Imagine being able to inhale confidence and to breath out doubt. Confidence is said to have a great impact on how an individual perceives the world around them. In the short story, The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, several people have let their confidence consume their sense of humility and rationale. In some cases, the results have been devastating. Protagonist, Roy Hobbs, and his team have seen what an unrestrained amount of confidence can do to a person. Many individuals found throughout the story struggle with the idea of modesty on and off the baseball field; often there are times when their overconfidence fogs their ability to make rational decisions. Overconfidence has dragged people's lives from better to worse. Roy and his teammates struggle with the idea of being modest. Roy, after an egotistical speech about his goals and aspirations, was dumbfounded when Harriet shook her head and replied, "Isn't their something over and above earthly things—some more glorious meaning to one's life and activities?" (29). At the time, Roy did not know that his selfish motives in life had just bought him a bullet to the gut, which would be personally delivered by Harriet. Roy's lack of modesty had just brought an abrupt halt to what would …show more content…
For starters, Memo Paris, who is deeply infatuated with Bump, has to deal with Bump's mistakes that will eventually takes his life. The aftermath of Bumps actions greatly impacted the life of Memo more than anybody else. She goes into a long state of depression and finds it difficult to get out of bed every morning. Also, Flores, the midfielder on the team, has to deal with Bump always coming onto his side to steal his catches. Bump becomes overconfident and begins to steal opportunities for his teammates to shine. Overall, the qualities of these proud players continues to hurt people more than they