Putting a Price on Desires

    When we are stuck in a horrible place, what do we want more than anything else? I just want to be home, relaxing with family, friends, and my significant other. Dorthy in The Wizard of Oz is exactly like myself, she just wanted to be back home.

    In Salman Rushdie's compilation of short stories,(East, West) he writes about Dorthy's red slippers being actioned away. This auction brings nearly everyone from exiles that just want to go home, to religious fundamentalists that want to destroy the “magic footwear.”

    This auction is not just a place to purchase movie relics, but at this place, “Everything is for sale.” Souls of children and Statue of Liberty, to just name a few, are some examples of things for sale. Our narrator is not interested in objects like these. No, he is sent here to buy edible panties for his client. The narrator's client wanted these edible panties because it was one of the pairs that his wife threw out to crowd members after her performances, which most all were destroyed. Our narrator fails to win the auction, and in a change of events his client is surprisingly happy.

    The unlike the religious nut jobs, our narrator whats the slippers for his own use. He is willing to pay any price for this item allowing himself to take back his cousin Gale, the love of his life. Even though Gale cheated on him with a “hairy escapee from a caveman movie,” our narrator will do anything to gain her hand again.

    Once again he loses this bid, not because of lack of courage, but lack of motivation. Our narrator comes to a conclusion about his cousin. People will do anything to acquire the things we crave. We sell souls, homes, values, and our family to gain our desires. If we just step back and take a wider view, we will notice that the things we crave are truly “trivial.”

    The narrator's client did not care about losing the auction because he saw the bigger picture, he already has 4000 other edible underwear of his late wife. What is one more? Our narrator understands once he lets go of his trivial desires, he becomes free.