The Natural Morality and Ethics Quotes

Roy's innocent and naïve when he finally signs with the Knights, and we can see here that he was so desperate for a contract, any contract, that he took a really measly salary just to pay. Even then, the Judge cheated him out of part of it. This is Roy's introduction to the kind of questionable behavior he's going to see.

Any hardcore sports fan knows that the only thing that's good for the team is a win. Even if the team is making more money or getting more publicity by losing, the real deal is to win. So when Judge makes decisions that hurt the team to benefit himself, he's seen as a dirty, rotten scoundrel. It just goes against the ethics of baseball.

We can tell that Pop's just being polite. The point is that the Judge is a deceptive, wily character and shouldn't be trusted.

And this advice is coming from the Judge? From what we can gather he's gone against all of it. He compares Abe Lincoln, honest Abe, who was also poor, to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his friend Jesus Christ in exchange for silver. His point is that wanting money might really make your life worse (Abe became the president; Judas hanged himself). Of course this doesn't apply to him. This passage illustrates what Pop meant about the Judge's "triple talk."

After his unsuccessful meeting with the Judge, Roy gets a morality lesson. "Resist all evil" can be taken as sarcastic in this scene, because it's obvious that the Judge has not been too successful at resisting evil. It's more like he's using morality to keep the people around him from messing up his own plans. When Roy descends into darkness it's kind of a symbol for losing his way, taking the wrong path.

The first time that Roy gets an offer to throw a game in exchange for some money he takes serious offense. At this point in the novel his moral compass is still working, and he can see right and wrong as plain as the nose on Gus' face. This indignation will come back to bite him when he's weak later on and takes the deal.

Sam, who died more than fifteen years ago, appears in Roy's hospital room in a hallucination, or maybe he's a ghost. He seems to be a relic from Roy's past, when he knew right from wrong and things were simpler. We don't exactly know what Sam is talking about when he says "Don't do it," but given what comes next we can guess that it's a warning against taking the Judge's deal.

In this scene we can get to the bottom of why Roy, who's been so strong and so opposed to cheating throughout the novel, would suddenly weaken and take a deal to throw the game. It's Memo. It breaks his heart to refuse her, because he's obsessed with being rich enough to make her his wife. The problem is she's not good enough for him, even if he doesn't realize it yet.

Putting up his last bit of fight before he gives in to the Judge, Roy appeals to the Judge's sense of ethics. Good luck with that, Roy. The Judge is far gone and isn't going to listen to any moral reasoning at this point. He's totally unscrupulous.

Roy knows his failure and suffering are punishment for not learning from experience. But do Gus and the Judge suffer because of their cheating? They're way more guilty than Roy, but other than Roy's final confrontation with them, we don't know what happens. We know they earned a bundle by betting against the team. Plus, Roy returned the money they paid him to throw the game, so even more profit. Crime pays.