The Red Shoes

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Red Shoes” is a contemporary poem of 48 lines. The poem does not have a consistent meter, or specified beat, and does not employ rhyme at the end of the lines or internally. It is divided into 24 couplets and is driven by its narrative, or story. There is a clear cast of characters and a beginning where the speaker’s life in a Puerto Rican section of New York City in the 1970s or 1980s is established, a middle in which acquaintances die and a partner succumbs to violence because of addiction, and an end in which the speaker is separated from the partner and visits the “Calvary /Cemetery in Queens” (Lines 35-36). The poem surrounds the narrative with a lyrical frame that discusses the discovery of the “red slippers under the floorboards” (Line 1), and literary and movie versions of the fairytale The Red Shoes. Throughout, repeated images and references are strategically placed to create connections between seemingly disparate descriptions of the neighborhood and people and events in the speaker’s life.

The Frame

In “The Red Shoes,” the speaker uses the story of the “red shoes” at the beginning and end to illuminate the imbedded story of their life. This frame-narrative helps to create multiple interpretations of the interior story. The discovery of the used red slippers is originally mentioned to propel a discussion of how drugs affected the people in the speaker’s life and how the speaker was affected by this in return. (Lines 2-38). When the speaker returns to the red slippers at the end of the poem, the reader is now privy to how people who use drugs, like Junior/Jesus, Irma, and possibly the speaker’s partner, affect those around them, including Mr. Rodriguez and the speaker. The damage of the red shoes is significant and symbolic, a metaphor by which to read the imbedded story. The frame’s placement shows that spiritual and romantic love is, as in the fairytale or movie, killed by addictive behavior. It sabotages the self and the self’s relationships with other people. Placed within the frame, the story of the red slippers serves to highlight the emotional toll of addiction.

Returning Images

One of the poetic techniques used by Black is the return of images. Placement of the images radically assists connections of meaning, illuminating themes or emotion. For example, the speaker and their partner’s repetitive attempt to paint the floors is echoed when the couple repaint their walls. These images combine to show that the couple’s relationship is the wrong color and/or splintering, despite their efforts to mend it. Without this double image, readers might not get this idea. This subliminally prepares readers for the notation that the couple fought, which is mentioned directly after the mention of repainting the rooms.

This cumulative effect is also used when the speaker mentions Irma and describes her “watery hands” (Line 16). Her unfortunate demise by “suicide or / murder” (Lines 19-20) serves as a warning to the speaker that their partner, like Junior/Jesus, cannot protect them and may well wind up deceased. The speaker invents instead the image of “wooden hands” (Line 48) for the heroine of the fairytale she remembers. These substitutes contrast with Irma’s “watery hands” (Line 16) to show the speaker is determined to survive. Closely linked images, although placed far apart, with their subtle shifts, interlock in the reader’s mind to make the poem more resonant.