“I’m saying to be a hero it means you step across the line and are willing to make a sacrifice, so heroes always are always making a sacrifice. Heroes always take a risk. Heroes are deviant. Heroes always doing something that most people don’t and we want to change- I want to democratize heroism to say any of us can be a hero.”- Philip Zimbardo
The qualities of becoming a hero are being confident, courageous, being persistent, focused, being responsible, and having dedication. Heroes live all around the world some are made up in books, some in movies, and others are actual heroes in real life. Fictional heroes would be like Superman, Wonder Woman, Peter Pan, the Avengers, Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, and etc.
The book “The Natural” by Bernard Malamud was about a man named Roy Hobbs who wanted to play for the Chicago cubs. He was had a very good pitching arm, he was riding on the train on his way to Chicago with a Cubs scout named Sam. During the ride he meets Max Mercy, a famous journalist, and the Whammer, a famous baseball player, who challenges him to a game at a carnival to see if he was as good as he says. Roy ended up proving them wrong and meets a mysterious woman named Harriet who ends up shooting him at a hotel in the room. After 15 years Roy decides to get back in the game and joins the New York Knights. After the Knights rising to success from Roy’s amazing performance everyone begins to think he was a hero.
Roy Hobbs gave off certain characteristics that showed that he was a hero. Some were he was brave, he had perseverance, and he was humble. Roy was brave because after getting shot he got back into the game even though everyone thought he was too old. Another reason how he showed that he was brave was that he didn’t listen to what others said about him he still continued on what he did. He stood up to Bump and didn’t listen to what he had to say about him. Roy had a lot of perseverance he was dedicated to become better than other ball players of that time. He wanted to prove to Memo that he was better in what he was doing than Bump. He didn’t want to give up on baseball even though he was 34 and everyone thought he was too old and his career would end very quickly. Also Roy Hobbs had compassion for the sport. Pop had wanted him to stop playing the game when they went into a slump cause of his baseball bat Wonderboy but Roy didn’t want to give him up so he sat out of the game.
In some ways Roy was not being a hero, he was dishonest, selfish, and very stubborn. He was being dishonest by not telling everyone of his past and how he got shot at 19 by a woman named Harriet. He didn’t want to tell Memo about what Bump did with the other woman in the hotel when they switched rooms. Roy was really selfish in certain ways he wanted everything to be about him, he didn’t care about anyone else but himself, as long as he looked good in the game that was all that he cared about. When Bump died Roy took it as the chance to get with Memo during her grief, so he tried to take her out to the lake for a date. When they were out there Memo was talking about Bump and what great things he did and Roy didn’t really like that he talked about how he was better than him. While she was weeping Roy tried to make a pass at Memo and felt up on her, he didn’t really care for her feelings he just wanted to sleep with her and try to make her forget about Bump. When it came to getting his money he had thought he earned he was very stubborn about making an agreement with the judge. He wanted more money then what Bump had which also made Roy a jealous person.
Roy Hobbs had a very distinctive heroic journey. In ways some people did not think he was a hero because after they found out of his past it was like his whole career was going to be forgotten about. He had a passion that he didn’t want to give up even though everyone doubted his skills cause of his age he wanted to prove them wrong. When Roy was
