The Ultimate Safari

The unnamed grandmother sells her church shoes to afford a plastic container to transport water on their long march to safety. In essence, she gives up the tools of autonomy for the necessities of survival. Her feet bleed when she does not have her shoes; she suffers and loses some of her autonomy.

Shoes represent security in the story. For the grandmother, shoes are a luxury one can only have when one feels safe. For this reason, her church shoes are sacrificed early in the story when she no longer feels safe and no longer has a home. Feet are symbolic of action: of movement and autonomy. Shoes, then, are the necessary tools of action and movement. Without them, one cannot safely move forward, Through the bulk of the story, the grandmother endures and suffers the loss of her shoes.

Once they arrive safely at the refugee camp, the grandmother does not buy new shoes for herself but buys school shoes for the children. At this, the little girl says, “[w]hen we look at them it is as if we are in a real house, with no war, no away” (13). The shoes at the end represent hope for security in the future.