Wizard of oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Over the years, L. Frank Baum's children's classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, has been enjoyed and appreciated by generations for its familiar and cleverly written storyline. In the novel, we follow the adventures of a simple farmer’s child, Dorothy, through a strange and wonderful land, where she meets a curious set of characters. Her new found friends turn out tobe very loyal and helpful throughout her travels, and Dorothy finds herself the leader of a quite unsuspecting group. Dorothy begins these strange adventures when she finds herself an unintentional heroine by accidently killing the wicked witch of the east, after this the sweet young girl shows her bravery and kind-heartedness during an earnest quest to find a way home.
Dorothy as a protagonistportrays the perfect criteria of the American ideal. She is a brave, innocent, polite and sweet-natured girl, who means the best for all she encounters. Throughout the novel we see her displaying her true qualities, which in turn, result in helping her three companions to become fulfilled and eventually live better lives. The idea that Dorothy, without really realising, enriches and improves somany people is a touching sentiment, half of the magic being that she is always herself during the story. Dorothy is a humble character who merely wants to find a way home and yet gets caught up in a wild adventure involving numerous strange and wonderful characters. Her ambition to make it home is a running theme through the novel, and as readers we are all happy and relieved when she finallymanages to make it back to Kansas and be reunited with Aunt Em and Uncle Harry.
The group of characters which Dorothy acquires along her quest home are a peculiar bunch, and have very memorable, distinctive roles within the book. The unusual trio each have personal setbacks and personality issues which trouble them so deeply they are inspired by Dorothy’s sense of ambition and decide they shouldaccompany her along the way. Each odd character is in search of something that he feels is missing from his personality, the scarecrow desires brains, the tin woodman longs for a heart and the cowardly lion is in search of courage. However, even though the characters don’t believe they own these precious personal attributes, funnily enough throughout the book all of the characters display thesequalities. Despite not believing in themselves that they have these traits, each one has a moment when he displays what he thinks he doesn’t have, before seeing the wizard. For example when the scarecrow suggests how to cross the river onto the other side, this demonstrates he has brains, and also the lion scares the wicked witch of the west so she does not tie him up, which shows that he truly iscourageous. The idea that all the characters achieve their ultimate desires without the magic help of a wizard is also an encouraging sentiment for our readers. All that is necessary is the ability to believe in yourself, and this for me is one of the most crucial ideas of the text.
The social commentary in the book is also an underlying factor within this much loved children’s book. It is important toremember Dorothy’s social background when considering her achievements, as she is a simple farmer’s child who has been brought up on the Kansas prairies, without much opportunity or aspiration. Considering the period in which Baum wrote the novel, the idea of ‘The American Dream’ is very much emphasised in the book. First and foremost we have Dorothy, our unsuspecting heroine, who brings hope andsuccess to all she meets and finally achieves her goal of returning home back to dull Kansas, where, after her adventures finds a new found appreciation for her loved home and dear Aunt Em. “There’s no place like home.” We then have the scarecrow, probably the most unlikely character to achieve such high status by the end of the novel as he is given the opportunity to rule over the Emerald city...