In the movie "Field of Dreams" The narrator has a name Ray. Ray was not from Iowa but from Chicago, and moved to Iowa for college where he met his wife Annie. In the short story Ray did move to Iowa from Chicago, but did not meet his wife Annie in college but through his house owner. In the short story the whole story is told by Ray. In the movie it is mainly told by Ray, but also by Everyone else. Terrance Man, a writer in the book is one of the lead roles in the movie and is a key part of the point of view. You see a lot and hear a lot of what Man, and Ray have to Say.
The plot of the story is to help getting baseball players a second chance to play the game they love in the after life. What Ray does no know is that it gives him a chance to play catch with his father again. The last time Ray and his father talked was an argument about Ray going to Iowa. Ray was never able to forgive himself until he got a chance to play catch with his dad. In the short story Ray and his father were very close and didn't have a fight. Ray also knew that his father would be coming to play baseball on the field that Ray was making because he asked Shoeless Joe Jackson to bring his father so that he could play catcher again.
The setting of the movie is mostly the same as that of the story. For most of the movie Ray is an Iowa, but later leaves to New York to find Terrance Man. Terrance Man is a famous writer in the book that Ray seems to be interested in. Man seems to not believe in what Ray is saying until Man hears the voice as well, telling them to go the distance. The setting is different in the short story because Ray never leaves for New York, and it always is in Iowa. Also in Iowa it never talks about how the farm is almost pointless now since Ray has made a baseball field, and has taken up half of the crop that use to be there.
Characterization is not a huge factor in the movie as it was in the short story. In the story it explains everyone as in the movie only Ray is really explained about. Ray was from Chicago, and moved to Iowa for college where he met his wife Annie, fell in love became a farmer, and then had a child named Karen. Ray then started to farm since Annie wanted him to, In story Ray is a little different, he is not as old as he is in the movie and neither is Annie, and Karen is only a few months old, as in the story she is about six or seven.
I believe that the theme of the movie is second chances. Ray is given a second chance to play the game of baseball with his dad. This was both Ray's and his fathers past time. Each of them loved this sport, and for Ray to be given the chance to see, and play catch with his dad after the argument was very powerful, and good for them. Terrance Man who was not in the story,gets a second chance at loving the game of baseball that he forgot about years and years ago.
In the story you never hear Ray's name. In the movie Ray has to sell his farm because they do not have the money to pay the bills and the bank wants to shut them down. In the story Ray is about Twenty three, and has a baby girl. In the movie Ray is about thirty and has a daughter that is six or seven. In the movie Ray also does not pay that much attention to left field as he does in the story.
