MovieChat Forums > Field of Dreams (1989) Discussion > Meaning of final act ("It was you," "No...

Meaning of final act ("It was you," "No Ray, it was you."


So after seeing this movie many times, here's what i gather.

Toward the end, after Terrance walks into the corn the final game, Shoeless Joe says to Ray "if you build it, he will come" and motions to Ray's dad, who was playing catcher. Then Ray and his wife recite all of the lines spoken by the voice ("if you build it, he will come," "ease his pain," and "go the distance."). Ray then says "It was you," in the direction of Joe (concluding that Joe was "the Voice"), but Joe responds, "No Ray, it was you."

I think the meaning here is that, up to this point, Ray believed everything he was doing was for the benefit of others that had been wronged by Ray or others (i.e. Shoeless Joe and his own father), and that it was really Ray's penance to make things right. However, at this moment Ray sees that it was truly his own pain that was being relieved, by having the opportunity to make peace with his father and set aside his feelings of guilt that led to Ray leaving home when he was 17. Many of these feelings began to arise in the context of baseball, with Ray refusing to play catch with his father at age 14 because his father had put too much pressure on him to play the game. Now, he finally has the opportunity to give to his Dad in death what he failed to provide in life. As far as the "it was you" from Ray to Joe, and Joe's response, "no Ray, it was you," I think that meant that it was really Ray's inner voice that was speaking to him in the corn, and not Joe, and that it way truly Ray that was the impetus for the events that followed.

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Truly up for interpretation. It's so intentional, that which actor who played the voice hasn't been revealed to this day.

My personal interpretation is that it was indeed Joe speaking BUT he is speaking on behalf of John and Ray himself as well. It's Ray's inner voice but being manifested and acted upon by Joe.

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