Nothing is Sacred

        I was not expecting the narrator to suddenly talk about having sex with his cousin, right about when the auction is going to start.  In Salman Rushdie’s short story At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers I had to quickly re-read the paragraph to make sure I read the right words. 

        I believe that the reason for the person the narrator is in love with is his cousin, is to show that at the Auction nothing is sacred.  The narrator has no problem in professing his love for his cousin, and calls her the “love of my life” (95). 

        The overall purpose of the Gale episode is to give the narrator a reason to bid on the ruby slippers.  He believes he can get Gale back if all he does is buy the slippers, “whatever the cost” (97), and gives them to her. 

        He is under this assumption because after not seeing her for 20 years he saw her at a bar watching a spaceman die on Mars.  Gale was crying for the man, so the narrator believes that if he gives her the slippers she can save the spaceman and stop crying. 

        By bidding on the slippers, it is his way of using the Auction to buy Gale’s love, because at the Auction “everything is for sale” (98).  Once the bidding starts the price jumps up very fast and he is reluctant to keep on bidding but thinks of Gale and keeps on bidding.  Soon he is the only person in the room still bidding, the rest are on video screens. 

        In the midst of the Auction the narrator has an epiphany; he realizes that he has to let Gale go.  As soon as this happens he drops out of the race and goes home to fall asleep. 

        Rushdie uses the Gale episode as an example of being able to let something go.  But like all people the narrator has a hard time letting go; at the end of the short story the narrator has caught the Auction bug and will be back for more. 

        Initially I thought that the example doesn’t fit with the story at all.  But the more and more I think about it, it is the perfect example to use.  The incest shows that there is nothing sacred at the Auction and that you can try and buy anything you want there.  The love aspect of the relationship shows that the narrator will go to any lengths at the Auction to get those slippers.  Also to give some closure to the story it ends with the narrator not bidding anymore because he has let Gale go.