Book Critique on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dorothy lives in Kansas with her aunt, uncle, and dog, Toto. The entire house is swept away by a tornado from Kansas to the bright Land of Oz. She is met by the Munchkins and the Good Witch of the North. They are very happy because Dorothy’s house smashed the Wicked Witch of the East. The Good Witch gives Dorothy the dead witch's silver shoes. The only thing on Dorothy’s mind is getting back to Kansas, so the Witch of the East helps. Dorothy is sent down the yellow brick road to the City of Emeralds. Once she gets to the City of Emeralds, she is supposed to meet the Wizard of Oz, who should be able to help her get home. Along the journey, she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. Her three friends all have a need they would like to request from the Wizard. They continue their journey along the road. They encounter many adventures before and after visiting the Wizard. Once they all reach the Wizard of Oz, he sends them on a quest to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Once they kill the Wicked Witch of the West, he will grant all of their wishes. In the end, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion accomplish a great role. They each are granted leadership of three different lands of Oz. The Scarecrow becomes the ruler of Emerald City, the Tin Woodman gets control over the former Wicked Witch of the West's domain, and the Lion is head over the animals in the woods. Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, shows Dorothy how to get home. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz begins in dark Kansas, and it quickly changes to the bright and colorful area of the Land of Oz. The things that happened in Kansas occurred in the late nineteenth century. This book is a political allegory. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz makes references to the following things in history: The Gilded Age, the Panic of 1893, Coxey’s Army, and the 1896 Election. Lyman Frank Baum wrote the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the Introduction to The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum described healthy children as instinctively loving â€Å"fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal† stories. Baum wanted his stories to have a moral, and he liked the fairy tale format. He disagreed with the â€Å"heart-aches and nightmares† that their â€Å"horrible and bloodcurdling† events could bring on in children. Baum decided to modernize and update the fairy tale by combining moral with entertainment, â€Å"wonderment and joy. † Lyman Baum did not have a definite viewpoint. He wanted to entertain children with stories that had a moral and a point. He wrote the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a fairytale political allegory, for example the yellow brick road represents the gold standard, and the silver shoes represent the sixteen to one silver ratio, and so on. This is a fictional book based on historical non fictional information. Baum represents the time period by the metaphors he uses throughout the book, like things referring to the Panic of 1893 and election of 1896. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz can teach many people about history. The book is in fairy tale style, but it has historical facts and references throughout the story. It definitely be applied to history, since it was written about history. For example, the Wicked Witch of the West refers to the actual west. Baum published this book in 1900, which is the time period that it deals with. The parts of the book about the yellow brick road will be stuck in my mind. I find this part very fascinating, because it refers to the demand for gold and the standards that were set for gold. The reason it will be in my mind is because once I read the book again, in the perspective of US History, I saw how everything was a metaphor for something in history. This amazes me, and the author was very creative to create a story so brilliantly planned. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz definitely helped me connect history to this fairy tale style of hidden history. This book is a classic because it brings history in a childhood favorite fairy tale book.