Narrowing down The Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Paperback) - Oxford World's Classics ㅣ Oxford World's Classics 149
라이먼 프랭크 바움 지음 / Oxford University Press / 2008년 5월

What is The Wizard of Oz about? It's famous, so is it good? What is the book aiming to tell you? Well let me show you a part of the book and an example of what I thought. The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy story with 4 main characters. Dorothy, the girl who flew in a cyclone to this magical place called the Land of Oz, the Scarecrow, who was found by Dorothy upon her travels to get back home. The Tinman or Woodman, who was found rusted in the forest, and the Cowardly Lion, who was also found in the Forest by Dorothy. This crew all have separate wishes, but have the same goal of reaching the Emerald City where they can meet a powerful Wizard who can grant their wishes true. Dorothy wants to go back to Kansas, the scarecrow wants a brain, the woodman wants a heart, and the lion wants courage. They meet multiple obstacles on the way, but each of their wishes eventually come true. So, while I was reading The Wizard of Oz, there were parts of the book that felt incomplete or empty. There could be more details that explain why and what. At this time, Dorothy was captured by the Wicked Witch of the West and needed to get out. It was out of nowhere, but on page 120-121, the witch melted from getting wet. It was just a regular bucket of water, no magic, no poison. Around 5 pages before, the book gave me a hint that the Wicked Witch of the West was deathly afraid of water, but it never gave me a reason for why the witch melted. Was it because her blood ran dry (as stated earlier)? Was it because her magic didn't like water? Since the book didn't state why, it could've even meant that she was allergic to water! It confused me because the book didn't state why the witch died from water when Dorothy threw it at her. If this and some other parts of the book were more detailed, I would've enjoyed reading it a lot more.

There are other bits of information that I would like to provide my opinion with. To start, what are books created for? Non-fiction is to give information about specific things. Fiction books are usually for entertainment reasons. Dictionaries are to show the meaning of words. The Wizard of Oz was created not only for entertainment, but also to provide information about wisdom. People get confused with the difference between smarts and wisdom. Being smart is when you study well and feed in information quickly while wisdom is from living and experience. The book was explaining how Dorothy and the crew grew throughout their adventure. Each one of them grew in character. Even if the Scarecrow, Woodman, and the lion never realised that they never needed a brain, heart, or courage to be given to them; they still experienced an adventure that gave them strengths that they didn't have before. Every single emotion put into this book was there for a reason. It was there to show what wisdom gave to the mind. The entire Dorothy and crew felt emotions and learned through it. Joy made them realize to enjoy every moment in the present instead of worrying about the future or grieving about the past. Feeling sadness made them become stronger by overcoming grief and anger. Fear showed them that everything could be dangerous and scary in any form, but the only way to overcome it is to face it directly. These emotions made them realize the world and experience the harsh yet beautiful life. Wisdom in its finest form is learning through your own body. This book showed wisdom through words. It provided the information to the reader that they can learn through failure because it's a type of experience that truly makes your eyes open.

There are other ways that this book can teach the readers. This book was about us being the cameraman. In other words, it was in 3rd person. We were following Dorothy and the crew's every move. This means it gives the readers a chance to learn. The readers get to learn from mistakes the crew makes or how to build character. The book changes the reader's mind in a good way. For example, before reading this book, I never had a plan or goal. I wasn't ambitious enough to get out of bed and do whatever I can to reach a specific goal. Yet after I read The Wizard of Oz, I felt how the crew wouldn't give up because of how much they longed to go home, get a brain, get a heart, or accept courage. It was fascinating because they wouldn't stop. It showed me that if I really wanted it, I had to get it with hard work. So, I started planning to become what I dreamed of. It's inspiring because they did anything they could to get what they wanted. They would never give up and reach their goal, step by step.

Yet, what was the point of saying that learning is better with experience? The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy story with strange and mysterious creatures. It doesn't matter if you don't learn with physical experience. It actually doesn't matter if the reader has any physical experience if they never had mental experiences. In order to learn, the reader has to realize why. I never had a physical experience, but I've had mental experiences. I have felt Dorothy's sadness when she couldn't get into the balloon with Oz. I have felt the same emotions when I had a good opportunity, but it was too late to take it. It was when I had the chance to do so many things when I was younger, like gymnastics, but I didn't take the opportunity and learned the hard way later in my life. It was miserable. Of course, later on in the story, Dorothy does get back to Kansas so it was just work for her to find another way to get home.

Yet, just because the story comes to an end, it doesn't mean that its legacy does. The Wizard of Oz became a very famous book that's popped up in multiple songs, TV shows, and even other books. There is a song called 'Welcome to Wonderland' which is based on a different fantasy book, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is similar to The Wizard of Oz in multiple ways. They are both fantasy books and both of the main characters are trying to get home from where they came from. The song that is based on the book is filled with lyrics such as "dancing through a dream" or "everyone that leaves has a heavy heart". Dorothy has called the Emerald City a dream and she was incredibly sad when she had to leave this dream-like place. This book has an amazing storyline yet I believe that if it was a little more detailed, like telling the reasons why such things happened, it would have been much more exciting.