Plot


The story I would chose to adapt would be You're Ugly Too. I enjoyed this story well enough but found myself wishing that, at the end when she almost pushed Earl off the roof, she had actually done it. It may sound macabre, but it seems so much more fitting for a character like Zoe (a bit of a whackjob) to fall in love with the guy after she pushes him off the ledge. I could just see her thinking to herself, "Wow, that could have been something special. I really did like him." Of course, this would make the story a bit more like a Rose for Emily than one is comfortable to think about, but it would certainly make for a more interesting storyline.

Point of View

I would have loved to have read this story in first-person with Zoe telling the story. We only really get a small glimpse into the distorted and sarcastic mind of the woman. A deeper look into her view on life might be a bit scarring but would also serve to give the stroy a different kind of edge. Also, this would add a more personal touch to the narrative. Maybe a look into Zoe's world would help the reader identify with Zoe. The third-person narrative does nothing to explain Zoe's eccentricities.

Characterization

While the character of Zoe is certainly interesting in the short story, adding the ending I proposed at the beginning of this blog post would quadruple her interest. To fall in love with a dead man would put Zoe on a whole other level of weird, but her quirkiness is what I found endearing. Emily from A Rose for Emily definitely had a sympathy factor because her odd nature came from a lack of proper parenting. Again, the characterization of Zoe would change dramatically in that she would become a more sympathetic character. She is not really a sympthetic character in You're Ugly, Too other than when she makes up a fake boyfriend. It would also open up the possibility to feed off of that plot twist and delve deeper into her mind as she goes through the process of falling in love with Earl after he dies.

Setting

I cannot really see the setting changing very much. Of course, as the movie expanded, she would likely stay in the city as that is where Earl lived. This would lead to her being forced to give up her job and find one in the city. She might also move in with her sister to be nearer to Earl, which would bring up an entirely different set of issues. The city life would likely influence Zoe in a number of ways. She would likely become more bitter, as I have heard the city has a tendency to do to people. She may also become less crazy because the hustle and bustle of the city has little patience for eccentricities like those of Zoe.

Theme

The theme of the work would change drastically with the addition I proposed earlier. It would become more about unrequited love and sympathy as opposed to the embracing of one's oddities. The theme of unrequited love is quite popular in literature, but it is rarely unrequited due to the death of one half of the equation. There would naturally be an underlying theme of staying true to oneself due to the simple fact that she is in love with a dead man. This is rarely accepted in modern times, but it certainly makes for an enticing story. Maybe, later on in the story, she could even find a nice live man to settle down with. Or she could do something totally crazy in an attempt to join him in death. I'm not insane, I promise.

Film and Short Story Review

Plot

The plotlines for Field of Dreams and Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa are largely the same, at least up until the part the short story left off. I'd imagine that's because we got the short version and there is more to the short story. That was the idea I got from trying to get further information online. There were small differences, like the fact that Ray went to Berkeley in the movie, while he went to the University of Iowa in the short story. Also, in the written version, Ray fell in love with Iowa almost immediately and was more than happy to become a farmer because of his love for the land. In the film, he was wary about becoming a farmer and didn't truly fall in love with Iowa until it became his gateway to meeting his baseball hero. In the story, Annie, Ray's wife goes along with his plan to build the baseball field immediately because she knows it is what he needs to do to be happy, but in the movie form, she asks, "Are you actually thinking of doing this?". Here and throughout the movie, she is somewhat the voice of reason when Ray's dreams get far fetched. So much more storyline goes into the movie, obviously since it has to fill a certain amount of time, so, in the movie, Ray has an issue with his father, but this does not happen in the written form. Similarities are quite clear. Ray builds the field because he hears a voice say, "If you build it, he will come." Then, after it is built, Shoeless Joe pops up in the night and asks if he and his friends can come back the next day.

Point of View

In the film version, there is no narrator. The story is told exactly as it is happening because it is self-explanatory. The short story, on the other hand, requires a narrator. Still, in the film, Ray hears the voice many times. In a small way, the voice could be a type of narrator because he moves the story along and gives Ray hints as to what to do next. This could have taken place in the story, but we read a short piece, so I'm not totally sure. There is a difference in the voice's persistence. Ray doesn't understand the voice initially in the movie. He questions his sanity for awhile, but eventually understands after a short catharsis. In the short story, Ray understands immediately what he is to do.

Characterization

The characterization in the two pieces is similar, but not the same. The main difference I saw was in Annie. She was definitely more headstrong in the movie. She did not blindly support every decision Ray made because she wanted him to be happy. She really took the family's finances into consideration when Ray didn't. Also, in the short story, I got this sense that Shoeless Joe was somewhat confident. I mean, he was a professional baseball player. What reason did he have to be tentative around Ray? In the movie, I thought he seemed almost nervous or scared when he first came into the picture on the field that first night. Mainly, this is just a difference in perception, but there is something to it.

Setting

In the first paragraph, I mentioned a difference in the main character's feelings toward the setting. Realistically, the setting in both works is the same. Both take place in rural Iowa. In the movie, Ray travels far from Iowa on his goosechase. Again, this is likely because the story was cut short. Little things, like the bleachers, are different. It may sound odd, but they were definitely bigger in the movie than they were described in the short story.

Theme

The theme of the two works is essentially the same. The idea is that dedication to a goal wins out over the impossibility of that goal. Also, there is a focus on love. Ray, in both pieces, loves baseball, and he loves his family. Because of that love, he does things that most would consider crazy, like building a non-lucrative baseball field on an expensive piece of farmland or becoming a farmer with little to no farming know-how. Still, love wins out and everyone wins in the end. Ray meets his dad again to play catch. The family finds a new way to make money and avoid giving up the farm, and it's all happy.

The Baby Without a Name

In Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver, the most illuminating line of the whole story is the last. "In this manner, the issue was decided." This could really be interpreted in a few ways. One could read this and take it as the parents killing the baby because they physically tore him in half during the struggle. Most who read this took it this way from what I observed. Still, it could be interpreted that one parent, likely the father from the description, gained possession of the baby. The issue decided is who will get the baby after the father leaves. Instead of being mature about the decision, the parents decided to give in to their rage with eachother and put the baby's life in danger. Neither of them should have been caretakers for anything living and breathing.

Pretty Much Pathos

In The Drunkard by Frank O'Connor, the story is not purely humorous. While this aspect is the main focus, there are certainly aspects of pathos intertwined. The pathos can be seen when the narrator tells of why the boy's mother did not want the father drinking. A family going through financial problems and cannot afford to have the working parent miss one day of work pulls at the heartstrings. Then, if one considers that the father misses work on a rare occassion because he has a drinking problem in which he can't stop drinking until he is completely drunk, one can see the pathos clearly here. While the humor of th story is in the forefront, it is not the only important aspect of the story.

You're Ugly, As Well

The sources of humor in this short story cirlce around Zoe's eccentric personality. If she had not been a different personality-type, the story would have been pretty dull. A little humor was found in other parts, like Earl's costume, but those were few and far between. The humor comes from Zoe's distortion of of life more than the realities of life. She sees things in an interesting way, which makes the story more interesting. She doesn't see things like other people. When she acts as though she is going to throw him over the ledge at the party, she sees it as a funny joke, while Earl saw it as a threat to his life. It was pretty humorous.

You Thought You Were Getting a Car?... Ohhhh

Lottery: any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance. This definition clearly fits the happenings in the story, but the common idea of what a lottery is involves money. With the title of the piece by Shirley Jackson being Lottery, one can reasonably expect one or more of the characters to win some grand prize. This, sadly, is not the case. Instead of having Ed McMahon show up on their doorstep with ballons and an obscenely large check, the people of the small town receive a shockingly intimidating welcome. The sight of hundreds of aggressive townsfolk advancing upon you quickly, rocks in hand, would be scary enough to probably make me pass out. So, the title is misleading because it leads the reader to believe that the prize at the end of the lottery will be one of a celebratory nature, not death.