The situation one agrees to at first can look great and feel warm and soft. It can happen abruptly, but it is more common to happen gradually, so gradually that it is not even noticed. The story can start with a woman agreeing to social expectations that she herself is not clear about. Archetypically, says Clarissa Pinkola Estes, to possess shoes means to possess firm beliefs and the means to act in accordance with our beliefs.

Shoes protect and defend what grounded us, what forms our foundation, what we stand on – our feet. The shoe symbol can be understood as a psychological metaphor.

This happens when we suppress the wild in ourselves and when we give up on ourselves for social expectations. Rebellion is important, but her obsession with red shoes distracts her from a meaningful rebellion that would promote real change. As Pinkola Estes says, the romance of red shoes enslaves her. In the story, the girl becomes obsessed with red shoes. This metaphor teaches us how to be careful not to let that happen. In addition, we are taught that someone or something always measures this wild part because of its energy, beauty, or because they want to control, tire, reshape, or control it. They teach us, says Pinkola Estes, that we should protect the wild psyche by appreciating it, defending its interests, and by being careful that we do not hand it over to unhealthy conditions of existence. They represent the dreams, hopes, and desires of a wild woman, a female side that society often tries to bring under control or to extinguish. Originally this is Hans Christian Andersen’s story of an adopted young woman and her process with the red shoes she brought with her to her stepmother’s house.

The red shoes by Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkole Estes in the book Women who run with wolves present a symbol of all that is primordial and authentic in a woman that comes into conflict with social expectations and imposed norms. And a moment to think about the call of the lost soul and the importance of getting back to yourself, grounded in Clarissa Pinkole Estes’s metaphor for red shoes and the Little Fires Everywhere TV show from Hulu. Have you ever felt that something was right for you and your surroundings convinced you otherwise? Have you ever had the feeling that you are not living your life to the fullest? That you secretly drag around or collect pieces that give you strength, when others are not watching? If so, then this is the text for you.

The red shoes fairy tale