Handle with care

Current book: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Pages read: 159 - 261 (end)

After Dorothy and the companions get themselves back together, they head to the Emerald City (I know I was all insistent before about it not being the Emerald City, but then it got inconsistent on me) to collect their rewards. There they discover that the wizard is just a little old man, though he grants them their wishes regardless. The Scarecrow gets brains made of bran and pins and needles, the Tin Woodsman gets a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Cowardly Lion gets a bowl full of liquid courage. (And no, that's not a euphemism for alcohol. Probably.) The whole point of these gifts, of course, is that Dorothy's three companions have embodied these traits all along and don't actually need to be given that for which they've respectively asked.

The Wizard promises to take Dorothy back to Kansas in his hot air balloon, but the balloon escapes its tethers before she can get in, and she's left in Oz. The companions resolve to go see Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who might help them. Along the way, they meet a forest full of animals that need to be defended from a horrible monster, which the Cowardly Lion does, and so becomes their king (after he's done helping Dorothy, of course). They also go through a small country made entirely of china - ground, people, houses, everything. They have to be very careful not to break anyone as they go through, and still end up smashing a church and breaking a cow's leg.

When they finally get to Glinda, she explains that Dorothy could have used the silver shoes all along to return home, and, after tearful goodbyes, she does so. When she comes running home across the fields, Aunt Em is surprised and delighted to see her.

You'll note that there's none of that "waking up from being knocked unconscious" nonsense that happened at the end of the movie. Dorothy was lost and she came home; it was all real. So, as far as the messages and themes of this book go, I mentioned there was some politics involved, and there is, but there are also just a lot of rather smoothly incorporated morals. The politics are mostly quite anti-dictator, what with the wicked witches keeping people as slaves. The Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, who end up ruling the Winkies (who were formally the Wicked Witch of the West's slaves), the Emerald City, and the beasts of the forest respectively, all earn their positions through merit, so that message ends up quite American in its sense of meritocracy.

As far as morals go, Baum carefully avoids having the characters moralize, but manages to work the morals in strongly regardless. It's nice because he avoids that old children's book syndrome of telling children what to do in a didactic, often annoying tone. (I'm looking at you, Louisa May Alcott.) The morals range from being kind to and protective of the weak, as the Tin Woodsman does by saving the Queen of the Mice, to caring for and being loyal to your friends, as the companions do throughout the story, to even, simply, making sure to keep yourself clean, as Dorothy does each morning before they set out. Never does Baum say, "And this, children, shows that you should..." He simply gives the example and lets children interpret it themselves.

Is it one of the greatest novels of all time? I don't know about that. It's a great children's book, and I loved it when I was little, so that says a lot. I also think about the country made of china a lot, because it's somehow captivating to me, especially the fact that the ground is made of china. I want to walk in the china country and see what it's like. How odd to be in a place where everything is beautiful and fragile at the same time. Then again, is it really that different?

Undivided attention

Current book: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Pages read: 159 - 261 (end)

No time tonight to give this the attention it needs, so I'm begging off and will update tomorrow. It was an 11-hour day, front door to front door, and I'd like to do a nice post on Oz.

Emerald-coloured glasses

Current book: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Pages read: 11 - 155

You might think that I'd be wasting my time by summarizing the plot, but if you haven't read the book, you'd be surprised by how different it is from the movie.

So, Dorothy, an orphan, lives in Kansas with her aunt and uncle, and, one day, is sucked up by a cyclone, along with her entire house and her dog Toto. She lands, much later, in Munchkinland, part of the land of Oz, where the Munchkins thank her for killing the Wicked Witch of the East, who had been holding them in bondage. Though she denies that she's done it, the Good Witch of the North kisses her on the forehead to thank and bless her, and gives her the Wicked Witch's silver shoes to protect her.

She goes to visit Oz, the Great and Terrible Wizard of Emerald City (yes, that's Emerald City, not the Emerald City) to ask him to return her to Kansas and her family. Along the way she meets the Scarecrow, who comes along because he wants to ask Oz for brains, and the Tin Woodsman, who comes to ask for a heart. (The Tin Woodsman, it turns out, is tin because he accidentally cut off all his limbs, one at a time, and had them replaced with tin. Which is creepy. Anyway.) Finally, they collect the Cowardly Lion, who wants courage so that he can be King of the Beasts.

On the way to the city, they get lost in a field of poppies, which put Dorothy and the Lion to sleep. While the Scarecrow and Woodsman can carry Dorothy out, the Lion is too heavy. Luckily, by a stroke of both his ax and good luck, the Tin Woodsman saves the Queen of the Mice from a wildcat and she agrees to have her subjects save the Lion from the poppies, after which they continue on their way.

When the get to the city, they find they are required to wear green glasses to enter the place in so that they won't be blinded by the dazzling materials from which it's constructed. They do so, and go to see Oz, but he refuses to grant them their desires unless they kill the Wicked Witch of the West for him. They go to do this, fighting off the witch's wolves, crows, and bees, which are killed in various gruesome ways. Finally, however, the companions are brought to the witch's castle by her flying monkeys. (The monkeys, it turns out, can only be controlled by any one person three times, via a magic hat, and this was the witch's last shot.) Eventually, Dorothy accidentally melts the witch, and the companions are free to go.

I have no commentary so far. It's cute. I've already read it. There's some political stuff going on, but I'm going to save it for tomorrow. I have a reprint of the original edition, also, and the illustrations are quirky and awesome two-colour plates with all sorts of great stuff in them, including Toto looking very skeptically at a Munchkin baby who wants to play with him, and the severed head of the wildcat that chased the Queen of the Mice. Severed heads in a children's book. Top notch.