Short Story - Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa

Plot

The plot of this story is fairly slow in comparison to the length of the piece. A lot of time is spent discussing Shoeless Joe's past of climbing the ranks of baseball, his scandalous downfall, and the fallout from that dirty deed. Still, it is kept interesting because, throughout the work, the author, W.P. Kinsella, ties Shoeless Joe's story to the personal story of the main character, Ray Kinsella. Even though the story is set up to be about a man and his relationship with a baseball field (watering it, protecting it, nurturing it), it ends up being much more about the man's relationship to baseball and the effect one man had on that relationship. " 'I loved the game... I'd have played for food money. I'd have played for free and worked for food. It was the game, the parks, the smells, the sounds.'(519) " Here, Shoeless Joe is describing his love of baseball, which is really what the plot of the story ultimately reveals.

Point of View

This short story is told from the point of view of Ray Kinsella. It is a first-person narrative, which contributes a lot to the storyline. "As he spoke, I instantly envisioned the finished product I knew I was being asked to conceive (511)." Ray Kinsella is an Iowa farmer, a family man, and a baseball fanatic. By W.P. Kinsella putting him in the narrative position, it gives the audience a deeper look into the mental workings of Ray. If it were told by another person in the story, one of the mior characters, one would never really know why Ray is building the field or talking to what is arguably a ghost on seemingly randomly built baseball field. The only other way to know why he does these things would be to for the narrator to ask him, which would take away from the bare bones of the story.

Characterization

In this story in particular, there are far more minor characters than there are major, as it is in most good stories. Ray and Shoeless Joe are the leading characters. Ray can really be characterized by his passions in life - family and baseball. He is really not too concerned with much else. " 'Consider it done,' I say, hardly thinking of the time, the money, the backbreaking labor it entails (521)." Ray was never too interested in a career. He originally moved to Iowa to follow one of his passions - his wife. Ray is very similar, but he is driven by one single thing - baseball. " 'Years and years later, I'd wake in the night with the smell of the ballpark in my nostrils and the cool of the grass on my feet. The thrill of the grass...'(518) " At one time, Shoeless Joe had been motivated by money, which led him to make the biggest mistake of his life. From that point on, he dedicated it tobaseball. I struggle with the idea that Shoeless Joe really came to Iowa to see some dinky field that a man made up based off of some sketchy apparition, so I consider him to be exactly that in this story - an apparition, but he is super meaningful nonetheless. He makes Ray realize his dream of creating a great ballpark, thereby moving the story along.

Setting

The setting of rural Iowa for the story is perfect. When one thinks of Iowa, they think farms and potatoes, so this is where the true baseball-lovers typically preside. These are raw, real men, out in the fields, working with their hands. So, by having a farmer from Iowa have this passion for baseball and its "fallen angel", the story is believable. Also, as a side note, Iowa would have plenty of free land for a baseball field to be built upon. "...but I fell in love with Iowa. Fell in love with the land, the people, with the sky, the cornfields and Annie (516)." Ray remarks a few times on the high-quality dirt that comes from the Iowa ground, so it would be perfect for the grass that would have to be put down and the care that would have to go into creating the field.

Theme

The main theme of this story is passion. If there is an abundance of one thing, it is this. Ray feels passion for his family, his state, and the game of baseball. "I watch Annie looking out. She is soft as a butterfly, Annie is, with an evil grin and a tongue that travels at the speed of light (516)." In every word of description Ray uses for his wife and daughter, there is affection. Even when pointing out her evil grin, he makes it sound as if he enjoys her evil side. To him, she can do no wrong. It is similar with Shoeles Joe. He threw a baseball game, which one would think to be a detrimental blow to a baseball fanatic like Ray, but his passion for Shoeless Joe overrode everything, and, in his mind, Joe was the victim of a greedy world.

A Mini American Revolution

In the short story Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill is French. This plays an important role in the story. Miss Brill is an Englishwoman living in France. The French and English are notorious for not getting along, whether it be on the battlefield or in the search for cultural supremacy. So, a French woman living in England would likely already run into cultural issues. The added bonus that she is looney doesn't help her case, either. I think Mansfield makes Miss Brill French because it serves to further detach her from her surroundings. She goes on about all the young people around her, usually in love, but there she sits, old and alone. She clearly doesn't fit in as it is. The added ethnic difference stands to emphasize Miss Brill's elephant -in- the -room existence.

And The Golden Rule Backfires

In the short story Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer, it is quite clear that the story within the story is to be a fairytale type of story. This is apparent from the beginning with the repetition of the phrase, "Once upon a time", and the telling of everything they "loved very much" in a laundry list style. The story begins with a man and wife who love eachother and have no problems (unrealistic). Then, the little boy is mentioned and, once again, he is loved very much. Then, he loves the cat and dog very much. Listing the cliches in order like that and using elementary words gives the story that fairytale effect. This atmosphere relates to the theme in the sense that the childlike and naive outlook the parents have toward the problem of the invading poor people is carried over into their attempt to prevent these poor people from becoming a problem for them. They set up a monsterous contraption to scare off any wrongdoers, but what they end up causing is far from innocent. The death of their son is a stab of harsh reality to a sheltered, uptight couple of parents.

Crazy as a Fox? Bat? No, More Like a Pheonix

In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, one might be led to believe that Pheonix's grandson is dead. When Pheonix goes to the store to get the medicine for her grandson, the nurse says, "Yes. Swallowed lye. When was it?-January-two, three years ago-?" If someone swallows lye, it is dangerous but can be treated with the exact medicine the grandmother went to the store to ask for. It certainly would not take two or three years to go away, so it begs the question where is the grandson now and why has he not gotten better? I believe it is in the cone of reality to say that Pheonix going to get the medicine for her dead grandson is a defense mechanism. She wants to act as though he is safe and sound at home patiently waiting for his medicine, but that is not the reality. Maybe something happened, like the grandmother couldn't get to the store fast enough to save her grandson and by going every week to fetch the medicine, it is her own personal penance. Because she blames herself for the death of her grandson, she can't face the reality of his death and would rather live in the world in her head where he is still around.

Eveline Autistic? Let's see...

In the short story Eveline by James Joyce, Eveline's life full of hard, monotonous work seems so desirable to her when she is faced with leaving it because it is familiar. Familiarity is something that human nature naturally tends toward. This trait is seen keenly in the autistic. They are dependent upon their routine and its constant nature. I am not at all implying that Eveline is autistic. I'de say that would be far from the cone of reason, but it does speak to the tendencies of humans. Obviously, it is not just familiarity that drives Eveline to abort her escape mission. She emphasizes the promise she made to her mother to look after the children before she died. Any child is naturally going to want to fulfill a promise they make to their dying mother, especially when it directly affects the lives of those she loves.

Wall Street Charity

In the story Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, the subtitle "A Story of Wallstreet" is representative of what the story is even truly about. When this story was being written, Wall Street was just becoming a financial centerpoint in the United States. The materialistic and greedy nature of society at the time was likely what prompted Melville to write a story like this in the first place. It is widely believed that, on Wall Street, money comes first and humanity takes a backseat. This theory could be related to this work. In the story, the lawyer initially is dumbfounded by Bartleby's response to his requests, so he says nothing to him about it, but, later, he begins to feel as though he is only putting up with Bartleby's shinanigans out of charity. As the story moves along, the lawyer grows more and more agitated with Bartleby's behavior and asks him to leave because his presence is making his clients uncomfortable. In this case, the business won out over the lawyers best intentions to provide a charitable service to Bartleby, much like it does on Wall Street.

If You Really Knew Me...

Frank undergoes a dynamic change in the course of Hunters in the Snow. At first, he seems to be the stereotypical man. He makes fun of his friend because of his weight. Even in the setting (hunting), it is clear that he is meant to be a guy's guy. Then, we see another side of Frank. He reveals his emotional problems he's having with another woman that is not his wife. He expresses his concern about his children if he does leave his wife. When he plays a very sympathetic role toward Tub, the change seems to be a full 360. At the beginning, I never would have expected him to have any kind of emotional side, but he reveals that change in view toward Tub during the stressful events in the story. These changes do seem to be permanent, and they can be seen clearly in the line, "Tub, ...what happened back there, I should have been more sympathetic... You were going through a lot." Here, he shows that the events that occurred just a few minutes ago shed a new light on his and Tub's situation, and that he realizes that he was wrong in the way he treated Tub.

Sympathy in the Snow

The character in Hunters in the Snow the character that is the most sympathetic is Tub. From the beginning, he is the one who the other two ridicule for holding them back. Then he proceeds to make little mistakes, like missing the deer and forgetting the directions. Then, of course, there is the shooting of Kenny. Because it is made clear that Tub did it in what he saw as self-defense, little blame is really put on Tub. Then, when Frank gives him a hard time about his diet and how fat he is, the reader can't help but feel sympathy for him. The least sympathetic, ironically, is Kenny. We really don't learn much about him and his personal struggles. All we really see is his emotional breakdown about the deer, so we don't know enough about him to have a real connection with his character. Against all odds, I felt sympathy for Frank in the fact that he really did feel bad about being so mean to Tub about his weight. This sympathy is increased with is reaction to Tub's admittance that he really doesn't have a gland problem. Frank is surprisingly understanding. The name Tub does play a part in the reader's feelings toward him. By being called Tub, one understands that it is a ritualistic thing for the other two to make fun of him for his weight.

Quilts Need Everyday Use

In Everyday Use by Alice Walker, the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change of character. When Dee does finally leave, it seems as if she is relieved. She immediately sits and has some snuff with Maggie, which is a fairly nonchalant action after dealing with that drama. In addition, it was abundantly clear throughout the telling of the story that Dee's mother could not fully accept the name change her daughter went through. She persistently puts one of the names in parenthesis as if the reader would not understand who she was talking about. She had never stood up for Maggoe the way she did about the quilts likely because of the way Dee acted. She came home talking about their African roots and how she "married" some random guy with a complicated name. No mother would be understanding of that kind of drastic character change, and the mother felt as though Dee did not truly understand their culture; she simply acted as if she did because of others' influence on her, while Maggie had been home with her, experiencing the legacy the quilts held.

Interpreter of Maladies

To me, Mrs. Das requesting, then losing, Mr. Kapasi's address is symbolic. It symbolizes her gaining his affections, then losing them. At first, he is infatuated with her because of the obvious marital problems and what he sees as flirting on her part. This goes on for a while after she requests the address and he is fantasizing about the great conversations they will have. Then, she divulges more to him than he is ready to hear. The Indian culture is strict in the way they see the role of a wife and the life she is allowed and not allowed to live. Culturally, it is seen as disgraceful, as it is here, as well, I suppose, to have an affair while married. Because Mrs. Das admits to doing this, he loses a lot of respect for her, but also loses his infatuation with her. At the end of the story when the wind takes the address, it is symbolic of Mrs. Das also losing Mr. Kapasi's affections and respect at the same time.

Ghost Story?- Possibly

In many ways, I can see how Faulkner could see this as a ghost story. It is told in hindsight after Emily's death, so she's dead the whole time. Still, it is so unlike any other ghost story I've ever read. For the most part, ghost stories are about what happens to the person (or spirit) after they have died. They usually go into detail about why the person's spirit is trapped between the world of the dead and our world, but that is usually a fairly small part of the story because the author usually focuses on what the ghost has to go through and what the people who are being haunted by the ghost have to experience before the ghost has that aha! moment and goes forward to the other side. Stereotypically, these ghost stories are about a lost love or a grudge held that the ghost has to let go of to leave the place in-between, but this story has none of that. I suppose Emily's spirit is alive in the story as the narrator tells it and the reader knows that she is dead but does not know why or how it happened and does not know why the death was such a scandal. Also, the addition of another dead person at the end makes it seem even more like a ghost story than it initially did when the town burden (aka Emily) had passed away.

A Rose for Emily

There are significant advantages in telling this particular story in first-person plural. When the narrator explains that the townperson as a whole feel one specific way, the author, William Faulkner, gives credability to the narrator. He puts him or her in a place where they have experienced the feelings and the whispers that have spread due to the presence of this old woman. Also, the narrator being basically the wider opinion of the town gives the story more of a gossip-esque feel. It is just like a typical small town where everyone knows everyone and knows all their business, like the story about how Emily managed to not pay taxes even once. On top of that, it seems as though every detail we are given is through some person telling the narrator about it. Like the arsenic story in which the narrator was not even there. Someone who had been there told him or her the story. In another way, the first-person plural point of view adds suspense because there ar eno complete details that the narrator gives the reader. Everything he or she knows comes from the talk of the town and what goes on outside the walls of the mysterious house. It is not until the funeral takes place and the townspeople venture into the house do they see the body of Homer Barron and the body indentation with a single strand of iron-gray hair.

How I Met My Husband

Edie is most definitely a sympathetic character. By being "the hired girl", the author, Alice Munro, puts Edie in a subordinate role. Her purpose at the house is that of a nanny, so she tends to the children, fixes dinner, and cleans the house and the clothes and things like that. Obviously, Edie's life is not glamorous and this puts her in the sympathetic role. Also, Munro puts her far from her family on a farm nothing like the one she lives on, which is actually used as a farm and not as a statement piece. Edie expresses her awe at having running water, which now seems so standard. Even at the end, the author gives us more reason to feel sorry for Edie when she sits by the mailbox day after day and no letter arrives, and she realizes that she was just another girl along the way for Chris. On top of that, the mother she works for is cold and does not play the motherly role that a girl of 15 needs. With all of these things put together, Munro paints a naive, somewhat lost picture of Edie that endears the reader to her particular situation.