The Universal Baseball Association Essay, Research Paper

The disappearing of Henry in the concluding chapter adds a certain ambiguity to Coover? s text. Readers must oppugn why Henry is non present and the logical thinking behind his disappearing from the concluding chapter ; has he merged to go one individual with the participants he created, hold his participants and conference progressed to a adulthood in which they no longer necessitate him, or has Henry crossed the line of insanity doing the conference itself to turn into a helter-skelter muss.

The possibility exists that Henry has merged to go one with his participants. Many characters Henry created appear to reflect some of his desires and needs that he is unable to carry through in his outside life. For illustration, we can see him & # 8220 ; in the character of Paul Trench & # 8221 ; who embodies many of the common traits between Henry and Sycamore Flynn during the old chapters ( Agelius 171 ) . We sense & # 8220 ; Henry? s presence. . .through Paul & # 8221 ; in the construction of the concluding chapter ( Angelius 172 ) . Henry? s ideas and feelings now portrayed through Paul Trench, who plays Damon Rutherford in the remake of the tragic decease. Henry, holding merged to go one with his participants, has lost touch with world wholly. No hints exist that the Association is non & # 8220 ; the existent universe & # 8221 ; :

The inventive diversion of athletics as drama has become the universe. There is non the slightest mark here of any other world ; even the being of a Godhead external to the play-world may now merely be inferred ( Berman 219 ) .

Henry crosses the line to insanity he has flirted with for so long, unifying with the participants in his novel, and leaves no indicant that a universe outside the game exists. However, the possibility does be that Henry has non merged with his participants, but instead the game has taken on a life of its ain.

Some would reason that Henry, the Godhead of the Association, has non merged with his participants, but instead they have progressed to a adulthood where they have a life of their ain, with the God-like presence Henry offers no longer necessary. This impression suggests that the creative activity of a game and of the people would finally take on a life of their ain:

Possibly Coover wants to propose that the liberty of the originative phantasy, how one time the creative person creates, the kid of his imaginativeness takes on its ain individuality and serves others in wholly new footings ( Gordon 45-46 ) .

When Henry foremost created the conference his presence was needed in order to do it work, yet as clip passed the characters grew a history, had kids and made a life for themselves. By the clip the conference reach the twelvemonth CLVII, Henry? s & # 8220 ; kid, & # 8221 ; the Association and its characters, no longer needed him to supply their individualities. The conference, created by Henry over a hundred old ages earlier, has evolved to a life of its ain ; the participants, directors and witnesss can believe for the

mselves and have taken control of their ain fate as opposed to Henry and his die commanding it. The possibility remains that Henry neither merged with his participants nor left it to its ain individuality ; his insanity drove him over the border and the conference into a helter-skelter muss.

Henry flirted along the line of insanity throughout the first seven chapters of the novel. His perceptual experience of world and pretend going progressively distorted. When reintroduced a hundred old ages subsequently, things in the conference seem a great trade less organized than when Henry left off. Hardy, the participant who taking over Damon? s function explains how the participants can? t be certain of the events that are blossoming ; they can non be certain whether the history they know to be true really holds true, if & # 8220 ; [ Damon ] Rutherford and [ Jock ] Casey [ of all time ] existed & # 8221 ; ( Coover 224 ) . The participants can non be certain whether their history truly existed or if it stems from fable and myth. The presence of this uncertainness causes confusion and pandemonium among the participants ; why must they take part in & # 8220 ; The Parable of the Dual & # 8221 ; and what will go on to them? Henry? s increasingly increasing degree of insanity has caused him to wholly bow out in the concluding chapter ; the disappearing of his function has caused aggregate confusion among the participants and pandemonium ensued.

J. Henry Waugh, the owner, Godhead and God-like figure of the Universal Baseball Association disappears in the concluding chapter of Coover? s novel. His disappearing causes confusion with readers every bit good as with the characters in the novel itself, and besides raises many inquiries. Critics speculate as to his whereabouts in the 8th chapter ; has his personality been taken over in the signifier of the participants doing him to unify with his creative activity, has the Association taken on a life of its ain commanding its ain fate, or can the confusion and pandemonium among the participants be explained by presuming he has crossed the line to insanity. The participants Henry created do non cognize where they stand in their history or their intent for being there ; Paul Trench, Henry? s alter self-importance, & # 8220 ; can happen no words for the emptiness of their status. It? s awful. . .it? s all there is & # 8221 ; ( Caldwell 170 ) .

Angelius, Judith Wood. & # 8220 ; The Man Behind the Catcher? s Mask: A Closer Look at Robert Coover? s Universal Baseball Association. & # 8221 ; Denver Quarterly 12.1 ( 1977 ) : 165-174.

Berman, Neil. & # 8220 ; Coover? s Universal Baseball Association: Play as Fictionalized Myth. & # 8221 ; Modern Fiction Studies 24 ( 1978 ) : 209-22.

Caldwell, Roy C. & # 8220 ; Of Hobby-Horses, Baseball, and Narrative: Coover? s Universal Baseball Association. & # 8221 ; Modern Fiction Studies 33 ( 1987 ) : 161-171.

Coover, Robert. The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. J. Henry Waugh, Prop. First Plume Printing: New York, 1971.

Gordon, Lois. Robert Coover: The Universal Fictionmaking Process. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1983.