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?
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?
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