History Literature / TheWonderfulWizardofOz

Along the way, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow (who wants a brain), the Tin Woodman (who misses his heart), and the Cowardly Lion (who wishes he had courage). Together they travel to the Emerald City and ask for help from the Wizard, who orders them to first kill the aptly-named Wicked Witch of the West. The Witch, after seeing Dorothy and her friends heading towards her lair, enslaves the girl, and schemes to claim the magical silver shoes for herself.

* JustForPun: The Wizard makes brains for the Scarecrow out of bran cereal with pins and needles. He calls them ''bran'' new brains which will make him "sharp as a pin".

* 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. Furthermore, yellow is the favorite color of the Winkies in the West (they're even called Yellow Winkies), and red for the Quadlings of the South. Kansas praire is described as gray due to the sun and the wind: Gray are the houses, the fields and even the grass, [[ColourCodedEmotions Uncle Henry and aunt Emma, who never laughed, were gray too]], Toto was a little black dog that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings.

* HomesicknessHymn: The movie version originally had a DarkReprise of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," sung by Dorothy while being held captive by the Wicked Witch of the West.

%%* DungeonMaster: The Wizard.

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

* TheseusShipParadox: The Tin Woodman pissed off a witch who enchanted his ax so that it would cut off pieces of him, and he went to a tinsmith to replace the missing parts. Eventually he was made entirely out of tin - but since it was a gradual process, he's still human Nick Chopper and not a new person -- maybe. The Woodman does refer to Nick in the ''[[ThatManIsDead past tense]]''.

* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs. The Winged Monkeys are just that - monkeys which have wings.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Tin Woodman, being, well, a woodman (or "woodsman", as people often say nowadays).

* NiceShoes: The Silver Shoes, which once belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East, are now in the possession of Dorothy.

* AWorldHalfFull: In the first five paragraphs of the novel, the great Kansas prairies is established as a place where the sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. The house, Uncle Henry and aunt Em had been made as gray as the praire by the unforgiving sun, they never laughed, and they lived in a house with only a room, in PerpetualPoverty. However, ''It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.''. It’s those words that’s transform Kansas from a CrapsackWorld into AWorldHalfFull, and that establish the true reason Dorothy needs to return to Kansas: She is the only thing standing between two persons and complete despair. This idea, that the only thing human beings truly need is each other (or a dog) is the CentralTheme of the book.

''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', written by Creator/LFrankBaum in 1900, was an instant success, which has been much {{homage}}d and parodied. It spawned many sequels, beginning with ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. For the rest, see [[Literature/LandOfOz here]].

* WitchSpecies: This book [[TropeMakers introduced this trope]], according to Martin Gardner. Apparently Creator/LFrankBaum wanted to avoid religious objections from parents on the grounds that witches are the result of a DealWithTheDevil and thus there cannot be good witches, so he made witchcraft an inherent trait and classified witches as good or evil based on how they used their magic, not the magic's origin.

For a list of the many, many adaptations, see Franchise/LandOfOz, and for WholePlotReference episodes in other works, see OffToSeeTheWizard.

For a list of the many, many adaptations, see Franchise/LandOfOz.

** The Wicked Witch of the East was killed and turned to dust, the Tin Woodman killed several animals, and the Wicked Witch of the West turned into a puddle and was swept out the door. The third book establishes that no one can die in Oz. Even if you have [[CompleteImmortality your head cut off]], you'll [[AndIMustScream still be alive and aware]] (albeit in no pain).

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The main quarter fits these types, with the Cowardly Lion as choleric/melancholic, the Tin Woodsman as melancholic/sanguine, the Scarecrow as sanguine/choleric, and Dorothy as leukine/phlegmatic.

* GoodAllAlong: All of the Wicked Witch's servants, including the Winged Monkeys.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath

%%* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Cowardly Lion (choleric/melancholic), Tin Woodman (melancholic/sanguine), Scarecrow (sanguine/choleric), and Dorothy (leukine/phlegmatic).

%%* ParentalBonus

%%* ShadowDictator: The Wizard.

%%* WitchSpecies

* AWorldHalfFull: In the first five paragraphs of the novel, the great Kansas prairies is established as a place where the sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. The house, Uncle Henry and aunt Em had been made as gray as the praire by the unforgiving sun, they never laughed, and they lived in a house with only a room, in PerpetualPoverty. However, ''It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.''. It’s those words that’s transform Kansas from a CrapsackWorld into AWorldHalfFull, and that establish the true reason Dorothy needs to return to Kansas: She is the only thing between two persons and despair. This idea, that the only thing human beings truly need is each other (or a dog) is the CentralTheme of the book.

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

* AnAxeToGrind: The Tin Woodsman, being, well, a woodsman.

* ChekhovsGun: The cyclone actually set in motion the plots for later books. [[spoiler:In order to cope with the residual stress from Dorothy being carried away, Uncle Henry decides to take a vacation. Dorothy joins him, but ends up in Oz a second time after being blown overboard from their ship. Later, the destruction of their house and farm via that cyclone took a toll on Henry and Em's finances, leaving them unable to afford to live anywhere. Dorothy and Ozma bring them to Oz so they would never need to worry about money again.]]

** The Wicked Witch of the East was killed and turned to dust, the Tin Woodsman killed several animals, and the Wicked Witch of the West turned into a puddle and was swept out the door. The third book establishes that no one can die in Oz. Even if you have [[CompleteImmortality your head cut off]], you'll [[AndIMustScream still be alive and aware]] (albeit in no pain).

** In a roundabout way, the original Woodsman, who kept having body parts cut off him til there was no Woodsman left and just essentially a tin robot with his memories.

* InformedFlaw: The Scarecrow doesn't have a brain, but he is usually the one who uses logical thinking to assist the group. The Tin Woodsman doesn't have a heart, but he is so worried about seeming heartless that he acts with great care and compassion. The Lion claims he has no courage, but he repeatedly tries to make heroic sacrifices to save his friends.

** The original Woodsman was quite handsome, brave and dashing, according to Tin Woodsman.

* TheseusShipParadox: The Tin Woodman pissed off a witch who enchanted his ax so that it would cut off pieces of him, and he went to a tinsmith to replace the missing parts. Eventually he was made entirely out of tin - but since it was a gradual process, he's still human Nick Chopper and not a new person -- maybe. The Woodsman does refer to Nick in the ''[[ThatManIsDead past tense]]''.

* MistakenNationality / MistakenForTerrorist: Dorothy's IconicOutfit of blue and white gingham caused a case of this upon landing. Munchkins are short and favor the color blue. Also, white is a color only magic users wear. As far as they could tell, Dorothy's came out of nowhere and assassinated the tyrant in charge via flying house. when they looked in and saw her, they mistook her for a full-grown (albeit young) and unknown Munchkin sorceress with unknown intentions. Not surprisingly, Boq quickly called the closest benign Witch (the North) for backup.

%%* ShiningCity: The Emerald City.
%%* ShroudedInMyth: The Wizard.

%%* MagicalAccessory

* TheMagocracy: The Quadling (South) Country of Oz is this, being ruled by Glinda.

** The Wicked Witch of the East was killed and turned to dust, the Tin Woodsman kills several animals, and the Wicked Witch of the West turned into a puddle and was swept out the door. The third book establishes that no one can die in Oz. Even if you have [[CompleteImmortality your head cut off]], you'll [[AndIMustScream still be alive and aware]] (albeit in no pain).