Baseball Symbolism In Shoeless Joe

Shoeless Joe is a magical realist novel by W.P. Kinsella set in the 1970’s. At this time period, baseball was the main sport and was often time described as part of the American dream where you can achieve your aspiration. The novel demonstrates the early ideas about baseball because the author uses Ray Kinsella, a baseball fanatic, who allows his imagination of the game to follow his dreams. The aspect of the game is not what draws Ray or the other characters in the story to baseball it is the true meaning behind the game that embodies their love for baseball. Furthermore, I argue baseball symbolizes dreams in the novel Shoeless