Of Shoes and Happiness
Kara-Leah has written a fascinating story about the pursuit of happiness. Many of the themes are very thought provoking and apply very well to our daily lives.
Before reading this entry, head over to her site and read her story, Of Shoes & Happiness. I will be putting in spoilers as I describe the themes and discuss my interpretation of events. It is a story worth taking the time to read twice, once without any preconceived notions, and once again with the intent to pick out the characters’ themes and to figure out where these characters fit within your own life.
This is the last line that is guaranteed to not contain spoilers. If you have not read the story, turn back now.
The story is about a town with a self-esteem problem. The entire community is made up of people who are shorter than average, about 5′6″ and under, and the neighboring town is populated by people who are taller than average, about 5′10″ and over. Because of the low self-esteem, the town is slowly shrinking in population, and can not win any of the competitions against the neighboring town. If we studied the story as a parable, we could say that the entire town is a person, with the various characters acting as the various archetypes of the consciousness and subconscious. The shoes could be an addictive behavior, or even a chemical addiction. Let’s call it an addictive behavior, because the shoes themselves don’t cause any damage directly.
The major cast can be summed up as Freud’s Ego, Id, and Super Ego, with the addition of an outside influence. Ego, the part of a personality that craves instant satisfaction and pleasure, is represented by the mayor, Mr. Bottom. Mr. Bottom very much likes the shoes, because they give him the ability to have pleasure instantly, in the form of dominating over the council. The Id, which seeks long term security, is represented by Chief Hardnose. She does not like the shoes because they can cause a lot of trouble when they’re worn unsafely. The Super Ego, which just sits there, watching and asking questions, and makes only the most conscious of decisions, is represented by Johnny Blueeyes. Appropriately, Johnny is the first to try the shoes on, as starting any addiction takes a single conscious decision, followed by many, many unconscious ones.
Other characters can represent other parts of the personality, such as Mrs. Brown being the Anima (she has aspects of what the town does not have, and yet, still is part of the town), or the owner of The Pub being the Shadow, but these parts are very minor, and even in people’s personalities, these archetypes are typically well hidden and do not have much say in day to day choices.
The real interaction comes at the council meetings. When Chief Hardnose brings up the proposed bylaw to ban the shoes, Mayor Bottom pulls the first trick of the ego, to procrastinate. (Remember, the ego’s purpose is to survive, and it survives by indulging in pleasure.)
During the week, both Chief Hardnose and Mayor Bottom gather information about the shoes. This is where Mayor Bottom differs from the typical ego. Normally, when a person is facing an end to their pleasure, they do one of two things; either take that pleasure to the extreme, or allow guilt to keep them from enjoying it, and this behavior is reflected by the general population of the town. The ego will be the main motivation for either hyper-indulgence, or for the reduced indulgence, depending on what type of addiction we are dealing with. (In the case of cigarette addiction, people almost invariably cut down before attempting to quit, which actually makes it much more difficult to quit. Those who over-indulge in smoking just before quitting find it easier to quit, even though it does affect their health more.) If a person is trying to break a habit, the ego will push you to indulge more. If you are trying to break an addiction, though, the ego will keep you limited, so that your cravings become stronger.
The second council meeting, though, shows the true nature of the characters. Chief Hardnose shows, in true Id style, exactly what is wrong with the shoes/addiction. She recognizes that certain people can not lead a normal life if they are addicted, so rather than being heavy-handed on those few, and seeming unfair, she pressures everybody to adopt the law, regardless of any benefits that a person might get individually. The Ego’s hands are tied at this point… Rather than arguing for the selfish (but valid) motives, Mayor Bottom decides to argue on a logical stance, which really isn’t the domain of the ego. In an attempt to survive, the ego attempts to use tools that it is unfamiliar with. All too often, though, the ego realizes its strengths, and uses our emotions to get what it wants, despite the logical argument of the Id.
When Catriona Sells sees how the Mayor is handling the situation, she leaves with a shrug. She is an outside influence, and is only a factor as long as she is welcome, whether she brings good or ill.
In the end, the town is better off, in terms of security. People aren’t nearly as happy, though, because they have tasted something great, and they want it again. If the people in the town realize that they can have the same confidence without the shoes, they can be happy again, but how often does someone realize that true happiness comes from within?
Thnx for sharing this story! I’m gonna read it now before you spoil it further!
Don’t thank me. Thank Kara-Leah for writing it. I’m just the interpreter.
I’m glad that you like it, though.
Hey Adam,
I love it - often at school when interpretating author’s work I used to wonder if that’s what they had meant to put into the story, or if that’s what we were ‘reading’ into the story.
I composed this story in my head during a twenty hour bus ride from London to Chamonix - I had just spent two months living in London, and clubbing every weekend. It was my first experience with recreational drugs and I was intrigued by the contrast between what I saw and what had been drummed into me at school…
You hit the nail on the head at the end - it is about a town finding a degree of happiness it hadn’t experienced before, but attributing it to ‘false’ causes, i.e. the shoes. That happiness was always available to them, if only they could overcome their low self-esteem and love themselves for who they were….