Wizard of Oz

L. Frank Baum, had said that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written "solely to pleasure the children”.  If he in fact said this, we must believe him.  There is no question though that everything he had experienced and read prior to writing Oz seeped out through his consciousness and into the literature, providing adult readers with much more than an average children’s book’s text.  The fact that Baum chose to cast Dorothy, as a strong, young, female, lead character is probably the most important entity in this work.  Dorothy a little girl helped to free the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow of their own self-consciousness and pity, growing herself as a young female.  The male characters in Oz are notably sillier and smaller minded then Dorothy herself.  This is now seen in almost every sitcom on television today, from Homer Simpson to Ray Romano, to Joey from Friends. 

From the beginning Dorothy possesses this kind of power and invincibility.  The men need help, the men are dim witted and helpless, even doomed without her.  This is still interesting today but especially the time period of the 1900’s when L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  The great Oz himself turns out to be a pathetic man hiding behind a curtain.  His does prove his magic, but only with the help of their believes.  Baum was clearly using his power as the author to mold the reader’s minds maybe without them even knowing it.  Baum used the classic children’s book setup of pushing morals onto the kids but brings it into a more important dynamic of role reversal and identity, all done while still playing off a common adventure story archetype.