Baum's Morals
| L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, has been annotated and scrutinized for the past century by critics, historians, and writers alike. Allegorical theories and explanations have been formed to explain the true meaning or underlying messages hidden in between the lines of Baum’s tale. However, I find such analyzing to be demeaning to its original simplicity that makes the story so magical and appealing to children. In reading the book, I have come to believe that Baum did not intend for his series to be viewed as a complex criticism of politics, but instead to simply teach children about wholesome, life morals through an enjoyable story with lovable characters. Take, for example, Baum’s own reaction to the public and how he showed very little interest in the reviews of his storybooks. In fact, he “paid little attention to his critics. So long as the books kept selling and the children liked them, he was content” (Hearn lxxxix). As an author, his top priority was to appeal to his youthful audience, and not to create some novel with varying levels of political and psychological depth. Afterall, a writer that wants to write about politics as a type of propaganda, would not necessarily be so concerned with his books being appealing to children. I believe Baum was interested instead in making the children fall in love with his stories and then using the children’s attachment to the characters to teach them life lessons. Even Baum himself said that he felt compelled to spread certain messages. And that he felt the most appropriate way to do so was to use his books to “open the doors to sympathy and understanding, joy, peace and happiness” (xcv). If Baum truly was so concerned with portraying his political or even religious beliefs, he would have spent more time incorporating those ideas into his story through word choice, as opposed to focusing so much on such moral aspects or the children’s reactions. Even taking a look at the text we can see that Baum almost creates ongoing themes throughout the story dealing with moral issues. The idea of helpfulness is mentioned or demonstrated multiple times. For example, after the Stork saves the Scarecrow from the river, the Scarecrow offers to do something in return. But being kind and selfless, the Stork only replies, “That’s all right…I always like to help anyone in trouble” (Baum 138). This same concept is emphasized again after the Woodsman saves the Queen of the field-mice from the wildcat. While the Queen is showering the Woodsman with her graciousness, he modestly tells her, “Don’t speak of it…I am careful to help all those who may need a friend” (148). In these instances, Baum is clearly attempting to show his children readers that it is good and moral to be kind and helpful to everyone. If teaching a lesson like this one was not important to Baum, he would not have strategically placed such moral traits in his characters that come out at different times throughout his series. And I think that Baum did an amazing job in doing so, because for the past century children have been able to read his stories and associate with the ethical deeds of the heroes in the story and hopefully to want to become more like the heroes by being understanding, kind, helpful, and forgiving. |
posted by Layne @ 10:56 PM
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