In Shoeless Joe, why is Ray's relationship with his father so important, in light of the importance of fathers playing catch with sons throughout...

The Game of Catch in Baseball Literature

Catch is an important device in baseball literature that is often used to illustrate the importance of strong relationships between fathers and sons. This simple activity is a wholesome representation of America's favorite pastime, and it is a common bonding activity between fathers and sons throughout the genre. While Ray's relationship with his father ended painfully with his death, baseball was the one thing that had always united them. Although Ray is hesitant when he is first reunited with his father, a simple game of baseball at the end of the story serves as a metaphor for the restoration of their relationship to its former state.

Ray's Relationship with His Father

The relationship between Ray and his father is a central dynamic in the novel. Ray developed his love of baseball because of his father, who was a catcher for the White Sox. Shoeless Joe was his father's hero, and his belief in the disgraced player's innocence serves as an interesting parallel to the family dynamics between Ray, his brother Richard, and their father. At the time Ray is first given instructions to build a baseball field, his father has been dead for twenty years. Building the field so Shoeless Joe will come to play on it is Ray's attempt to bring peace to his father's spirit and give them all a second chance at redemption.

After Ray meets Shoeless Joe, he longs for his father to have the chance to play alongside him. His father appears on the field as a twenty-five-year-old version of himself, and at first, Ray does not know what to do. The author uses this touching reunion to tie together the other major themes in the story, such as forgiveness, healing and the love of baseball that transcends time and circumstance. Ray's relationship with his father, which is finally brought to a resolution as they join the other players on the field, is the core of the story. It is this relationship that motivated him to build the field, seek out a missing Salinger, and reunite the White Sox team. As Ray is brought closer to his father, his brother also experiences an unlikely reconciliation with him. Baseball has transcended death itself to unite brothers, a father and his sons, and an entire team of ghostly players.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

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