Rushdie's letter to his audience.

Sometimes the thought of being able to turn back time is very attractive. Whether it be to satisfy our nostalgic memories or to just avoid the present, the past is so appealing because it is something we cannot ever recover. In Salman Rushdie’s “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers,” the chance to relive the past is an actual possibility to the protagonist, but he discovers that things may have turned out for the best and that he must continue to move forward in life.

The short story begins in a crowded saleroom where auctions are taking place. Around the periphery of the saleroom there are priests (religion), obstetricians, and SWAT team members “in case the excitement leads to unexpected births or deaths.” (p. 87 in East, West) The narrator is there to win the auction of the ruby slippers, which are assumed to be from the “Wizard of Oz” movie because there are several people dressed up as characters from the movie.

The narrator talks of his love for his cousin, Gale. The name is probably from the name Dorothy Gale (from the Wizard of Oz). He found her with another man and walked out on her. Since then he has wanted the relationship that he previously had with her back. The ruby slippers, which are protected by an electric-guarded glass container are probably symbolic of the narrator’s chance to reconnect with the past, and the electricity surrounding it the consequences of that decision.

Salman Rushdie was probably relating his personal outlook on life during the time in which this was written. When this short story was being produced, there was a very large bounty on his head which he probably regretted. The story was most likely a way for him to communicate with the reader: that even if he were given the chance to change the decisions which brought the death threats upon him, he wouldn’t. He is saying to the reader (through the actions of the story’s narrator) that he is content with his choices and that what needed to be said was.