Shoeless Joe finds shoes and the story ends

Free write: Where is Salinger headed? What's beyond the gate?

1. Page 251: Salinger's baseball sermon. What's the intention behind his? How does it compare/contrast to Eddie's?

2. What changes Richard in that moment with his father?

3. Looking back throughout the novel, what's the significance of Karin or Annie always seeing the players first?

Shoeless Joe: 131-233

Discussion Question


Define each persons/items role in Ray's journey and dream: Salinger, Moonlight Graham, Annie, Eddie Scissons, Karin, the field, Richard, Ray's father.

1. "Writing is different," Salinger insists. "Other people get into occupations by accident or deign; but writers are born. We have to write. I have to write. I could work at selling motels, or slopping hogs, for fifty years, but if someone asked my occupation, I'd say writer, even if I'd never sold a word. Writers write. Other people talk." (109)

How does Salinger's idea relate to Ray? How does it relate to the idea of faith?

2. Why does Ray constantly press Salinger about writing?

3. Ray pulls out a fan letter to Salinger (p. 134), but Salinger is unmoved by the note. Why do you think Salinger is so reluctant to be loved and adored? Why include this type of character in the novel? What purpose of Salinger's reluctance serve in Ray's journey?

4. On p. 147 Graham talks about the importance of place and the connection he has to Chisholm. In what way has Ray's sense of place influenced his journey and dream?

5. Bottom of 167: what is Kinsella telling us about America's relationship with baseball?

6. “I know that some of us, and for some reason I am one of them, get to reach out and touch our heart’s desire, like a child who gets to pet the nose of an old horse, soft as satin, safe as a grandfather’s lap. And I know, too, that when most people reach out for that heart’s desire, it appears not as a horse but as a tiger, and they are rewarded with snarls, frustration, and disillusionment” (218).

Personally: What does this passage make you think of? Textually: How does this relate to the major action of the novel?

7. “A collector’s dream” (217). In what way is Ray a collector? What does he collect?

8. “Fact and fantasy swirl together” (218). What role does self-delusion have in dream fulfillment? Is Ray delusional? Salinger? Are we all, just a little? How does delusion relate to our ability to believe and have faith?

9. “We sleep.” …“And wait.” … “And dream … Oh, how we dream” (221). Dream of what?

10. Look at Eddie’s baseball sermon on p. 227 and beyond:

What’s a sermon?

What are the gospels?

What did baseball offer Eddie?

What does the Field offer Eddie?

What’s the significance of using “the word” in his speech? What effect does the repetition have? What does the repetition allude to?

What does Eddie offer Ray?

Besides the love of the game, what’s the connection between the two men?

Shoeless Joe: 105-131

A great piece for your reading pleasure!

Who is this Moonlight Graham? Moonlight Graham Remembered.

And what about Veda Ponikvar? Fun read from AMC.

Free write: Salinger is Ray Kinsella's life-long heroic author who offers Ray not only a chance to meet his hero but also something to make his dreams come true. Think about a hero in your life -- a sports star, an author, an actor, but someone not related to you. Think about someone who can offer you a piece of your dream or some wish you have. Now, tell me who you're going to pick up, why you're picking up this person and where you're going.

Each student is assigned another student's pairing. You then must write a scene between the two characters.

Extra credit: what faculty member's wife has family in the Iron Range? Chisholm to be exact.

Shoeless: 78-101

Big group discussion Rules

1. Everyone must speak

2. Use the text to support your ideas

3. Build off of one another; keep moving forward

4. Think before you speak

5. Plan: take 5-7 minutes to formulate your ideas and then we'll begin

"'It wasn't just the baseball game. I wanted it to be a metaphor for something else: perhaps trust, or freedom, or ritual, or faithfulness, or joy, or any of the other things that baseball can symbolize. I only want to make you happy ...'" I feel myself choking up as I say it.

'You don't know how those words affected me,' I go on. 'It was the line 'They tore down the Polo Grounds in 1964' that got me. Those words flew off the printed page, hovered in the air, assumed the shape of a gray bird, and landed on my shoulder. I reached up and picked off the bird and held it in my hand, tiny and pulsing, pressed it hard against my chest, and it disappeared like mist. If I were to open my shirt, and you looked closely, you could see its faint silver outline on my skin'" (97).

Ray is easily intoxicated by magic, faith, and his religion, but not all humans are. Why do humans daily deny the presence of what Ray finds so fulfilling? In what ways has Ray's religion and faith persuaded Salinger to head to Minnesota with Ray and how does that inform us about Salinger's true character? What role does the language of myth play at this point in time in the novel?

Other questions for discussion

1. Compare and contrast Mark & Ray. Use the text and W.P. Kinsella's similes to support your ideas.

2. What are Ray's specific vulnerabilities?

3. How has Ray changed since the opening of the novel? How has he remained stagnant as a character?

4. Some critics say Ray gives a sermon on pp. 84 -85. Firstly, what is he preaching? Remember that a sermon is a speech by a prophet or member of the clergy. Secondly, how does Ray fit into that definition?

5. How does nostalgia present itself in last night's reading?