Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa

Point of View
This short story is in first person point of view. The main character is told to build a baseball field and he does. He does not hesitate to build the field and with the use of first person, the reader understands his love of baseball. The reader experiences his love of baseball first hand. He says, "I count the loves in my life: Annie, Karin, Iowa, Baseball" (pg 513). He inherited his love of baseball from his father. The reader receives this information through his memories of his father. He would talk about the present events occurring and then tell a story that happened in the past.

Characterization
The main character introduces all of the characters in the story. His wife Annie is 24 and when he tells her he is going to build a baseball field she replies,"If it makes you happy you should do it" (pg 512). She does not try to persuade him to forget about his vision. Her looks are directly characterized. She had hair the color of "cayenne pepper" and she had "at least a million freckles on her face and arms." Shoeless Joe is idolized. He believed that "Shoeless Joe was innocent, a victim of big business and crooked gamblers" (pg 513) when he was accused of throwing the World Series. He did not want to believe Shoeless Joe did anything wrong. He also loved his father. He tells many stories about his father and his inherited love of baseball.

Setting
This story takes place in eastern Iowa on a farm. The main character is a farmer. He hears a voice and has a vision of a baseball field and knows he must build one. Because he is a farmer, he had a lot to lose by building a baseball field in the middle of his crops. He did not have very much money because he states he was "operating [the farm] one inch from bankruptcy" (pg 512). This shows his devotion to carrying out his vision of the baseball field. He truly believed Shoeless Joe would come and play baseball on his field.

Plot
The story begins with the main character talking about his father and Shoeless Joe and is then followed by the famous line, "If you build it, he will come" (pg 511). The reader is presented with this question: Who is the "he" referring to? The reader is given an explanation of what 'it' is because the main character is given a vision of a baseball field. Because Shoeless Joe is mention within the first paragraph of the story, it can be inferred that the 'he' is Shoeless Joe. When I got to the end of the story though, I felt the 'he' referred to the main character's father also. He mentions his father playing ball in Florida and at the end recommends a catcher who played ball in Florida. He would get the chance to see Shoeless Joe play baseball and he would see his father again who had passed away.

Theme
One theme in this story, no matter how corny it sounds, is to follow your heart. The main character hears a voice and acts on what he was told to do. He asks himself, "Was it really a voice I heard? Or was it perhaps something inside me making a statement that I did not hear with my ears but with my heart?" (pg 513) He loved baseball and had devoted much of his life to it. It kept his father close because they both had a special love of baseball. He is also very close with his family. He has a wife who loves him and a daughter who adores him. He had a good relationship with his father. My favorite part of the story was the ending when Shoeless Joe says, "This must be heaven" where he replies, "No. It's Iowa." He then thinks about all of the special people in his life who love him and he then says, "I think you're right, Joe" (pg 522). Family is very important and is something that all people should value.