Comprehension Questions

1. Rushdie makes a lot of use of allusion in this story. For example, he alludes to a painting by Frederick McCubbin without directly naming it (see writing prompt below). He also refers to “A literary character, condemned to an eternity of reading the works of Dickens to an armed madman in a jungle…” Here Rushdie alludes to the conclusion of the novel A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. This is followed by two film allusions, to “the frail figure of an alien creature with an illuminated fingertip” and to “Heroes [who] step down off cinema screens and marry members of the audience.” Can you identify the films Rushdie is alluding to here? How many other allusions can you identify in the story?
   
   
2. The ruby slippers are from the film The Wizard of Oz , and Rushdie employs them as the central feature of this story because of their symbolism of the idea of home symbolism. Rushdie comments in the story that “'Home' has become such a scattered, damaged, various concept in our present travails. There is so much to yearn for. There are so few rainbows any more. How hard can we expect even a pair of magic shoes to work? They promised to take us home, but are metaphors of homeliness comprehensible to them, are abstractions permissible? Are they literalists, or will they permit us to redefine the blessed word?” What do you think Rushdie is saying about the concept of ‘home' through the symbolism? Do you think it is connected with his own personal history as a migrant, as someone born in India who migrated to England?
   
   
3. There are some lines in the story that seem to resonate with Rushdie's personal experiences. He says, “We, the public, are easily, lethally offended. We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right. We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us, in our opinion, the moral high ground. From this high ground we can shoot down at our enemies and inflict heavy fatalities.” Later he refers to “religious fundamentalists” who “have openly stated that they are interested in buying the magic footwear only in order to burn it.” This story first appeared in the magazine Granta in 1992. What happened to Rushdie in 1989 that he was still experiencing the consequences of in 1992 that he might be referring to? Summarise the controversy in one or two paragraphs, in your own words.
   
   
4. The story appears to be set in some sort of future dystopia. Rushdie doesn't spend a great deal of the story imagining the setting, though. Identify five elements from the story that indicate that it is not set in our current world.

Writing Tasks

1. Write a newspaper report on the auction. Before you begin look at real newspaper reports and at the information in your copy of The Active Look it Up! on how to write newspaper reports (pages 116–118).
   
   
2. Rushdie uses the ruby slippers as a central symbol of home in this story. Visit the online Dictionary of Symbolism and choose one symbol to use as the basis for a short piece of writing in poetry or prose.
   
   
3. Rushdie describes some of the people in attendance at the auction. He says, “The women sport toreador jackets bearing sequinned representations of great works of art. One beauty parades Guernica on her back, while several others wear glittering scenes from the Disasters of War sequence by Francisco Goya.” Later he refers to “Children from nineteenth-century Australian paintings” whining from their ornate, gilded frames about being lost in the immensity of the Outback.
   
   
   The paintings he refers to are reproduced below. Choose one of them and write a short story or a poem based on the painting (writing that is based on a work of art is known as ‘ekphrasis'). What is happening in the painting? What led up to the events depicted and what will follow?

Guernica, Pablo Picasso

Disasters of War, Plate 15, Francisco Goya

The Lost Child, Frederick McCubbin