The False Promise of Ruby Slippers

Chad Wathen

Blog #11 – 5/4/08

The mind is a fickle thing. It would be nice if we could logically and decisively map out the correct means of reaching our deepest desires, but instead we tend to get snagged; lost in backwards thinking and other dead-ends. We are kept from heaven on earth because we do not understand how to reach our potential, and all the while we can see it, smell it, taste it, it is right at the tips of our outstretched fingers and still we lose it to the infinite void, the prison of misunderstanding we can’t escape from.

Often this inability to grasp heaven drives us into madness and obsession. We can convince ourselves that we do indeed know how to save ourselves, how to reach the longings of our heart, and tirelessly we seek things that in reality will give us nothing but disappointment. Salmon Rushdie’s commentary on this cyclical phenomenon is as powerful as any. In An Auction of the Ruby Slipper, the depth of hopelessness is inescapable as we watch an entire mass of people driven to madness beyond reason for a simple pair of shoes, which by the way, are supposed to give the owner uninhibited powers.

The narrator comments on the inexcusable wanting of the slippers by claming, “People nowadays are sick.” For who can really expect such a simple possession to do such extraordinary things? But alas, they do and will stop at nothing to have them. Eventually the narrator himself is drawn to the potential power of the ruby slippers so that his long-lost relationship with his cousin Gale might be restored. Now only a figment of the imagination Gale is never free from the mind of our storyteller who feels like a “condemned astronaut floating helplessly on mars.” Under the weight of his emotions he can’t help but feebly give into the hopes of regaining the endearing relationship they once had, a dream that seems otherwise impossible without the magic slippers.

When the bidding begins, the narrator feels as though he is “bidding for himself,” as if these slippers are his only hope. This obsessive inclination is shared by everyone at the bidding, each individual believing that his or her very happiness is on the line. As the auction eventually climaxes and the final destination of the slippers is at hand, the narrator begins to feels detached from the real world. He describes it like when, “you are so close to something of such great importance, that your own survival becomes fiction”. At this point your own existence seems to dwindle to nothing, and everything else pales in comparison to your sole desire for that one thing.

This is the danger we all face when be obsess over something to the point that we truly believe nothing else can fulfill us. Luckily the narrator realizes his crazed ambitions and drops out of the bidding, and to his astonishment wakes up the next morning rejuvenated and whole. It is so very difficult during the height of obsession to see another way to happiness, we put all our eggs in a single basket and lose sight of all the other things in life that bring us joy. But if we can find the faith to give it up, we will indeed reap the rewards of freedom.