The Natural Film vs Novel
In the novel and the movie, the Natural, many differences in the plot, the characters, and the theme give both a very different mood and overall meaning. Many small differences add up to give each work a distinctive feel to it and an important moral. Roy's relationship with Iris, the incident when Roy gets poisoned, and the ending all effectively display the differences that have such an important bearing on the outcome and effect of the theme. Iris is a key character in both the movie and the book, however he role in each is quite different. First of all Iris in the book is visually a complete opposite of Iris in the movie. In the book Iris is described as corpulent, with a head full of red hair, yet in the movie she is a skinny, relatively attractive, blond. Thus, Roy's relationship with Iris in the book and in the movie is quite different. In the book Roy is not very attracted to her and in addition she is a grandmother which does not appeal to Roy at all. This also comments on Roy's personality in the book because he ends up sleeping with her anyway, even though he has no real feelings for her. The following quote illustrates Roy's actual feelings for Iris; " 'Darling,' whispered Iri
Regardless of everything else in both the film and the novel, it is undoubtedly the ending of both works that cause the themes in them to be so dramatically different. The books ending involves Roy accepting the bet and appearing to throw the game. His career then heads in a downward spiral as Max Mercy publishes the information about his past and his selling out. In one of the last scenes Roy confronts the judge, Gus and Memo, apparently regretting what he did, but it is too late for him to change his future. The last line of the book is "When Roy looked into the boy's eyes he wanted to say it wasn't but couldn't, and he lifted his hands to his face and wept many bitter tears." This fittingly ends the story since Roy has finally felt the repercussions of his actions and realizes his error. Since he confided in people who were innately evil and did not rely on himself and others who really cared about him he failed. However, the films ending is completely different since Roy does not miss the game and ends up winning it for his team. He is regaled as a hero and we assume that he marries Iris and stays with his son from the short ending scene. The differences that this points out is that if a person has confidence in himself and realizes what is really important in life he can really strive to succeed. Roy used Iris and his son as a catalyst to propel him to victory and at the same time utilized his own important characteristics such as perseverance and self-assurance. Altogether, the ending is very different and thus makes the themes of both works very different with one making use of love and dedication while the other falls victim to deceit and impulsiveness. Another important difference is the incident with Roy getting poisoned at Memo's party. The
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Approximate Word count = 1200
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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