Money Makes The World Go Round

There is an old saying, “money makes the world go round.”  This is basically saying that people’s choices are made because of the money that they have.  If they want to go out and buy a fancy car but don’t have the money, they probably won’t get that car.  But if they do have the money then that is a different story.  But what if there was more in the world that is for sale rather than what we have today?  Money would definitely be changing people’s lives.  This is reality in Salman Rushdie’s short story “The Auction of the Ruby Slippers." 

In this story, everything is for sale.  When I say everything I’m talking about things like, The Taj Mahal, The Alps, The Statue of Liberty, and The Sphinx.  Imagine what it would be like to have all of these for sale.  If you had money, you have potential to own some of the hugest manmade or non-manmade landmarks in the world.  Anyone was able to buy these items since they were auctioned off.  "Exiles, displaced persons of all sorts, even homeless tramps have turned up for a glimpse of the impossible" (90).  This shows that they didn’t only sell to the rich people of the world, but actually to anyone and everyone.  As for auctioneers, we aren’t sure who is actually selling these items, but from the sounds of it they are some of the wealthiest and most powerful people around. 

Along with all of these items they are also auctioning off a pair of the ruby slippers.  In this story these slippers represent western culture.  The ruby slippers became famous in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.”  Now these are somewhat of a cultural icon.  So buying these in the story would be like owning a big part of the western culture.  Most of these things up for auction have some significant meaning. 

Overall Rushdie’s story does resemble the quote “money makes the world go round.”  Everything is for sale and anyone who wants it can get it.  This could be a life changing situation, considering you could go from average Joe to the guy who owns The Alps.  The auctioneer says, “If you stand here for long enough all the wonders of the world will pass by” (98).  Basically reiterating that everything is for sale.  No matter how big it is in western or eastern culture, it is for sale.  He is also just trying to help them sell basically setting the people up for the trap that we so often fall for.  That trap is basically when someone says something like, “this is a onetime offer.”  I know when I hear that it grabs my attention, and then if you realize that it is something huge in the world then it is just going to make you that much more interested.