Summary:
Memo and Iris: The Destroyer and the Creator, examines the th9ughts and actions of people who are obsessed with themselves. The theme is self-indulgence and the difficulties of functioning in society when one is self-oriented.
Roy Hobbs joins the New York Knights with nothing standing in his way except for his uncontrollable desire to win, in more aspects of his life than just baseball. Roy has an addiction to self-indulging, which seems to come hand in hand with his irrepressible craving to become the best of the best. As a result of this, Roy is an extremely stubborn person who ignores rejection from the woman he is infatuated with even when it is staring him right in the face. This prevents him from making good decisions in his love life (among other things), and turns out to be the downfall of his baseball career.
Memo Paris is the niece of Pop Fisher, the coach of the New York Knights. Memo has been spoiled all of her life and has been taken care of by either her Uncle or a man named Gus Sands, a wealthy bookie for baseball teams. In many ways, Memo acts like a spoiled brat, although sometimes you have to look deeper into her motives to realize it. Her late boyfriend Bump Baily was killed while chasing a fly ball that Roy hit by running into one of the outside walls of the field, fracturing his scull. Memo blames Roy for Bump's death, and hates him because of it. "He was to blame, she had wept one bitter midnight, so she hated his putrid guts." (p. 67). Roy falls in love with Memo, probably because he knows she will be a challenge, and to win her over would be the ultimate accomplishment.
Roy pursues Memo even though she gives him obvious hints that she isn't interested in him. "I'm strictly a dead man's girl." (p. 84). Memo refuses to get over Bump, but soon realizes that she can make money off of Roy by betting against the Knights with the Judge (the main owner of the Knights) and Gus. If Memo can talk Roy into purposely losing the Pennant (which is illegal, and would get Roy kicked out of baseball), then her and her partners in crime can make a fortune off of the destruction of Roy's baseball career.
Memo decides to seduce Roy and lead him to believe that she wants to get married to him. As part of the plan, the Judge tells Roy that he has to throw the Pennant and make the money or else Memo will leave him for someone with more money. Of course, any sensible person would realize right then that this woman is bad news if she was willing to end a relationship because her partner didn't have enough money. Of course Roy doesn't realize this, because he is too stubborn to see any truth in this woman. However, the Judge is lying to Roy, because he isn't really part of the moneymaking plan.
Iris Lemon comes into the story as the only person who believes in Roy, even though she has never met him. When Roy is in his slump (because of Memo), Iris goes to one of his games and is the only person standing up in the crowd, showing her support. Roy sees her, and seconds later hit's a home run. Iris is the opposite of Memo, full of life as well as a creator of life, being a grandmother at the young age of thirty-three. She expresses herself in a positive way, and spreads her happiness. "It also took quite a while until I got rid of my guilt, or could look upon her as innocent of it, but eventually I did, and soon her loveliness and gaiety and all the tender feelings I had in my heart for her made up for a lot o had suffered." (p. 193). Memo brings Roy down with her and her negative lifestyle, while Iris uplifts him and pulls him out of his slump. Unfortunately, Roy has his stubborn eyes set on the "prize", which is Memo.
Roy doesn't realize that Memo is a mercilessly immoral person until she literally has to take a shot at his arm with a pistol, revealing the fact that she is much like Harriet Bird, who was almost the downfall of Roy's career. In a way, because of Roy's stubbornness and ruthless desire to win, Memo finishes the job for Harriet by destroying Roy's career. Roy realizes that Iris is a truly respectable person, and that she can help him get his life back on track after he learns that she is pregnant with their son. Malamud teaches readers that winning isn't everything, and that being subconsciously blind to reality will take you nowhere but down, and can be
This is the complete article, containing 770 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
