'Moonlight Graham's Field Of Dreams In Shoeless Joe'

Graham’s Field of Dreams Every character in stories has a goal, a motive, or a dream that they must fulfill. Whether it be getting the girl or defeating the villain. All characters have something to strive for, ending in success... or failure. There are a lot of characters with dreams in the story Shoeless Joe. Mark’s dream is that of a land developer. Ray’s dream is to see his father and save his field and farm. Salinger’s dream becomes a baseball fan’s dream. All of these are great dreams, but the most interesting is that of Moonlight Graham. Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham was born on November 10, 1879 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He grew up to be a good baseball player. He played baseball in the minor leagues for three years before joining the Giants on May 23, 1905. He would always practice with the Giants, but he had only got to play in one game. In the bottom of the eighth inning against the Brooklyn Superbas in Washington Park, Graham was sent in to play right field, replacing George Browne. Graham played the bottom of the ninth in right field but
never came to bat. That was the only game in the major leagues he had played in. Afterwards, Graham completed his medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1905 and started practicing medicine in Chisholm, Minnesota. He settled in Chisholm and married a schoolteacher, Alecia Flowers. Graham died in Chisholm in 1965. In Shoeless Joe, Ray Kinsella and J.D.
Salinger are sent on a quest to find out about “Moonlight” Graham. “Go the distance” Both of the men go to Chrisholm to research about Graham and interview people for information on him. One night, Ray decided to walk down a street. Magically, he went back in time to 1955. He saw Doc Graham on the street and he started to ask him questions about his career. “I’d been out walking, I had a feeling that you might appear...” They talk about the origins of Doc Graham’s nickname, Moonlight Graham. According to Doc, he couldn’t go to sleep one night, so he put on his uniform and went for a walk. Then, one of his teammates woke up and asked Graham why he was walking in the moonlight. That one teammate woke up managed to wake up the rest and they started to call Graham, “Moonlight” Graham. “ Archie Graham’s going out to the ballpark to play in the goll-danged
moonlight,” Then, Ray and Doc continue to talk about how Doc had only played one major league game. The ball was never hit into the outfield where Moonlight graham had been. He did not even get to bat. “I bet I wasn’t out in right field more than five minutes. And that was fifty years ago.” Then Ray asks Doc Graham what his wish would be. “Still, if you could do anything you wanted to do... if you could stop somewhere in time...” Doc responded, “If I had a wish..., it would be to hold a bat in a major-league game... I’d have liked the chance to stare down a pitcher. Stare him down, and then wink just as he goes into the wind-up; make him wonder if I know something he doesn’t, if he should change the pitch in mid-delivery.” This is where we find Doc Graham’s dream. It is to bat in a major-league game. On their way back to the farm, Ray and J.D. Salinger pick up the hitchhiking Archie Graham. They take him to the field on Ray’s farm. This is where younger Moonlight Graham’s dream gets fulfilled. He plays with the major-league teams that are on Ray’s baseball field and bats alongside Shoeless Joe and many other famous baseball players. Then Bluestein, Mark’s business partner, tries to pressure Ray to selling the farm. And this is when Karin falls and begins to choke on a hotdog. While slowly turning back into Doc Graham, Moonlight Graham runs towards the choking child. Doc Graham saves Karin. “He was always the first at the side of an injured player in any sport.” Ray knows that when Moonlight Graham had changed back into Doc Graham, he wasn’t going to change back and play baseball. He knew Doc made the sacrifice of playing in the major-leagues to save his daughter. “But I wonder how much he has sacrificed to save Karin’s life. It seems to me that he will never be able to walk back onto the ball field as Moonlight Graham. He has violated some cosmic rule...” At the end, Doc Graham’s dream had finally come true. He got to play in the major-leagues and batted against a pitcher. That is all he wished for. He did not need to play any longer. That is why he sacrificed major-league baseball just to save a child. There were many other dreams for different characters throughout the story. But Moonlight Graham’s dream was the most interesting and made the most sense to me as a reader.