Good Angel Vs. Bad Angel Essay, Research Paper

Iris vs. Memo, the everlasting battle of Good and Evil, Good Angel vs. Bad Angel. In The Natural the Angels take the form of women that interact with Roy. Iris the “Good Angel” has nothing but a positive influence on Roy and cares about him deeply. The exact opposite of Iris is the “Bad Angel” Memo who cares just about what she can get her hands on except poverty. To her nothing or nobody matters.

The reason Memo’s able to sneak in with Roy so easy is that she uses her body, her looks. She makes Roy a “toy” to her. She wants money so badly, that’s why she’s always with people like Gus or the Judge, because they are the rich people who like to spend a lot of money. Memo has always been mean to Roy:

She hadn’t treated him right. For a while things had looked so good… but no sooner has he gone into a slump when she began again to avoid him. Had she been nice to him instead, he’d have got out of trouble sooner (165).

Iris is really “laid back” when it comes to Roy. Iris isn’t as attractive as Memo, but she looks past the dollars and sees what she likes.

Each “Angel” has a different effect on Roy both being on and off the field. Roy goes out with Memo ignoring Pop’s warning “…She is unlucky and always has been and I think that there is some kind of whammy in her that carries her luck to other people” (136). Roy goes into a bad slump. Everything he does fails until one game in Detroit.

The lady in the stands hesitantly rose… She was an attractive woman, around 30, maybe more, and built solid but not too big… A reporter approached her and asked her name but she wouldn’t give it to him, nor would she, blushing, say why she was standing now (159).

The woman standing is Iris and she is standing because she believes in Roy, and wants him to regain his confidence by showing her support. It worked, that game Roy broke out of his slump.

The everlasting battle between the Good Angel and the Bad Angel, in the end Memo the “Bad Angel” gets really mad and threatens Roy at Gunpoint: “You filthy scum, I hate your guts and always have since the day you murdered Bump” (261). In the end it is clear that Good always conquers Evil.

Bibliography

The Natural by, Bernard Malmard