The Great Book Adventure: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Part One

At what point do we stop believing in fairy-tales? How old are we when we no longer care about fantastic adventures? It's not like we realize that animals can't talk, suddenly feel betrayed, and start reading John Grisham novels. Besides, there is no shortage of escapism in "adult' books," so don't tell me it's that. There is something in our culture which makes us take ourselves too seriously, and so we put down the simple stories, even if they are the best ones. As I read L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I am more than happy to buck the trend.

For as much impact as the 1939 movie version had, I'm surprised the book doesn't get more attention. Written in 1900, it is the first of fourteen Oz books Baum would write, never mind the countless others penned by his followers. I was surprised to realize Baum is an American author, most probably because I never really stopped to think about it. He is never mentioned in the same breath, or even the same conversation, as people like Poe or Hawthorne or Melville (bleh). His quality as a writer aside, you would think his influence on our culture would merit him a place with the other "greats." Baum seems to be an afterthought in the American canon and I can't help but wonder if that is because his books were written for children.

In his introduction, Baum says that he wrote The Wizard because the time had come for a new crop of "wonder tales." He says that the old stories, which often had a moral component to them, had been preempted, since "Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales...." This being said, he seems to be telling a story which has a lot to say to its readers, regardless of their age.

While Dorothy might only be a young girl, she is still one of the strongest female protagonists I have encountered in all my years of reading. I don't know about you, but if my house were flung into another world by a magic cyclone, I think I would have trouble dealing with it all. Not so for Dorothy. Once she has a bit of a cry, she seems to take the whole thing in stride. She learns about the road of yellow brick and how it will lead her to the Wizard, and then gets herself moving. She doesn't dilly-dally bemoaning her troubles, but instead focuses on the road ahead and the hope which lies at its end. If that's not a metaphor for how to live your life, I don't know what is. Indeed, throughout the whole first half of the book, Dorothy never wavers from her goal of getting back to Kansas. She is very clear with everyone she meets that that is what she is after, up to and including the Wizard.

Article Author: CB

Visit CB's author page