Monday, March 25, 2013

"You have to believe they were wrong! They have to be wrong!"


"The side that bullies soon forgets, but the side which is bullied will never forget."

--Sato Hideo


One of the problems with bullying is that most speak up against it, but the action to prevent it is rarely taken in the places it is most found and needs to be prevented: home and school. Home and school are where the bully learns to bully. School is where the bullied gets bullied the most and it all goes unnoticed. Most speak out against bullying, but it is still a high epidemic because nowadays it can be so anonymous. All it takes is a fake name to create a new profile on any social network so bullying can continue beyond school hours. When I was bullied, you only really experienced the bullying at school, or places where you happened to run into your bully. Today, kids are not just bullied in those places but also online and via cell phone. I was lucky not to have the internet as an added forum for the names and insults that came my way on a daily basis. However, the physical threat was there. I was a kid with big glasses and, later in junior high and high school, a less-than-masculine voice, hindered by a lisp. From the hard pushes and shoving into walls or lockers to the small pottery needle tool used for stabbing and poking me, I felt every jab, insult and joke at my expense.


In some small way, I've been bullied sporadically since 3rd grade (although it really didn't become a regular occurrence or problem until 6th grade), and I admit that because of this slight bullying, I once verbally bullied a kid in 6th grade. At my elementary school, Tayac Elementary (now Tayac Academy), the kids from "special education" -- from a special school called Tanglewood Regional -- would come from Tanglewood for half the day at our school. One day, when they came into our cafeteria to eat their lunch, I was sitting with a group of boys who began making fun of them, calling them "retards" and making sounds like "Duuuuuhhhh!" I thought if they were doing it, it was OK for me to do it too (after all, most of them were deaf, so we thought they probably wouldn't hear us). But after I did it, I could tell they noticed we were making fun of them. One of the teachers on lunch duty noticed us too and made us report to the office. I remember the principal asking all of us if we thought making fun of someone else's handicap was funny. Little solemn faces silently stared back at her as she thought of our punishment. We each got separate punishments, but we all had to do one thing. We had to report to the special education teacher and learn the sign language for "I'm sorry for making fun of you." We did and performed the language in front of the entire special needs kids we had insulted. My separate punishment was to ride the special education bus (some call it the "Short Bus") for a week. Over that time, I made a few friends in those kids, and realized -- for a kid of 10-years-old -- that, aside from the handicap, they were no different than me. I also realized that the boys I had originally sat with at lunch were not my friends nor the type of kids I wanted as friends, and I stopped sitting with them. That was the first time I ever bullied and I promised myself that I wouldn't do it ever again.

However, I did do it again.

When I was 20 going on 21, I worked at an amusement park with other young men and women, and oftentimes we would all hang out at house parties after work. There was a young woman, pretty and popular, who I didn't take seriously, and I would --what I thought of as -- playfully "give her a hard time." I didn't verbally put her down often but would laugh at her expense. I had done this before with other girls in the past (who didn't seem to mind) and I don't know exactly why I acted this way other than I would put up this wall of sarcasm to protect myself. I often did it with those who I felt would most likely reject or insult me: pretty and/or popular girls (which she was and still is; now a pretty woman and mother!). Well, at one after-work party, something happened where she did something and people laughed at her. She told people to be quiet, and when I wasn't, she asked me to be quiet or else! I said, "Ooooooooh" (as in sarcastically saying "I'm soooo scared"), and she gave me a right uppercut to my jaw. I remember it didn't physically hurt but it gave me a jolt of shock, making me realize in that very instant that even though I had probably only said three or four things to her since I first met her, I had, in a way, bullied her. I thought because she was some popular, pretty girl that she thought less of me -- even though she had given me no reason to think these things -- and so I poked fun at her. Her action gave me the mighty clarity that my little "playful" action could bring forth such strong anger in her. Most of the people around us (who had also been in the room, laughing at her) bolted up and got between us (even though I hadn't moved) to prevent any further action. She instantly started crying and asking if we could talk, and I could tell she regretted what she had just done. My first instinct was to immediately talk to her but I knew she was upset and a little drunk, so talking may not be the best option at the moment. I promised her I would talk to her another day. A couple of days later, we talked and she tearfully apologized to me and told me that even though she knew I wasn't purposely being mean to her, she still didn't like the little verbal jabs I would throw her way, and it really hurt her. I had had no clue that these very occasional taunts were hurting her or affecting her so much. I had become the thing I hated most. And I vowed to not take that action again. I apologized to her and told her that if she ever needed to talk about anything, she could come to me. She hugged me and we became better friends for it. That was the last time I ever did anything remotely close to bullying and the first time I fully realized the power of my words. I promised that I wouldn't treat others the way I did those previous two times, and never have acted that way since then.

I am lucky that I had a good home life and great parents. I never brought up any of the bullying done to me at school because I thought I could handle it and -- even though they always were willing to listen to me -- did not want to "burden" my parents with the goings-on. I moved around quite a bit from the time the bullying really picked up in 6th grade (the same grade I got my glasses) onwards and was a quiet, shy only child, so friends did not come easy nor did they line up to introduce themselves to me. From the moment I entered those school doors every day, I was alone. The big problem that I faced with bullying is still seen in today's schools. And an example was best shown in the 2011 documentary movie, Bully. Here is that clip (abridged) from the film where a kid who was bullied (Kid #1, on the left) is forced to apologize to his bully (Kid #2, on the right) by a school assistant principal. The assistant principal forces Kid #1 and Kid #2 to shake hands, thinking that will absolve the physical altercation that had just occurred; when boy #1 (who is fed up with being bullied) won't "sincerely" shake the hand of the boy (Kid #2) who was just pounding on him, the principal scolds the bullied Kid #1!
        I have been through a similar situation where, although I didn't have to shake my bully's hand, I went to tell a teacher that I was being bullied, and he told me to "Grow up and be a man." That was 8th grade. This type of situation and the one exemplified in Bully are the reason why the bullied bring guns to school as well as the reason they themselves turn to bullying. Teachers and administrators seem to think preventing bullying and enforcing the rules against it is too time-consuming for their understandably already-hectic schedule. However, as long as bullying exists, it is a part of their job to do so. Deep down, I knew high school would be a blip and that all of the assholes who ever flung an insult at my expense, called me every belittling name (including unwanted nicknames), shoved me into a locker, pushed my books out of my grasp, or stabbed me with needles and pencils would be far behind me and out of my life; the best line to think of is when Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in the 2000 film Almost Famous (reference #1) asks his admirer William what the kids at William's high school think about him (William), and William says the kids hate him, to which Bangs replies, "You'll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle." 

When I was a freshman, I knew the bullies who would punch and kick you rather than look at you, stole drinks and food from you, physically confronted you for no reason, and called you names were as much a threat as the bullets and knives that pervaded my high school. But home was a safe haven. I'm lucky. Some kids don't even have that. Their homes are full of aggressive parents and/or siblings who don't want to hear any truth other than your day was "OK" and you were "fine," or they are physically abused by their own relatives. I moved out of that high school to a new one in a different state, where no one knew me and seemed to not want to know me. The insults, name-calling, physical threats, and shoving persisted -- from crude nicknames to being called a fag or gay to being pushed and punched in the arm, I heard and felt it all. So much hatred grew in my heart that I wished for death to those who made my every school day a horror. I never thought to kill myself, but I did wish death upon those who bullied me. And every day I told my parents I was "fine." Years later, they admit they knew I was going through a tough time. But without my opening up to my parents, what more could they do but ask how I was doing? I guess the reason I never did open up or admit to anything was because I knew financially we weren't doing so well and I didn't want to worry them by adding another stressor to the mix. Plus, with not having to conceal black eyes or bloody noses, I figured I could handle the pressure and the emotions. To a certain extent, I was able to handle it. But, in other ways, it left me with indelible emotions and attitudes that are not very constructive nor attractive -- and still are a silent, private struggle for me to deal with today. I never cried because, by that age, the bullying didn't make me sad. It made me angry. However, I was fortunate in that by the time the middle of my junior year of high school hit, I had made a small group of close friends and, after aggressively confronting my last bully, the one with the pottery needle, the bullying stopped.



Like the quote at the beginning of this article and the words directly above, being bullied, you never forget. And, sadly, it shapes you and affects you long after it has stopped. To this day, I am affected by any type of bullying -- especially when worrying about my kids. I am sensitive to my own kids any time they bring up anything that resembles bullying; luckily, they haven't. And I continue to instill in them the knowledge that everyone is different and, like it or not yourself, that's OK because God made them that way ... and He likes variety. But I also teach them that when someone treats you badly that is NOT OK. But it is OK to tell Mommy or Daddy or a grown-up at school. I make sure to not tell my girls that when a boy hits them or shoves them (shoving having only happened once), it is because he likes them. To me, that is breeding ground for them growing up, thinking a boy/man who treats them like shit secretly likes/loves them. True or not, I don't want a boy showing his affections to either of my daughters in such a way. For a time I didn't have to worry about bullying, but now that my girls are entering school, I get easily maddened and frustrated at the thought of not being able to right the wrongs of a society that treats bullying with kid gloves. This scene below from Bully shows every parent's worst nightmare. Not just the kid getting bullied, but also the school administrator admitting there is no problem when there clearly is. In this instance, she is oblivious to thinking that even though she's rode the bus and the kids are "as good as gold," the bullies were merely behaving well at the time simply because she was on the bus! It is this type of overlooking and simple-mindedness that pushes kids (and parents) over the edge from frustration to anger. This is also why bullies suddenly behave well when in front of an authority figure. The reason a bullied child does not want to tell on a bully when given the opportunity is because he or she is afraid of the retaliation the bully will inevitably return when they see him or her in school the next day or week. The only cure for this symptom is to have parent involvement on both sides and swift, harsh punishment for the bully -- i.e., not just detention, but suspension or, if it continues, expulsion.




             Unlike when I was younger, fortunately, anti-bullying has gotten more attention and zero-tolerance rules have been put in place and upheld in states nationwide -- which is good since today, with the introduction of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, texting and the internet, bullying is all the more easy to do. Sites such as The Bully Project, It Gets Better and What Do You Choose (just to name a few) are examples of Web sites where the bullied can find solace and help. Bullies will persist and most likely always exist, and it's up to the guidance counselors, educators, and parents to find out why bullies do what they do. If it is because of an issue at home, it is all the more important for counselors and educators to try and reach out to the bully and his/her parents. And let the country not simply say "what a shame it is" that this happens, when it happens, only to become complacent after the news shows have clung on to another story and moved on; but rather make effective laws and take actual steps towards preventing bullying TODAY before the bullied kid finds desperate ways to stop it the only way he/she can think of: violence. If bullying continues without any supervision or help, this is what happens:

2011: This is Austrailian 10th-grader Casey Heynes (r.), who after constant bullying, "just snapped" and stood up to 7th-grade bully Ritchard Gale.
2008: Northern Illinois University shooting victims (l. to r.): Gayle Dubowski, Ryanne Mace, Daniel Parmenter, Julianna Gehant, and Catalina Garcia.

1999: Columbine High School Massacre shooters Eric Harris (l.) & Dylan Klebold (r.) were bullied. The deceased victims: Cassie Bernall, Steven Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Matthew Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Dan Rohrbough, William "Dave" Sanders, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, and Lauren Townsend.

"I am not insane, I am angry. I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society: push us and we will push back. ... All throughout my life, I was ridiculed, always beaten, always hated. Can you, society, truly blame me for what I do? Yes, you will. ... It was not a cry for attention, it was not a cry for help. It was a scream in sheer agony saying that if you can't pry your eyes open, if I can't do it through pacifism, if I can't show you through the displaying of intelligence, then I will do it with a bullet."

-- Luke Woodham, Pearl High School shooting, 1997 
I've said it before and I will say it again. I'm not sure myself what the solution to bullying is, but it definitely involves love, understanding, empathy, and taking the time to listen -- and that goes not only for family and friends, but also for educators and administration. It starts at home by raising our children to not poke fun at those who look, sound or act different. It means taking the time to watch what your children are watching and explaining to them when something is not right (yes, I shit you not, even Disney Channel has perpetuated stereotypes which can contribute to bullying!). I'm not saying to be so sensitive as to become overprotective. But inject yourself into your child's life. It doesn't matter who you vote for in an election, what political party you are a part of, or what committees in which you are a member. It doesn't matter how much money you make or provide. It doesn't even matter that violent movies and video games exist (there will always be something!). This is not a gun issue, law issue, political issue, or media issue. This is a moral issue. We can only be rid of bullying by teaching our children to respect others, constantly teaching them right from wrong, and showing empathy ... one kid at a time. It only matters if you talk to your kids and truly listen without judgement. It only matters if you show compassion and patience to them and others around you. And to those who are being bullied or have been, hang in there. As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, it does get better. Find something (legal) that, as my favorite writer Joseph Campbell would say, helps you to "follow your bliss" -- mine is writing (like rock music critic Lester Bangs was portrayed as saying in the movie Almost Famous (reference #2): "I love to write ... just to f#@*&^g write, ya know?"). Don't let your anger and hate overcome you and rule your life. Anger and hate are an easy road to take, but I promise the more difficult route of taking the high road and ignoring those daily words that sound like they're screaming in your face will pay off in the long run. Even if you do understandably have anger and hate in your heart, try to eventually let it go. I speak from experience when I say that I still have negative, angry thoughts sometimes and it is a constant struggle to contemplate over them and better myself. But if I can do it -- and it is worth doing -- you can too. Being bullied can fill you with contempt and anger, but it can also fill you with courage, understanding, patience, empathy, inner strength, and cheering for the underdog, which promotes sympathy and empathy. Take your pick which you would rather be. I remember the pain of always being picked last in gym class (except when it was time for running and track activities, at which I excelled). One summer when I worked at the previously mentioned amusement park, we had an employee softball game, and because I was a supervisor, I was the captain of one team. The other captain and I were asked to pick our teammates -- just like they do in elementary school, junior high and high school. I intentionally picked the people who were the least athletic and least likely to be picked. And I can happily say ... we lost SO bad! BUT ... I had never had so much fun playing sports and I could tell my teammates felt the same. Just remember that you don't have to forgive the bully for his or her sake, but rather for the experience itself with which you had to go through. Mahatma Gandhi has falsely been quoted as saying, "Be the change you wish to see in the world.” It's a nice saying, but I think Gandhi's actual quote is better: "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do." I end this post by including one of the most inspiring videos on bullying I have ever seen. It is by Canadian poet Shane Koyczan who is the same age as me and was subjected to bullying himself. Here is his story (followed by the words to his powerful piece "To This Day"), with which I completely relate:

To This Day 

"I used to think that pork chops and karate chops were the same thing I thought they were both pork chops and because my grandmother thought it was cute and because they were my favorite she let me keep doing it 

Not really a big deal  

One day before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees I fell out of a tree and bruised the right side of my body

I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it because I was afraid I’d get in trouble for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been 

A few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise and I got sent to the principal’s office from there I was sent to another small room with a really nice lady who asked me all kinds of questions about my life at home 

I saw no reason to lie as far as I was concerned life was pretty good I told her “whenever I’m sad my grandmother gives me karate chops” 

This led to a full scale investigation and I was removed from the house for three days until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises 

News of this silly little story quickly spread through the school and I earned my first nickname: 

"Pork Chop" 

To this day I hate pork chops 

I’m not the only kid who grew up this way surrounded by people who used to say that rhyme about sticks and stones as if broken bones hurt more than the names we got called and we got called them all 

so we grew up believing no one would ever fall in love with us that we’d be lonely forever that we’d never meet someone to make us feel like the sun was something they built for us in their tool shed so broken heart strings bled the blues as we tried to empty ourselves 

so we would feel nothing don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone that an ingrown life is something surgeons can cut away that there’s no way for it to metastasize 

It does  

She was eight years old our first day of grade three when she got called ugly we both got moved to the back of the class so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls but the school halls were a battleground where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day 

we used to stay inside for recess because outside was worse outside we’d have to rehearse running away or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there in grade five they taped a sign to the front of her desk that read "beware of dog" 

To this day despite a loving husband she doesn’t think she’s beautiful because of a birthmark that takes up a little less than half of her face kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer that someone tried to erase but couldn’t quite get the job done and they’ll never understand that she’s raising two kids whose definition of beauty begins with the word "mom" 

because they see her heart before they see her skin that she’s only ever always been amazing 

He was a broken branch grafted onto a different family tree adopted but not because his parents opted for a different destiny he was three when he became a mixed drink of one part left alone and two parts tragedy 

started therapy in 8th grade had a personality made up of tests and pills lived like the uphills were mountains and the downhills were cliffs four fifths suicidal a tidal wave of anti depressants and an adolescence of being called popper one part because of the pills and ninety nine parts because of the cruelty he tried to kill himself in grade ten when a kid who still had his mom and dad had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression is something that can be remedied by any of the contents found in a first aid kit 

To this day he is a stick of TNT lit from both ends could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends in the moments before it’s about to fall and despite an army of friends who all call him an inspiration he remains a conversation piece between people who can’t understand sometimes becoming drug free has less to do with addiction and more to do with sanity 

We weren’t the only kids who grew up this way to this day kids are still being called names the classics were "hey stupid" 
 "hey spaz" 

seems like each school has an arsenal of names getting updated every year and if a kid breaks in a school and no one around chooses to hear do they make a sound? 

are they just the background noise of a soundtrack stuck on repeat when people say things like "kids can be cruel"? 

every school was a big top circus tent and the pecking order went from acrobats to lion tamers from clowns to carnies all of these were miles ahead of who we were we were freaks 

lobster claw boys and bearded ladies oddities juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire, spin the bottle trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal but at night while the others slept we kept walking the tightrope it was practice and yeah some of us fell 

But I want to tell them that all of this is just debris leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought we used to be and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself get a better mirror look a little closer stare a little longer 

because there’s something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who told you to quit you built a cast around your broken heart and signed it yourself you signed it “they were wrong” because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a clique maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth to show and tell but never told because how can you hold your ground if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it  

you have to believe that they were wrong! They have to be wrong  

Why else would we still be here?  

we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog because we see ourselves in them 

we stem from a root planted in the belief that we are not what we were called; we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway and if in some way we are don’t worry we only got out to walk and get gas  

we are graduating members from the class of "We Made It" 

not the faded echoes of voices crying out "names will never hurt me" 

Of course they did 

But our lives will only ever always continue to be a balancing act that has less to do with pain and more to do with beauty." 

-- Shane Koyczan 

Post Script: I never watch any of the reality competition shows, but this clip of Jillian Jensen is just too great and emotional for words!



  "Who You Are" (originally sung by Jessie J


"I stare at my reflection in the mirror:
'Why am I doing this to myself?' 
Losing my mind on a tiny error, 
I nearly left the real me on the shelf. 
No, no, no, no, no... 
Don't lose who you are in the blur of the stars! 
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing, It's okay not to be okay. 
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart. 
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising, 
Just be true to who you are! 
Don't lose who you are in the blur of the stars! 
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing, 
It's okay not to be okay... 
Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart. 
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising, 
Just be true to who you are!" 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Perceval at Bat: Camelot’s Legends in Bernard Malamud’s "The Natural"

NOTE: This essay contains spoilers of the book and film The Natural.

Sir Perceval (left) and Sir Lancelot (far right, w/Queen Guinevere) are two of the main inspirations for Malamud's Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford, center).

          The legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in Camelot has been one of Britain’s most famous legends for centuries. The most famous author to have brought popularity to Arthur and his world of knights, romance, magic, and chivalry would be Sir Thomas Malory and his collections of stories, compiled to create Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur), written in the fifteenth century. Malory’s tale “has served as the direct or indirect basis for almost every Arthurian work in any medium: poems, novels, children’s books, science fiction, films, advertisements, cartoons, modern heritage paraphernalia – everything from epics to T-shirts” (Cooper ix). Some of these adaptations and translations may sound familiar to you. Films such as Lancelot and Guinevere (1963), Disney’s animated feature The Sword in the Stone (1963), the musical Camelot (1967), Excalibur (1981), First Knight (1995), and King Arthur (2004), as well as novels such as Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), T.H. White’s The Once and Future King (1938-1958), Roger Lancelyn Green’s King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (1953), John Steinbeck's The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976), Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon (1983), and Meg Cabot’s Avalon High (2005) all are based on the King Arthur legend. While these examples are direct adaptations (sometimes with creative license) of the King Arthur legend, there are some works in novel and film which are a loosely-based correlation. One such work is Bernard Malamud’s 1952 baseball novel The Natural, and its 1984 cinematic adaptation by director Barry Levinson. Some might not think a book and film about baseball could relate to a legend about kings, queens, swords, magicians, and knights. However, there are similar stories and characters from King Arthur’s world which relate to Malamud’s tale of baseball, money, championships, and love.

        For those who do not know, the legend of King Arthur is the story of a heroic, brave, honest king who, through magic and honor, ruled Britain between the late Fifth to early Sixth Century. Since the Ninth Century there have been stories of Arthur’s exploits (Higham 38). It was not until Malory’s Romantic-era compilation that Arthur became a famous legend. After reading the tales of Arthur, his wife Queen Quinevere, his father King Uther Pendragon, the sorcerer Merlin, and knights Lancelot, Perceval, Gareth, Gawain, and Tristan, there are no doubt themes of love (Arthur and Guinevere, Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde), honor/betrayal (all of the knights), and loyalty. King Arthur’s story is most notably recognized, in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, as the tale of a humble boy who has a humble upbringing and is considered meek and clumsy. One day, the boy – known as Wart – is tasked with finding his older brother, Kay, a sword for a tournament. Upon entering the city, Wart finds a small churchyard with “a heavy stone with an anvil on it, and a fine new sword was stuck through the anvil” (White 203) with words on the sword which read: “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of This Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England” (White 197). Without having read the inscription, Wart pulls the sword out of the stone, thus making him the King. This correlates with Malory’s version of events as King Uther Pendragon sires Arthur with a rival Duke’s wife, Igraine, and the boy is raised by Sir Ector before becoming King.

       With The Natural, author Bernard Malamud stated, “[b]aseball players were the ‘heroes’ of my American childhood. I wrote The Natural as a tale of a mythological hero because, between childhood and the beginning of a writing career, I’d been to college. I became interested in myth and tried to use it, among other things, to symbolize and explicate an ethical dilemma of American life” (Lasher 36-37). Malamud’s protagonist in the book and film is Roy Hobbs, an honorable, talented pitcher and hitter who begins with a promising start of a baseball career. However, after being shot by the sultry, murderous Harriet Bird, leaving him with a permanent limp, Hobbs’ baseball career is limited to the semipro leagues until he is hired to play for a losing National League baseball team, the fictional New York Knights. Hobbs is warily welcomed by the team and its coach, Pop Fisher. Throughout the novel, Hobbs falls in love with Fisher’s niece, the manipulative Memo Paris, followed by the virtuous Iris Lemon.

        Malamud’s Hobbs can be compared to Malory’s versions of knights Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristan, two knights who have similar stories. Both knights are members of King Arthur’s Round Table and both have a story in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, but Lancelot’s actions and its consequences will eventually become Arthur’s downfall. Lancelot is described of being the best knight of the Round Table, for “in all tournaments, jousts, and deeds of arms, both for life and death, he passed all other knights” (Malory 95), although, Lancelot’s loyalty is put into question when he falls in love with Arthur’s wife, Queen Guinevere. In Malory’s text, Guinevere and Lancelot have a true love for one another, although Lancelot claims to love her simply so he can shield himself from serious, committed relationships with other women. Lancelot believes loving a woman drains a knight of his strength and distracts him from his duties, therefore, his love for a woman who is unattainable is his ruse to avoid relationships with other women. Throughout Lancelot’s journey, his love for Guinevere most often gets him into trouble or misfortune. When Lancelot is deceived by Elaine of Corbenic, daughter of the Fisher King, into sleeping with her – thus conceiving Galahad – he is driven a bit mad and banished by Guinevere from Camelot. When he returns to Camelot, he joins King Arthur in his quest for the Holy Grail (Jesus Christ’s cup used at the Last Supper). Ultimately when Lancelot and Guinevere’s love affair was discovered by Arthur, he sentenced them to death – Lancelot by hanging and Guinevere by being burned at the stake. Lancelot rescued Guinevere and Arthur sent Sir Gawain and his brothers, Gaheris and Gareth, to capture and kill Lancelot. However, the knights were defeated with Lancelot killing Gaheris and Gareth. Out of a blinding rage, King Arthur decided to pursue Lancelot in France himself. While Arthur was gone, Mordred – the King’s illegitimate son – took over the throne. When Arthur hears of this, he returns to Camelot and kills Mordred at the Battle of Camlann, where he receives mortal wounds. Soon after Arthur’s death, Lancelot and Guinevere meet one last time, but the two former lovers do not rekindle their romance, for they are separated by the grief and death brought forward from their betrayal – Guinevere joined a convent in hopes of penitence, and Lancelot lives life as a hermit, doing good deeds as his penitence.

          Another character from Malory’s book that resembles Roy Hobbs is the knight Sir Perceval. Perceval’s story begins when he is a teenager, raised by his mother, who meets a knight and hears of his adventures and equipment, and sets out to become a knight in King Arthur’s Round Table. Perceval is educated by his mother and trained in knighthood and chivalry by Gornemant de Goort (de Troyes 50), then soon succeeding in obtaining his knighthood and marrying de Goort’s niece, Blanchefleur. While traveling to visit his mother, Perceval comes into a wasteland where he discovers a king – the Fisher King – who is severely ill. The Fisher King invites Perceval to stay the night at his castle and have dinner with him. Perceval accepts the invitation and is given a sword as a gift. After dinner, Perceval witnesses a procession in which “[a] youth enters the hall, carrying a white lance that holds a single drop of blood on its tip. Next, two more youth enter bearing golden candelabra. Finally, a beautiful maiden enters bearing a dazzling golden cup. Perceval wants to ask about these items, but he holds his tongue for fear of offending the old man [Fisher King]” (sparknotes). The next morning, Perceval awakens to find the castle empty so he leaves. As he leaves, the castle vanishes and when he visits his mother, he finds her dead. Perceval then comes across a loathly lady and tells her about the recent events. The lady informs him “the lance was the one that pierced Jesus' side, and that the cup was no less than the Holy Grail itself” (sparknotes). Perceval is chastised by the lady, who says that had he simply asked the Fisher King what the cup was, Perceval could have healed the Fisher King and brought life and prosperity back to the desolate kingdom.

         In Malamud’s novel The Natural, the protagonist Roy Hobbs mostly mirrors Perceval in that he too is raised by his mother and is good and wholesome. Roy has a natural talent for baseball in the same way Perceval does for knighthood, however, both characters are innocent and naïve. When Roy is hired by the New York Knights – the mascot being a representative of King Arthur’s Round Table – he is introduced to the manager, Pop Fisher – a reference to the Fisher King – who has athlete’s foot on his hands and is ill with every loss the team accumulates. The baseball field with which the Knights play on is dry and barren, just like the wasteland of the Fisher King’s kingdom.
The mysticism of King Arthur's mighty sword, Excalibur, is represented in Roy Hobbs' bat Wonderboy, which he made from an oak tree which lightning struck. This bat leads Roy to his victory just in the same way Excalibur helped King Arthur.


         The source of Roy’s natural power or talent appears to stem from the baseball bat he made, called “Wonderboy.” According to Roy, his explanation of making the bat over buying one was: “…this tree near the river where I lived was split by lightning. I liked the wood inside of it so I cut me out a bat” (Malamud 69-70). Like King Arthur’s Excalibur, Wonderboy is an extension of Roy’s talent, leading him to winning games. The first time Roy goes to bat with Wonderboy, he is able to achieve exactly what Pop Fisher cheers him to do, which is to “knock the cover [of the baseball] off of it” (Malamud 79). And when Hobbs' winning streak turns towards a losing streak, Wonderboy appears as almost flaccid, giving credence to the phallic metaphor the bat represents.

The women of the book & film The Natural fulfill three archetypes of Malamud's women in his stories: Iris Lemon (Glenn Close) (left) -- the good -- is the caring, selfless, humble "vegetative goddess and a fruitful, energy-giving force,” who appears as almost an angelic presence with the sun hitting her hat, appearing like a halo, when Roy first sees her in the stands; Memo Paris (Kim Basinger) (center) -- the mix of good and bad (resulting in complicated & damaged) -- a self-proclaimed "dead man's girl" who, even though she has some care and slight love for Roy, uses Roy as a means to an end, and is, according to her own uncle, "always dissatisfied and will snarl you up in her trouble"; and Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey) (right) -- the bad -- a femme fatale who uses her wiles and sexuality merely for destruction and emasculation.

       The love life of Roy Hobbs is also similar to that of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, as well as Perceval and Blanchefleur. First, Hobbs meets and falls in love with Pop Fisher’s niece, Memo Paris, a red-headed, sexual woman who Hobbs first sees partially naked. Like Memo to Pop Fisher, Perceval’s eventual wife Blanchefleur is his mentor Gornemant de Goort’s niece; however, the similarities in character stop there. Memo is more of a resemblance of Queen Guinevere, a woman with good intentions and niceties when need be, but who is also selfish and petty.

        Although it is an adulterous relationship, Lancelot and Guinevere do have a deep love for each other (Malory 444). In Malory’s tale, Guinevere is portrayed first as rebuking Lancelot’s advances, but then giving in to him. Afterwards, she acts like a jealous and petty woman as she often shows these qualities when Lancelot does show any love toward another woman – such as Elaine, when they both make love and conceive Galahad – and calls him a “false knight,” then banishing him (Malory 285). Memo loves Roy when he is providing fame and attention for her ego, but even Pop Fisher warns Hobbs about Memo, saying “she is always dissatisfied and will snarl you up in her trouble in a way that will weaken your strength if you don’t watch out” (Malamud 126). Just as the relationship with Guinevere does drain Lancelot of his honor – deceiving and betraying King Arthur – and his knightly duties, Memo’s relationship with Roy makes his performance on the field suffer, causing the Knights to lose. Roy’s lust for Memo causes him to take a bribe from the Knights owner, the Judge, to throw the pennant playoff game.

           By contrast is Roy’s relationship with Iris Lemon, her name, made up of a flower and fruit, “evokes both her conception as a vegetative goddess and a fruitful, energy-giving force” (sparknotes) – a similarity to Perceval’s love interest Blanchefleur, a name in French meaning “white flower.” Iris is the opposite of Memo as while Memo seems to drain Roy’s strength, Iris gives him strength and self-assurance of his talent. By the end of the book, 
             

Works Cited

Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript. Ed. Helen Cooper. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

Higham, N.J. King Arthur, Myth-Making and History. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.

White, T.H. The Once and Future King. 1939, 1940, 1958. New York: Ace Books, 1987. Print.

Lasher, Lawrence, ed. Conversations with Bernard Malamud. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991. Print.

de Troyes, Chrétien. Perceval: The Story of the Grail. Trans. Burton Raffel. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. Print.

“Mythological References in The Natural.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/natural/section11.rhtml. SparkNotes LLC, 2013. Web. 4 March 2013.

Malamud, Bernard. The Natural. 1952. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. Print.

“Analysis of Major Characters from The Natural.” http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/natural/canalysis.html. SparkNotes LLC, 2013. Web. 4 March 2013.

First Knight. Dir. Jerry Zucker. Perf. Richard Gere, Sean Connery, Julia Ormond, and Ben Cross. Sony Pictures, 1995. DVD.

Aronstein, Susan. Hollywood Knights: Arthurian Cinema and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print.

The Natural. Dir. Barry Levinson. Perf. Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey, Wilford Brimley, Darren McGavin, and Robert Prosky. Sony Pictures, 1984. DVD.

“King Arthur's Round Table Revealed.” http://www.history.co.uk/shows/king-arthurs-round-table-revealed/history.html. History Channel UK, n.d. Web. 4 March 2013.



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