Shoeless Joe is Canadian writer W. P. Kinsella's 1982 story about a baseball-devoted farmer who is inspired to build a ballpark in the middle of his corn field. Shoeless Joe, despite its grounding in sport, focuses on themes of religion, family, and reconciliation, using strong biblical allusion and metaphor to argue that the power of faith is strong enough to transform even nature and reality.
In the background to the story, main character Ray's twin brother—Richard—has an angry exchange with their father. The ruptured relationship is never repaired before Ray's father dies and the lack of reconciliation weighs heavily on the family. Ray's father was an unsuccessful baseball player and, when Ray begins hearing voices telling him to build a ballpark, he decides to act on the commands.
Once the field is built, Ray is visited by a young version of his father who takes the form of a catcher. Ray helps his brother to see and interact with this image of their father.
The first thing that can be taken away is that the "he" and "his" which Ray has been hearing throughout the story ("if you build it, he will come" and "ease his pain") refers to Ray's father.
Second, both the reader and Ray learn that Ray and Ray's father are more alike than the protagonist would have thought. Ray is initially confused about how he should approach his father but ultimately decides to interact with him as an equal, observing that "we'll hardly realize that we're talking about love, and family, and life, and beauty, and friendship, and sharing." Like Ray, Ray's father had to deal with setbacks and heartbreaks and address them in the best way he could. Despite being his father, he is ultimately a human.
Finally, the story's theme of transcendence and the ability of raw belief to heal achieves a penultimate finality and significance. The game of baseball—which represents the power of faith—has trumped death itself to reconcile family and undo the mistakes of the past.
Friday, August 28, 2015
What are 3 things that can be taken away from Ray meeting his dad and repairing their relationship?
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