T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

hls/her moral self-but the former overwhelms the latter.In the quest for "new llfe", Malamud's protqonlsts donot just limit themselves to the struggle for survival in thenaturalistic world as do the protagonists of Theodore Dreiser,(Dreiser limits hls canvas to the naturallstlc world) but enterlnto relationships which the exlstentiallst psychoanalystLudwlq Binswanger calls 'Mit-welt',(llterally 'vlth-worldr).Although they appear to be 'schlemiels' destined to fail andlose, they are not just passive victims of fate andClrcumstances wlthout any capaclty to reslst ,or change.Instead, they have the splrltual strength wlthln them tocounter the external threat. As Malamud hlmself observes:"One of my Important themes 1s a man's hldden strength. I amvery much interested In the resources of the splrlt, thestrength people don't know they have untll they are confrontedWlth a crlsls". (Handy 1977.67).Roy Hobbs is revealed in The Natural as a schlemieldestined to fall. He 1s a vlctim of fate and circumstances - aprlsoner of his own prejud~ces and llluslons. Baseball or humanrelatlons call for a code of conduct based on feltresponslbllltyfor others. ROY vlolates the code and histransgressions result ~n his fallure both ln human relatlonsand baseball. Roy's lrratlonal pursult of money, fame and sex,hls refusal to learn from sufferlng or experience, his