History Literature / TheWonderfulWizardofOz

** There was considerable in-depth analysis of it... the author was allegedly an outspoken advocate of the dual-metal standard-- gold and silver, specifically (SILVER shoes on a YELLOW (gold) brick road leading to an EMERALD city of prosperity), and opposed the use of fiat currency which we use now... money that's valuable because the government says so (hence the Wizard making everyone believe the city was truly solid emerald by making everyone wear tinted spectacles. The situation-- as with fiat money-- was illusory.) Also at the time scarecrows, tin men, references to (at the time struggling) Kansas and tornadoes were regular tropes in editorial cartoons... Deliberate or picked up by osmosis, it's hard to deny there was some contamination by sociopolitics of the time. The emeralds being illusion was retconned in the second book.
** The whole "Wizard of Oz is a Populist tract about the gold standard" thing was made up by a history teacher trying to get his kids to pay attention. [[http://thewizardofoz.info/wiki/About_the_Oz_Books#Is_it_true_that_The_Wizard_of_Oz_was_written_as_a_political_tract.3F It just fit so well it stuck]].

* FullSetBonus: While you need both slippers to get wishes, just wearing one is a powerful ProtectiveCharm.

* GoodAllAlong: The Winged Monkeys.

* HitmanWithAHeart: Dorothy Gale is a hired assassin who kills the Wicked Witch of the West for the Wizard of Oz.

** Many allege that the book is a Marxist tract, with Dorothy's companions representing the proletarian masses. The Scarecrow stands in for agrarian labor, the Tin Woodman is an avatar of industrial labor, and the Cowardly Lion is a symbol for how the masses undermine their own power by refusing to recognize or act on it. Weirdly, world events that had not yet occurred at the time of the book's publication increase this resonance. For example, the death of the Wicked Witch of the East could be interpreted as representing the decline of capitalism in the Eastern hemisphere... had it happened yet.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The Tin Woodman rusting. Tin doesn't rust. Possibly {{justified|Trope}}, in that one of W.W. Denslow's color illustrations shows the Tin Man's joints are a different color, perhaps indicating that his joints are made of a different metal.

Dorothy Gale is a little girl from Kansas whose farmhouse is carried away to Oz by a random tornado, with her and her dog Toto inside. The tornado drops the house on the WickedWitch of the East, killing her. Dorothy is quickly feted by the native Munchkins as a hero, but wants nothing more than to get home. The (un-named) Good Witch of the North is sympathetic, but unfortunately has never heard of this strange place called "Kansas". So she gives Dorothy the wicked witch's ''silver'' shoes, kisses her on the forehead, and sends her off to the capital -- the [[CityOfGold Emerald City]] -- to ask the Wizard who rules there for his advice.

* BondVillainStupidity: The Wicked Witch of the West is too concerned about self-preservation to even try to steal Dorothy's silver slippers (due to her fear of the dark and her weakness against water). Of course, she later wises up and steals one slipper using a cheap shot (read: invisible brick). Unfortunately for her, when Dorothy's slippers are messed with, it's a BerserkButton; Dorothy swiftly retaliates by weaponizing the Witch's weakness and moping up the remains.

[[caption-width-right:350:Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin-Woodman, meet the Cowardly Lion.]]

* FauxSymbolism: So much. There's a reason some historians see it as a Farmer's Movie. To name a few for the history buffs, Dorothy has ''silver'' shoes and walks on a ''yellow brick'' road to get to the ''Emerald'' City, Dorothy ends up missing the ''Scarecrow'' the most... Though it's all highly debated, and not everyone believes it.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The witch's magic cap, which she uses to control the Winged Monkeys.

* TheBeastmaster: the Wicked Witch of the West's main source of power is in her animal servants - a pack of wolves, a murder of crows, a swarm of killer bees and a magical hat that allows her to summon powerful Winged Monkeys thrice. When most of those minions are slain and the hat's powers exhausted, the Witch seems to be almost powerless.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The witch's magic cap, which she uses to control the flying monkeys.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The Tin Woodsman. Sweetest, nicest, most loyal guy you'd ever encounter. Cried himself rusted over accidentally killing a harmless bug. ''Threaten'' an innocent life, and his axe will be used to make the offender a head shorter.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The Tin Woodsman rusting. Tin doesn't rust. Possibly {{justified|Trope}}, in that one of W.W. Denslow's color illustrations shows the Tin Man's joints are a different color, perhaps indicating that his joints are made of a different metal.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: The Tin Woodsman's origin among others.

** Many allege that the book is a Marxist tract, with Dorothy's companions representing the proletarian masses. The Scarecrow stands in for agrarian labor, the Tin Woodsman is an avatar of industrial labor, and the Cowardly Lion is a symbol for how the masses undermine their own power by refusing to recognize or act on it. Weirdly, world events that had not yet occurred at the time of the book's publication increase this resonance. For example, the death of the Wicked Witch of the East could be interpreted as representing the decline of capitalism in the Eastern hemisphere... had it happened yet.

* GoodAllAlong: The flying monkeys.
* HeartTrauma: The Tin Woodsman's entire motivation in the original book that he erroneously believed he was experiencing this. Since he had literally lost his heart, he thought he had lost his capacity for kindness and love. In fact, he was almost saintlike in his love and kindness toward nearly everything he met; he just wasn't sentimental or strongly emotional.

''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', written by [[LFrankBaum Lyman (long for "L.") Frank Baum]] in 1900, was an instant success, which has been much {{homage}}d and parodied, though [[TheFilmOfTheBook the 1939 movie version]], ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', may now be [[AdaptationDisplacement better known]]. ''ReturnToOz,'' a semi-sequel released in 1985 by Disney, is a cult movie. Many viewers feel that the latter film captures the spirit of the books more than its MGM predecessor does; it certainly ''looks'' far more like the books' original illustrations.

* MixAndMatchCritters: The winged monkeys.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Blue is the colour of the Munchkins and Green is the colour of the Emerald City. Witches all wear white so when the Munchkins see Dorothy wearing her white and blue checked dress they assume she is a witch as well as a friend to them because of those colours.

** Many allege that the book is a Marxist tract, with Dorothy's companions representing the proletarian masses. The Scarecrow stands in for agrarian labor, the Tin Woodsman is an avatar of industrial labor, and the Cowardly Lion is a symbol for how the masses undermine their own power by refusing to recognize or act on it. Weirdly, world events that had not yet occurred at the time of the book's publication increase this resonance. For example, the death of the Wicked Witch of the East could be interpreted as representing the decline of capitalism in the Eastern hemisphere...had it happened yet.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Woodman wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants courage. Throughout their adventures, guess who comes up with all the plans, is unusually tender-hearted, and casually displays real courage? Yeah...

* IWasQuiteALooker: Aunt Em is said to have been cheerful and pretty when she came to live in Kansas but the sun and wind took away her sparkle and left her sad and grey.

Although the basic story is close to that of the film, there are several deviations and extra parts - such as the history of the Tin Woodman, the Wizard's multiple disguises, the fact that there are ''two'' Good Witches rather than just one, an extended anticlimactic journey after the defeat of the Wicked Witch, and (most significantly) the ending, which in the movie implied ItWasJustADream, while in the book it is all most definitely real.

In the book, Dorothy Gale is a little girl from Kansas whose farmhouse is carried away to Oz by a random tornado, with her and her dog Toto inside. The tornado drops the house on the WickedWitch of the East, killing her. Her subjects, the Munchkins, are delighted and ready to fete Dorothy as a hero (no mention of the Lollipop Guild, though). All our stalwart little heroine can think of, meanwhile, is getting home... literally. As subsequent books make clear, nobody's dreaming.

The (un-named) Good Witch of the North is sympathetic, but unfortunately has never heard of this strange place called "Kansas". So she gives Dorothy the wicked witch's ''silver'' shoes, kisses her on the forehead, and sends her off to the capital -- the [[CityOfGold Emerald City]] -- to ask the Wizard who rules there for his advice. Because of the magic kiss, nothing in Oz can harm Dorothy, but as she soon discovers, many things will try. Oz is a strange, strange place.

From here Dorothy proceeds much as in the film, meeting the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the ([[TalkingAnimal four-legged]]) CowardlyLion, all of whom decide to travel with her for the chance to ask the wizard -- also called Oz -- to provide the single qualities they each supposedly lack. The Scarecrow figures he's incomplete without a brain, the Tin Woodman misses his real "loving and kind" heart, and the Lion wants courage. [[{{Anvilicious}} The irony is]], of course, that throughout their adventures, guess who comes up with all the plans, is unusually tender-hearted, and casually displays real courage? Yeah...

When they all finally reach their destination, they have a bewildering series of individual audiences with Oz, The Great and Terrible, who appears in a variety of guises (the movie uses only the one Dorothy sees) but never seems to be communicating directly. He/she/it tells them he will grant their various requests only if Dorothy proves herself by also killing the Wicked Witch of the West.

Dorothy agrees, and accordingly sets off for the Winkie Country. With the help of her friends, she fends off several advance attacks, but eventually the witch plays her trump card -- a [[AppliedPhlebotinum magical golden cap]] that controls a band of winged monkeys -- and orders them to bring her Dorothy and neutralize the others (by, for instance, [[NightmareFuel removing the stuffing from the Scarecrow]]). The book's Wicked Witch is considerably more of a patient strategist than her [[ZergRush movie counterpart]].

Book Dorothy is made to work as a servant over a period of several days while the Witch tries to figure out a way around the charm of the kiss and recover the shoes. Until our Miss Gale makes her second accidental kill by... wait for it... dumping a bucket of wash-water on her. Dorothy wastes no time in repairing her companions and then uses the golden cap herself, ordering the winged monkeys to return everyone to the Emerald City.

When they get there, the Wizard seems startled to see them again and tries to renege. They soon discover the truth: the Great and Terrible is actually a [[GodGuise fraud]] from Omaha, a carny huckster with the initials O.Z. whose balloon act got out of hand one day. When he landed in Oz, the natives decided the coincidence plus his ability to "fly" was powerful juju, and acclaimed him Ruler. (This apparently resulted in a coup that he wholeheartedly supported -- a later book showed that he was responsible for hiding away the legitimate heir to the throne so she wouldn't threaten his position.) He's been trying to live up to the job, and not incidentally duck the country's genuine, and ''really'' powerful, magic-users ever since.

His secret exposed, the Wizard provides the sidekicks with placebos that [[MagicFeather convince them of what was really inside them all along]]. Then he lays hasty plans to escape with Dorothy in another hot-air balloon, but at the moment of launch inadvertently leaves her behind.

With no other option left, we mark a radical departure from the movie as Dorothy and her friends head to the Quadling Country to find Glinda, the Good Witch of the ''South'', in hopes she can help her. After several more adventures they reach her palace, where Glinda tells Dorothy that she could have gone home any time she wanted by using the silver shoes; ''i.e.'', they will "carry [her] over the deadly sands" that cut Oz off from the known world "in a twinkling of an eye."

Glinda first uses the golden cap to send Dorothy's friends to their homes, or rather thrones: the newly-ensmartened Scarecrow becomes Ruler of the Emerald City in Oz' place, the Tin Woodman and his "real heart" take over from the Wicked Witch as Emperor of the Winkies, and the courageous-all-along Lion accepts an offer to become King of the Jungle. Then Dorothy finally clicks her heels and is whisked home to her anxious Aunt and Uncle.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The Tin Woodsman rusting. Tin doesn't rust. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], in that one of W.W. Denslow's color illustrations shows the Tin Man's joints are a different color, perhaps indicating that his joints are made of a different metal.