Hello Pf-Readers!
I hope you are enjoying our story so far. I didn’t realize the chapters were so short or I would have suggested we read more than just the first!
In Chapter One: The Cyclone, we are introduced to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and of course Dorothy and her beloved little dog Toto. We know that they live in Kansas and are farmers and from the description of the land, house and people we know life is fairly harsh, so much so that the sound of Dorothy’s laughter startles her Aunt. We also learn that Dorothy would be lost without Toto who is the one thing that keeps her from growing as gray as her surroundings. It is in this chapter that the cyclone hits and Dorothy is whisked away.
For our first discussion question: What do you think makes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz so appealing, so timeless and so easily adapted to other media?
Discuss… and feel free to post!
For next week read chapters 2-10!
This project was funded through the Texas Reads Grant administered by the Texas State Library and Archives, the Friends of the Pflugerville Community Library and the Pflugerville Community Library.ention.
Hello, thanks for commenting!
Yes, I’ve read that the political and economic themes in the story are still used as teaching tools in universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. I am not that familiar with the political history of the time but I did read (granted it was on Wikipedia) that Baum was a political activist in the 1890s so if that’s true it is conceivable that the story is a political allegory.
For anyone wanting to learn more check out The historian’s Wizard of Oz: reading L. Frank Baum’s classic as a political and monetary allegory edited by Ranjit S. Dighe and The Wizard of Oz and philosophy: wicked wisdom of the West edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng, available at the Pflugerville Community Library https://pflugerville.biblionix.com/atoz/catalog/.
Does anyone want to comment on symbolism in the Wizard of Oz in the context of it being a political and economic commentary?
Self-contradition in the Wizard of oz?
The Wizard of Oz as a Buddhist parable?
| Carl |
Submitted on 2012/02/05 at 8:05 pm
As reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is beginning in Pflugerville, it might be of interest to mention “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism,” an article by Henry M. Littlefield (http://www.amphigory.com/oz.htm) that describes the possible influence that the political climate of the time during which the book was written may have had on the plot and the choice of characters. |
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