Are you ready, boots?
1)
“Are You Ready, Boots?” is a short story written by the London-born Australian author Maggie Alderson and was first published in 2005 in the short story collection “Ladies’ Night”. Maggie Alderson has written 4 novels, and all of them are dealing with girl-issues. This short story “Are You Ready, Boots?” throws a glance at themes like materialism and relationships. A relationship isn’t always based on true love. Sometimes love is being overshadowed by appearance and charisma. You think you have fallen in love with the perfect man but as reality occurs, you realize that the love you had was nothing but an illusion
In the short story we meet Lulu who is the main character of the story. “Are You Ready, Boots?” begins in medias res in New York where Lulu and her friends Spencer and Betty are out shopping in Barney’s. “They make me feel like a bond girl, I totally have to have them” (lines 37-38). In the shoe department Lulu finds the perfect couple of boots and she is drawn to buy them – even though they are very expensive. Lulu is a typical girl with a dependence on shoes. A pair of shoes is able to make an entire outfit completely different. Therefore Lulu is convinced that her Manolos will be the shoes she is wearing when she meets her future husband. As they return to London, Lulu is going out with Spencer and his men. At this point Lulu hasn’t been wearing her boots yet, for that reason Spencer persuades Lulu to wear them that evening. Lulu was wearing them when she first saw him, Charlie. He was standing alone in the corner of the restaurant – checking out Lulu. Suddenly she makes an approach to Charlie. “I’m sure it was the boots that made me do it, because I can’t remember my brain actually forming the thought…” (lines 76-77). Lulu is only approaching Charlie because of her great confidence when wearing those boots. They are acting for her and she is unable to think out the situation before she stands before him.
After their first meeting Lulu and Charlie seemed inseparable. They went on a couple of dates and then they became a couple. Charlie gives the impression of being the perfect man, but Lulu only describes his appearance, his job and his car. She sees Charlie as a flawless boyfriend – even though Charlie only is picture-perfect. He may have a good education, a well-paid job and affluent parents but to make a relationship work there has to be more than meets the eye. “I soon began to wonder if he hadn’t planted a tiny seed of doubt at a lower level. I started to notice little things about Charlie which hadn’t bothered me before.” (lines 113-115). Lulu has been so delighted of finally being part of a relationship that she hasn’t seen his imperfections and from then on the smallest things starts to annoy her. And then as Charlie asks Lulu to marry him, she accepts even though he infuriates her. These things are what make Lulu to whom she is. She is very materialistic and doesn’t focus on the inside of a human being. The most important thing for her is how she looks beside Charlie. The following night she is wearing her Manolos and she discovers that Charlie actually hates her expensive boots. He is of the opinion that they make her look cheap and tarty. At this point Lulu has finally had it. “I folded my arms and looked down at my kinky boots. They were so great. ”Are you ready boots?” I said to them. “Start walking.”” (lines 150-152). Lulu has at length discovered Charlie’s rudeness and therefore the reader is drawn to believe that she leaves him. The language in the text is very girlish and inside girl-talk. Especially the many references the author has dredged up. Nancy Sinatra and Carrie Bradshaw are both symbols of women living in a world full of men – but no Mr Right. Therefore I think it is possible to assume that this short story is written by a girl – for girls. In case you aren’t aware of whom she refers to, the meaning of the text will lack in the end as she tells her boots to start walking. They say love can overshadow everything. But if you have a relationship where everything is perfect, but the love isn’t there – perfectness can’t overshadow anything if the love isn’t there. In a relationship love and loyalty are the most important factors. If these factors are missing you don’t have a true relationship, instead you have fallen in love with the illusion of love. And one day this illusion will develop cracks and you are left with nothing but your naïve thoughts of true love.
