I Love Shoes

I have a shoe addiction. At one point I owned more that 75 shoes. Every time I see an adorable pair of shoes, I cannot help myself. I am ALWAYS able to justify why I need another pair of black stiletto heels. They vary in material, heel height, toe type, etc. I could go on but I’m sure your losing consciousness at this point. Whenever I go near any stores, I have to take a gander at their shoe selection. It absolutely drives my boyfriend nuts (especially considering I think he owns a whole 3 pairs of shoes). At this point, whenever we pass shoes on display, he physically pulls me quickly away no matter how much I protest. Obviously, I have a problem; I am the first to admit it. But I don’t think that I am the only one.

Over-consumption is huge problem in America. Annie Leonard made a short film entitled, “The Story of Stuff,” which is supposed to encourage viewers to take action and stop the cycle of unnecessary consumerism. She fears that the obsession with “stuff” is such a driving force that it will control the world. She examines how people develop a mentality of being worth only as good as the money you get for an object. The worth of an item is related to the worth of the person who owns that item.

The story, “The Auction of the Ruby Slippers,” by Salman Rushdie is the epitome of Annie Leonard’s worse nightmare. Within this story, there is an auction for the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. The setting for this auction closely resembles an in-person version of e-bay. The ruby slippers, within the story, are highly sought after by many parties for unique reasons. The abilities of the slippers are described as, “We do not know the limits of their powers. We suspect that these limits may not exist” (p. 88). The bidders are not taking power into themselves; instead they are giving power to an object. They have an unrelentless blind faith in shoes. Rushdie shows how absolutely asinine people can become obsessed with trivial meaningless objects. The slippers don’t have a real power. Reading this story, it makes me think of how unrealistic people can become. I love shoes, but I don’t believe they have unlimited power.

The narrator of the story enters the auction order to purchase the slippers with the hopes of winning over his love, Gale (his cousin). The narrator is a high stakes competitor within the auction, enough so that he is the only “real” person still bidding towards the end with people on television screens. At this point in the auction, the narrator has a realization as he disconnects, floating. The narrator expresses this, “At the height of an auction, when the money has become no more than a way of keeping score, a thing happens which I am reluctant to admit: one becomes detached from the earth,” (p.102). The narrator awakens from his obsessions of the slippers, which are resulting from his obsession with Gale. As the narrator floats, he/she sees the desires fresh and, “see them anew, from a distance, so that they seem weightless, trivial. We let them go,” (p.102).

The awakening the narrator experiences in “The Auction of the Ruby Slippers,” is the type of experience that Annie Leonard hopes to create in Americans. I think being “awakened” from the bug of consumerism would be very benefical to our country as well as the world. However, I am not going to stop buying shoes, but I will try to not purchase as many.