Philip Roth's The Great American Novel: The Greatest Cover-Up in Baseball History
Philip Roth's novel The Great American Novel is actually a novel within a novel. The narrator of the story, Word Smith, purports to tell us about the greatest cover-up in baseball history - and perhaps the history of the United States of America, as well. Smith narrates the story of the fictional third Major League, known as the Patriot League. This league was evidently dissolved in the year 1946 after being infiltrated by communists and thus threatening America's national security. This makes sense, as baseball has traditionally been seen as America's "national pastime," so what better way to infiltrate the country than through its favorite sport. Word Smith is ninety years old when the story begins. Before Smitty, as he is affectionately known, told us the story, no one knew about the Patriot League - their story
When the team owners go on vacation, they express their disdain for the team by allowing the janitor to look after them while they are away. After the Patriot League becomes infiltrated with communists, the league president General Oakheart attempts to fight them off - but the fans ultimately decide the League's fate by boycotting their games. The Rupert Mundys then become the only homeless franchise in American baseball. This is a shame, because the league allegedly contained such esteemed players as Luke Gofannon, who is the only player to have a higher lifetime batting average than Ty Cobb. The team members include a teenage second baseman, a French Canadian shortstop that does not speak any English, a catcher with a wooden leg, a starting pitcher who is a midget, and an alcoholic first baseman. Smitty begins his narration with the description of an event that turned Major League Baseball on its head in the year 1933, when a player for the Patriot League took the fans' cries seriously and literally tried to "kill the ump. " The umpire, Mike "the Mouth" Masterson, was unfortunate enough to have made a bad call that put an end to rookie pitcher Gil Gamesh's perfect game. had been purged from the history books. In the year 1943, all 154 games that the team plays are on the road. Their downfall signifies the beginning of the end of the Patriot League. One of the League's proudest franchises, the Rupert Mundys, is homeless as a result of their owners' greed. It is a satirical novel that pokes fun at communism and capitalism alike, but mainly makes fun of its own characters' inadequacies. The Great American Novel is the story of the Rupert Mundys and the Patriot League's subsequent infiltration with communists. During the War, the team is unable to find decent players, so they wind up getting whomever they can to play for them.
Common topics in this essay:
Patriot League,
Rupert Mundys,
Gil Gamesh's,
Patriot League's,
Word Smith,
French Canadian,
American Novel,
Mouth Masterson,
Luke Gofannon,
Cobb Smitty,
patriot league,
rupert mundys,
rupert mundys homeless,
america's national,
bad call,
team owners,
word smith,
mundys homeless,
american novel,
infiltrated communists,
major league,
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Acceptance Essays
