player with almost supernatural talent.