· Most of us know the story of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and how Dorothy helps her friends on her quest back to Kansas, but what we do not stop to think about is if she is actually helping her friends or if they help each other and her. From the moment Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland she wants to go home. She speaks to Glinda the good witch who tells her to follow the yellow brick road until she comes to the Emerald City, that is where she will find Oz; the great and magnificent. As Dorothy is moving along this path on her way to getting back home she comes across the scarecrow. She never planned on having him come along with her or even stop to acknowledge him. He asks to accompany her to Oz, which she agrees to. Had she needed to go out of her way for him, she would not have. When they happen across the tin man they are their way to his cabin to stay the night. They decided to check him out and end up helping him. When Dorothy tells him what she is on a quest for and the scarecrow also tells him he asks to join their group, so he tags along. While on their journey they come across the lion whom Dorothy is not fond of for scaring Toto. He apologizes and says it is because he has no courage and would like to go on to ask Oz for courage. He tags along as well. All three of her companions deeply care for Dorothy and try their hardest to help her. When Oz tells her to go kill the Wicked Witch of the West, they did not have to go along to help but they chose to. When Dorothy misses the balloon and must go on to the good witch, her
companions decided to go as well to help her. Dorothy would not do the same for them if she had the option to go home. When the scarecrow gets stuck on the pole in the river for instance, Dorothy wishes she could help but feels she cannot so she moves that thought from her mind and continues on. Had the stork not offered to help, the scarecrow would never have been helped. Dorothy’s goal from the beginning is to get home. She deals with the obstacles that she has to to get home but if they hinder her chances of getting home she will have nothing to do with it. Everything she does is to help herself and when she does help one of her friends it is because it is also helping her or someone else has offered. Dorothy is looked at as being a heroine but is she really a heroine, or just a selfish child trying to find her way home?
Haha, interesting! Ariana makes a great point on pointing out what Dorothy does to the team and what she is willing to sacrifice does not align to what the companions do and sacrifice for the team; However, I think it's human nature to be selfish. All of the characters in the story are all trying to get something for themselves. They are all as selfish as Dorothy, I would say. The companions stay together because they know they are all helpful for each other.
ReplyDeleteHmm...my comments may be a bit cynical but this is just a side of it:)
It is exactly what I thought about Dorothy as well. Her actions are defined by fear, she has no realization of how to apply her strengths. It is interesting how unanimously a lot of Baum's critics see her as an incarnation of prodigious wonder. I totally support your assumption that Dorothy is selfish - yes, she does everything because of the fear to be left in an unfamiliar threatening environment.
ReplyDeleteWow this makes so much sense. I never realized how much Dorothy relies on other people to help her. And the point you make about if the roles were reversed, Dorothy would not help them is really interesting. However, one point that I do not agree with is that Dorothy doesn't care about her companions and would never go out of her way to save them. If you think about when she and the lion are stuck in the Wicked Witches house it is clear that she does care about him. Not only does she smuggle him food everyday, but when she accidentally kills the witch she goes out of her way to set him free as well and go back to save the scarecrow and the tin woodman. So, while I agree that she is very selfish I do not think that she doesn't care about her companions.
ReplyDeleteEliza: I had forgotten about her saving the lion in my rant of her being a selfish little girl but you are right. I think Dorothy does care about them but she just cares more about getting home. She does go back and save them and I do not feel that she is all bad. I think that she does have some redeemable characteristics I was just more focusing on how I noticed how selfish she was. I always loved The Wizard of Oz growing up and I always wanted to be Dorothy but I had never realized before how focused on herself she was which is why I wanted to talk about it. I do agree with you 100% though.
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