The silver slippers (also known as the Silver Shoes) represent the untapped potential that Dorothy and her friends carry with them during their adventure. Dorothy receives these enchanted shoes shortly after a cyclone whisks her away to the Land of Oz. The slippers previously belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East, but when Dorothy's farmhouse lands on the Wicked Witch and kills her, the Good Witch of the North explains that the slippers now belong to Dorothy. Dorothy wears the Silver Shoes during her entire journey in Oz. She faces many trials and tribulations in her quest to get back home to Kansas, but she later discovers that the slippers had the power to instantly take her home the entire time.
This realization mirrors the character development of the new companions Dorothy meets in Oz: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. Each of these characters feels that he lacks something fundamental that would make him a complete person, like a heart or a brain. But they all clearly already possesses what they think they lack, just as Dorothy has had a means of going home the entire time. In this way, the silver slippers reflect the theme of self-doubt vs. confidence. While Dorothy and her friends believe that they're missing something important, the silver slippers show that the only things the characters truly lacked were confidence and self-knowledge.
Dorothy’s Silver Slippers Quotes in The Wizard of Oz
‘I’m very sorry, indeed,’ said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.
‘Didn’t you know water would be the end of me?’ asked the Witch, in a wailing, despairing voice.
‘Of course not,’ answered Dorothy. ‘How should I?’
‘Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,’ replied Glinda. ‘If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.’
She threw her arms around the Lion’s neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.
‘My darling child!’ she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses. ‘Where in the world did you come from?’
‘From the Land of Oz,’ said Dorothy gravely. ‘And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I’m so glad to be at home again!’
Dorothy’s Silver Slippers Symbol Timeline in The Wizard of Oz
