Floating in Space

"When I first saw the Wizard of Oz, it made a writer of me."  -Salman Rushdie

During his exile into the darkest remotes of God only knows where, Salman Rushdie wrote one of his more critical works to date. Traveling from place to place, avoiding the death sentence issued upon him by one of the world's leaders, the grand Ayatollah of Iran, Rushdie wrote an revealing and metaphorical story about the narrow-mindedness and prejudices of our world. During this time, which was in early 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa, which is known as a religious Muslim decree calling for the death of a person who has blasphemed or greatly transgressed Muslim law. For years, Rushdie had to move from safe house to safe house, protected by the Scotland Yard.

Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, the writing in question, had caused such a stir globally that people were either killed or injured in the process of publication. The story, which alluded to the Quran as being written by satan himself, was a  parody by Rushdie expressing his dislike for the religious fundamentalists of his country. To Salman, their narrow-minded approaches to accepting others and their beliefs is what Rushdie became so infuriated with. Being a atheist, Rushdie certainly wished for his voice to be heard, and the voices of others like him to be heard. Simply put, Rushdie agreed in principle to the American ideals of freedom and liberty, as well as the right to free speech.

Not only had the Ayatollah issued a decree calling for the death of Rushdie, he also purported that anyone attempting to help in the publishing or distributing of the book to also be killed if possible. While Salman Rushdie was dodging hired killers, he was busy writing, "The Auction of the Ruby Slippers". This short story depicts a world where everything is for sale, and the most important possessions go to the highest bidder. Of course, this kind of system in the story only leads to pandemonium and hoarding, where people are striving to reach the most valuable possessions. For the characters in the story, the narrator and Gale, (popularized as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz) he, the narrator, wants to buy Gale a pair of the Ruby Slippers. This of course proves to be rather difficult as they are incredibly valuable to others as well.

The narrator in his need to buy the slippers for Gale, relates with a Spaceman trapped out on Mars. He then suggests that she could rescue the trapped person with the Ruby Slippers. In a way, the narrator identifies with the lost spaceman as he is exiled from his home. Consequently, Rushdie, the author, also relates with the character in the story.

In much of the Ruby Slippers story, Rushdie makes nostalgic references to an older time where religious tolerance seemed well, more tolerable. For all that the story satires, is does make an important lesson available to all who are willing to listen, and that is to accept one another.