The Wizard of Oz by Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy must seek out the great Wizard in order to return to Kansas.

Discussion

Is this story a travelogue (a look at another world) or a quest (the pursuit of a goal)?

Baum says that he has written a "modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartache and nightmares are left out." Is that true?

There are several "political" interpretations of The Wizard of Oz. The older one, by Henry M. Littlefield, "described all sorts of hidden meanings and allusions to Gilded Age society in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: the wicked Witch of the East represented eastern industrialists and bankers who controlled the people (the Munchkins); the Scarecrow was the wise but naive western farmer; the Tin Woodman stood for the dehumanized industrial worker; the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, Populist presidential candidate in 1896; the Yellow Brick Road, with all its dangers, was the gold standard; Dorothy's silver slippers (Judy Garland's were ruby red, but Baum originally made them silver) represented the Populists' solution to the nation's economic woes ("the free and unlimited coinage of silver"); Emerald City was Washington, D.C.; the Wizard, "a little bumbling old man, hiding behind a facade of paper mache and noise,... able to be everything to everybody," was any one of the Gilded Age presidents." But this interpretation confuses Populists with other pro-silver thinkers, and assumes that Baum was a Democrat, which may not have been so by the time the book was written. A different view is expressed by William R. Leach, who found that the book "exalted the opulence and magic of the metropolis." The Emerald City, with its prosperous homes and luxurious stores, resembled nothing as much as it did the "White City" of Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, which Baum had visited several times. Furthermore, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reflected Baum's belief in theosophy, a spiritualist/occultist quasi- religious movement that was popular in the late nineteenth century. Specifically, the book emphasized an aspect of theosophy that Norman Vincent Peale would later call "the power of positive thinking": theosophy led to "a new upbeat and positive psychology" that "opposed all kinds of negative thinking--especially fear, worry, and anxiety." It was through this positive thinking, and not through any magic of the Wizard, that Dorothy and her companions (as well as everyone else in Oz) got what they wanted. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was an optimistic secular theraputic text," wrote Leach. "It helped make people feel at home in America's new industrial economy, and it helped them appreciate and enjoy, without guilt, the new consumer abundance and way of living produced by that economy." Leach concluded that "the book both reflected and helped create a new cultural consciousness--a new way of seeing and being in harmony with the new industrial order." (Internet article describing interpretations of Baum's story). What do you think?

In addition to being a writer, L. Frank Baum was an actor and playwright. Does theatricality play a role in this book? How? What role does illlusion play in the story?

Though this story has had a timeless appeal, is there anything time-bound or dated about it? Are there aspects of the story, characters, style, or setting that decrease the accessibility or appeal of the book for a modern audience?

Analyze the character of the Wizard. Why does he behave the way he does? Is his behavior excusable or not? He tells Dorothy that he is a good man but a bad wizard. Do you agree?

Activity

Make a tornado in a bottle

Stuff you'll need:

two empty plastic soda bottles
water
tape

How to do it:

• Fill one bottle ¾ full with water.
• Tape the other bottle on top of the one with water in it. Make sure the spouts are lined up.
• Turn the bottles over so that the one with water is on top. See how the water has a hard time going down.
• To make the water go down into the other bottle, swirl the bottles in a circular motion really fast. Don't shake it up and down or it won't work. The water should swirl into the bottom bottle.
• This is why it works: When you swirl the bottles, the water starts to move in a circle. When the water moves fast enough, it pushes out against the bottle and leaves a hole in the middle. The hole allows the air from the bottom bottle to come up to the top bottle. When the air moves, there's then space in the bottom bottle, which makes room for the water from the top to flow into the bottom.
• This sort of water movement, with the special hole in the middle, is usually called a whirlpool. A tornado happens in air and a whirlpool happens in water. So, it is really a "Whirlpool in a Bottle."

Note: You might try adding food coloring and/or glitter to the water.

Recipe

Emerald City Jello Jigglers
From Kraft Foods Jello Jigglers recipe

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups boiling water (do not add cold water)
2 pkg. (8-serving size each) JELL-O* Brand Gelatin, any flavor

Preparation:

• Stir boiling water into dry gelatin mix in large bowl at least 3 mins. until completely dissolved. Pour into 13x9-inch pan.
• Refrigerate at least 3 hours or until firm.
• Dip bottom of pan in warm water 15 sec. Cut into 24 decorative shapes using 2-inch cookie cutters, being careful to cut all the way through gelatin to bottom of pan. Lift Jigglers* from pan. Reserve scraps for snacking. Store in a tightly covered container in refrigerator.

*JELL-O and JIGGLERS are registered trademarks of Kraft Foods.