There are many details in the novel that exemplify the American reality of the book's time - scarecrows, fields, farmers, prairies, forests, and deserts.

It is truly an American fairytale told with a childlike sense of ethics. The novel is not as dark as the European fairy tales that Baum grew up with however the dangers are less terrifying, the villains dispatched quite easily, none of the protagonists die, Dorothy does not deal with any sexual issues or even any serious emotional ones, and the tone is lighthearted and whimsical. Wonder tales have an aura of enchantment, which the Wonderful Wizard of Oz has in spades. There is a fairy godmother and a witch, strange and fantastical creatures, a dangerous journey, a magical mark and magical shoes, dark forests and splendid or terrifying castles, talking animals, stalwart friends, and a task for Dorothy to accomplish. Dorothy resembles a princess like Cinderella in that she lives with people who are not her mother and father but is an heir to more than she can understand at the story's outset. His own story has been interpreted multiple times - in theater, film, and further books. How is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a fairy tale?īaum was fascinated with fairy tales in his youth and spent time refashioning the famous stories of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. It keeps the text sane and establishes the irrefutable reality of Oz and the events transpiring there. Baum's use of repetition provides structure and order to a fantastical book.

The Wizard meets with the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion one after the other, their experiences and conversations proceeding in the exact same fashion. The Wicked Witch sends her minions out one after the other. When Dorothy talks to her friends they often answer her one after the other. Each of them is told the same thing by the Wizard. Each of the characters explains their wish to the Wizard in the same way, one after the other. There is also a very repetitive cast to the writing. There are good witches and bad witches, North and South and East and West, the first chapter mirrors the last chapter, Dorothy is disappointed by the Wizard twice. Oz is a breathtaking world, yet Dorothy yearns to return to the bleakness of Kansas Baum celebrates both opposing environments. In her introduction to the novel, Susan Wolstenholme comments that the text seems to make statements that double back on themselves: 'the text exposes the machinery behind enchantment as it celebrates power to enchant.while fantasy allows for an escape, the fucntion of that escape is to allow a return to a repressive reality.' The Wizard's fakery is exposed but nevertheless can enchant Dorothy's friends believe in the gifts the Wizard bestows upon them.

How does Baum use repetition, dualities and doubles in the text?

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum