Shoes in Thai Literature

Abstract

This article aims to  investigate  the  roles  of  shoes in  eight works of Thai literature. The results show that shoes in Thai society are important  as shoes serve as an honorable  and  magical  marker  of  major  characters and members of the elite class. Such a conception shares both  similarities and differences with the shoes motif in Stith Thompson's folklore index, which indicates the universal and specific characteristics of shoes in Thai culture.