The story starts off with young Dorothy Gale meeting Zebediah a.k.a Zeb to visit the Hugson's Ranch owned by her Uncle Henry. Along the way, with the setting being near San Francisco, an earthquake strikes which causes a crack in the ground to split and for them and the horse-drawn carriage to fall into it. After a long fall, the children see six different-colored spheres floating, each sending a ray of light in its own color and also find their horse, Jim, talking. Upon landing, they are introduced to a magical land with cities made of glass.
Baum uses imagery throughout as well as personification to make the story more magical and appealing to readers. He does this especially so after the children fall into the ground. While unrealistic as floating colored "suns" (color imagery) and a talking animal companion (personification) seemed, it al cohesively mixes to enhance the enthralling experience. Not only was the fall magical, but so was the world below too. It was described to be a "landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very like upon earth's surface" except that it was "colored by the variegated lights from six suns" (353).
This captivated the children. Instead of fearing for their lives or wanting to find a way home, Dorothy is almost fearless and more curious than worried. She even tells Zeb after he became distressed by the fact he may never be able to return home that " we can't help ourselves now....and I've always been told it's foolish to borrow trouble" (353) meaning that it is unnecessary to worry, and consoled him by reminding him of how beautiful the area is. As they slowly landed, they marveled over the beautiful glass structures and colorful rainbow landscape.
From this, it is easy to see how this story is a fantasy and how it primarily appeals to children due to the magical experiences it portrays. In addition to this, we can assume too that this appeals to adults, who can break free from their adulthood and reminisce on how their imagination and curiosity was as children and how they can compare to Dorothy.
Baum, L. Frank. “Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.” The Literature of California, edited by Jack Hicks, University of California Press, 2000, pp. 347-353.
Hi April,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, Baum wants to capture the children imaginations Baum explained the adventure ofhorrible sensation of falling, the darkness and the terrifying noises, proved more than Dorothy could endure and for a few moments the little girl lost consciousness. Zeb, being a boy, did not faint, but he was badly frightened, and clung to the buggy seat with a tight grip, expecting every moment would be his last. (p.351) When Dorothy recovered her senses, they were still falling, but not so fast. The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to overtake them at the moment (p.351).Dorothy's curiosity find falling more as an adventure than horrifying moment. Like you said April,instead of fearing for their lives or wanting to find a way home, Dorothy is almost fearless and more curious than worried.