"At The Auction of the Ruby Slippers" by Salman Rushdie

I found the chapter, “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers”, to be an interesting response and interpretation of the overall message of the Wizard Of Oz. Though its only reference to the film are the red slippers, I think the descriptions surrounding the attendees, the unique desires that propel them into the auction house, and the final fate that falls upon the narrator all create a close parallelism to the events which occur within the film.
Earlier in the novel, Rushdie reveals that the shoes which were found in the basement of the MGM studios were most likely the ones worn by Dorothy’s stunt double whose feet where two sizes larger than Judy Garlands. He remarks, “is it not fitting that the shoes made for the stand-in to stand in should have been passed into the possession of another form of surrogate: a film fan?” He explains that as viewers, we ourselves are ‘stand-ins’ through the products of out imaginations. It doesn’t matter that the slippers may or may not be authentically Dorothy’s, as the desire they fulfill is accomplished and nothing really is authentic without strong belief behind it.
Concerning the story of the auction, the narrator’s desire is only propelled by his ex- girlfriend Gail whom he wishes to win back. Like Dorothy, he is a stranger surrounded by other strangers, bidding (money instead life) in order to reach his goal (winning the shoes in comparison to winning passage home). Like Dorothy, he is overcome by a stronger power, “fictions” and, like Dorothy falling asleep in the poppy field, he loses grip on his goal and awakes with a new sense of fulfillment. Though he does not win the slippers, he is thrown back into pit of desire as the promises of next weeks auction offers another chance at winning back another ex-girlfriend, Toto. I believe this relates back to Rushdie’s final analysis of the overall message of the film. Ultimately, he explains that Dorothy really didn’t gain anything in the end, at least nothing that she already didn’t know before she left. Like the narrator who continues to chase unrealistic desires that will result in a cyclical pattern, Dorothy remains uninspired and unaffected from her trip to OZ as home is and always will be where she wants to be.