Discussion Topic
Ray's challenges and achievements in his journey in Shoeless Joe
Summary:
Ray faces numerous challenges in Shoeless Joe, including financial struggles, skepticism from others, and the daunting task of building a baseball field. Despite these obstacles, he achieves his dream by creating the field, reconnecting with his father, and bringing Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball legends back to life, fulfilling his quest and personal growth.
What are three challenges Ray faces in his journey in Shoeless Joe?
Though the protagonist of William Patrick Kinsella's 1982 novel, Shoeless Joe, is middle-aged, the novel resembles a bildungsroman to the extent that Ray encounters a series of obstacles to discover a happier self. The book is a magic realist hero's journey, as his obstacles are several.
One obstacle is Ray's interpersonal conflict with his brother-in-law Mark. Mark, a "burgeoning business tycoon" (55) and judgmental character, believes that Ray is going crazy when he puts stock in the radio announcer's disembodied voices that only he can hear. Mark constantly challenges Ray, asking "isn't it about time you grew up?" and threatens that "this monstrosity will be the first thing to go, and I'll drive the bulldozer myself" after he sees the accomplished field (215).
Another conflict is the practical financial burden imposed by the baseball field. Kinsella has been operating "an inch from bankruptcy" (5) since buying the farm. Specifically, the opportunity cost of devoting the farm to the field and sacrificing the crops is something that Kinsella himself is hard pressed to accept; however, he feels so compelled by the persistent instructions from the voice, that he has no other choice.
Finally, Kinsella faces the task of obstacle of convincing writer J.D. Salinger to come with him to a baseball game. Ray is inspired to do this when the (now familiar) voice tells him to "ease his pain," (wherein the "his" is ambiguous). Ray is convinced that he is being instructed to resuscitate Salinger's love of baseball. Ray drives all the way to Salinger's home in Vermont, where he is led to Salinger by the local town's residents. He offers him a baseball and pretends to have no further motive. Salinger, a recluse, is skeptical, but joins him. It is at this Red Sox game that Salinger is convinced of the validity of Kinsella's mission, as he sees a line on the scoreboard of the Player Register of the Baseball Encyclopedia. The two men are the only ones who see the unusual message. Salinger then joins Kinsella on his mission to Minnesota find out more about the little-known player referred to on the Fenway scoreboard: Archibald "Moonlight" Graham.
Ultimately, Ray Kinsella's unique determination when faced with obstacles represented by a family feud, financial circumstance, and geography (as his travels take him to Vermont to Minnesota to find Salinger and Graham, respectively), make his achievement with the field (and the otherworldly visitors it draws) more meaningful as a success.
What are three ways Ray achieves his goal in Shoeless Joe?
You might already be familiar with the story of Shoeless Joe, as the book by W. P. Kinsella inspired the movie Field of Dreams. In the book, Ray Kinsella gets three messages from legendary baseball players, and by carrying out what he interprets to be the instructions in the messages, Ray goes on a journey of self-discovery.
The first message Ray receives is “If you build it, they will come." Ray believes this is an instruction from baseball great Shoeless Joe, one that is telling him to build a baseball field in his cornfield in Iowa. After he does, Ray allows the baseball players of the past to relive their experiences out on the field.
The second message Ray hears is “ease his pain.” He believes this means that he is to find the reclusive author J.D. Salinger, who is most famous for Catcher in the Rye. Ray finds Salinger, and he takes him to a baseball game in Boston’s Fenway Park.
At this point, Ray and Salinger begin to hear voices together. While at the baseball game at Fenway Park, they hear the third message from the past, this one telling them to “go the distance.” Ray believes that this message is from baseball legend Archie “Moonlight” Graham, and he and Salinger “go the distance” to discover the meaning of the message—they travel to Minnesota to find out what they can about the player and his life and dreams.
W.P. Kinsella uses baseball as a metaphor for life. By following the messages, Ray allows imagination into his real life. He gives life to the baseball players, as they give life to his dreams.
What are three challenges Ray faces on his journey in Shoeless Joe?
Two of Ray's challenges are closely related: becoming a more responsible, practical person and creating financial stability for his family. A different type of challenge is also related to the first: to heal and ease the way of other people. He surmounts these challenges by staying true to his nature through some fantastic means as well as more conventional ones. Ray has to follow his dreams to find his path on solid ground, literally and metaphorically, through building the baseball field.
Ray is a devoted husband and father who is involved in pursuing one big dream: owning and operating a farm. Unfortunately, from combined factors including his lack of skill, the farm is operating at a severe deficit. Ultimately, through the hard work of building the field, he learns how to follow through on a project and matures considerably so that the dreamer and doer sides of his personality are more balanced.
The field also becomes the vehicle to help solve Ray's financial problems. Again a combination of dreaming—that he needs to ease J. D. Salinger's pain—and following through, when Salinger goes to the game and then comes home with him, lead to overcoming this challenge. Charging admission to the field will generate regular income and reduce his debt.
When Ray hears the message "ease his pain," he believes it refers to Salinger and decides that baseball will do that for him as it so often does for Ray. Along the way he learns that the pain is felt by his father, who is deceased, and his brother, who is very much alive. In the end, he does help Salinger, and by doing so, sets in motion the reconciliations among his father, his brother, and himself. Through becoming a more practical provider, he also helps his beloved wife and daughter, greatly easing their way in life. His short-term dream of helping the author and long-term dream of unifying his family are achieved.
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