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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How do fans react to Roy after Bump's death?
2. Why is Pop Fisher "heart heavy?"
3. How does Roy feel when he becomes the team hero, making news stories and filling sports columns with his achievements?
4. How does Roy feel about The Judge wanting to push Pop out of his job?
5. How does Roy relate to Pop?
Short Essay Questions
1. What was Roy's reaction when the young newspaper boy asked him if the headlines were true?
2. How does Memo treat Roy after the fans declare him a hero.
3. Fatal or life-changing accidents seem prevalent in this story. Discuss at least two of them.
4. A lady in red appears to Roy, but it is not clear if it is in a dream or reality. The lady in red, whether a dream or not, points out something to the reader. What is that fact?
5. What does Iris say about Roy's obligation to young boys and why he has that obligation?
6. Why is the train significant in Chapter One of the novel? What does it represent about Roy's life?
7. Discuss Memo's reaction to Roy and how is changed over the course of this chapter (Chapter 4).
8. Discuss the irony that Malamud uses in naming the characters Goodwill Banner and Max Mercy.
9. Why does Roy go back to the lake, and what happens to him?
10. Harriet is more of a philosophical thinker than Roy. How did her views of baseball differ from Roy's view?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Malamud paints the ballplayers as "larger than life" in the novel. Discuss passages in the book where the reader can see ballplayers rendered in a majestic, larger-than-life, or deity-like manner.
Essay Topic 2
The Natural is divided into two parts, Pre-Game and Batter Up! Discuss why Malamud divided the story this way. What has occurred in the fifteen years between the two parts? Use examples from the book to support your answer.
Essay Topic 3
Why does Roy reject the locker-room lecture and hypnotism of Doc Knobb? How do the other Knights regard Doc Knobb? Give examples from the text to defend your answer.
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This section contains 961 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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