[R] accessing list components with a variable

[David C. James]

Let's say I have a list called the_list consisting of three components:
the_list$component_1
the_list$component_2
the_list$component_3

Now, I want to access it using a variable called comp.
comp <- "component_1"

I'm looking for some function that let's me do this:
unknown_function(the_list, comp)

Which should do the same thing as:
the_list$component_1

Any ideas?  I'd be open to other ways of doing this, too.  I explored  
this way, but it didn't seem to get me anywhere:
the_list$"component_1"

I possibly could have gotten further along if I knew how to do  
evaluation in R.

Thanks,
David