The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

When I was a young child I had a slight obsession with the film, The Wizard of Oz. My mother justifies the obsession by telling me that she often discovered me several times sitting on the edge of our couch in our living room pretending to be Dorthy and singing the young girl's famous solo from the film, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It wasn't, however, until my early adolescence that I realized that the award winning film originated from a novel entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It was enjoyable to re-live memories of my childhood while reading this tale. I found it interesting to compare and contrast Baum's text and one of my favorite films.

I must begin by stating that I found the plot of the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to be much more complex than that of the film. I often found myself labeling some of the occurences within the plot as unneccessary and even irrelevant to the overall plot. The novel tells of a young girl named Dorthy and her adventures and experiences in the land of Oz. Dorthy originally lives with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and her little pet dog, Todo. The story begins with a terrible cyclone which overpowers Dorthy's home in Kansas. Before Dorthy can take over, her little home is swept away within the cyclone and is immediately dropped into a mysterious place: Munchkin Land. She is immediately greeted by Glinda, the good witch who initially grants her with magical silver shoes and a kiss on the forehead that will protect her from harm. She then explains to Dorthy that her only chance of getting back to her home in Kansas is to visit the great and powerful wizard named Oz who lives in Emerald City. While following the yellow brick road, Dorthy happens upon a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion who are all in desperate need of the wizard's magic. The scarecrow lacks brains and the tin man lacks a heart, while the lion lacks courage. The only solution seems to be for the foursome to continue toward Emerald City. However, the comrades' journey is not always filled with joy. Their time traveling towards Emerald City is often spent fighting for their lives. Half bears and half tigers called Kalidahs, a deadly poppy field, terrible winged monkeys, fighting trees, and a wicked witch who wishes to harm Dorthy are only a few of the frightening evil things that the four must encounter. When the four finally reach Oz and consult with the Wizard they are distraught to find that the great and powerful Oz will only grant the proposed wishes if they kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorthy eventually performs the particular task demanded by Oz by melting the witch by pouring a bucket of water upon her head. After returning to the wizard to claim their rewards, the foursome are dismayed to discover that the wizard is nothing but a fraud and a regular man capable of no magic. Nevertheless, Oz removes the scarecrow's straw from his head and fill it with a brain, places a heart in the hollow tinman's chest, and provides a potion containing courage for the lion to consume. The "great and powerful" Oz even provides Dorthy win a hot air balloon to take her to home in Kansas. However, when Dorthy cannot get in to the balloon quickly enough, Oz journeys into the air with no passengers. Dorthy is not taken to her home until Glinda the Good Witch informs Dorthy that the magical slippers may take her home to Kansas. The story is concluded with Dorthy traveling safely home to Kansas,