The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapters 5-8
Chapters 5-8
On their way back to the yellow paved road, Dorothy and the scarecrow hear a groan through the trees. They make their way to the sound and discover a man made entirely of tin holding up an axe in front of a half-cut tree. The Tin Woodman explains that his joints were rusted and that he was unable to move. He had been stuck in that very position for longer than a year now. Dorothy brings an oil can and with the instructions of the Tin Woodman, she frees him from immobility. When he finds out that Dorothy and the Scarecrow are making their way to the Wizard Oz, the Tin Woodman expresses his want to travel to Oz to have the wizard grant him a heart.
The Tin Woodman shares his tale, and explains how he fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin maiden and to marry her he had to build a big house. The beautiful Munchkin lived with a lazy old woman who did not want to lose the girl to the Woodman in marriage, so the woman went to the Wicked Witch of the East. The witch laid an enchantment on the woodman's axe that made it slip out of his hand every time he lifted it. The axe would slip out and cut a part of his body and so every time he lost a limb, he would have it replaced from the Tinner with a limb of tin. By the end, the Tin Woodman became all-metal, lost his heart and so lost his love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden. All of his joints were made of tin and were likely to rust if not oiled properly. One day he set out to cut a tree and forgot to oil his joints so when a rainstorm came his joints rusted, that was where Dorothy and the Scarecrow found him.
As the party continues to make their way through the thick woods of the forest, a big lion jumps into their path, he sends the Scarecrow flying with one paw and strikes down the Tin Woodman. The Lion nearly eats Toto, but Dorothy charges in at the last moment and slaps the Lion's nose and berates him for trying to eat a small animal like Toto. The Cowardly Lion tearfully agrees and expresses how cowardly he has felt since he was born, but since the lion is supposed to be the king of the forest, he was expected to be brave. The others explain to the Cowardly Lion their destination and the things they wish to ask of the Wizard of Oz, so the lion joins the party to ask Oz to give him courage. As they travel through the forest together, the Tin Woodman accidentally steps on a beetle, he is extremely saddened and his tears cause his jaws to rust.
They came upon a big ditch in the road that separates the road and the forest, and the Scarecrow proposes that they climb on the Lion and have him jump across the ditch. The forest on the other side is eerier, and the Lion reveals that this was the home of the Kalidahs. They were fierce beasts with bodies of bears and the heads of tigers. The party came upon a much larger ditch again, and it was yet again the scarecrow that came up with the idea of having the Tin Woodman cut one of the large trees nearby to form a bridge. The Tin woodman makes quick work of the tree and as they are crossing the bridge, they hear a roar and see two Kalidahs rushing towards them. All of them cross the bridge and the Kalidahs begin to follow suit, but the Scarecrow has another idea and instructs the tin Woodman to chop at the tree that they were using as a bridge. So before the Kalidahs can cross the Tin Woodman cuts the tree and they fall into the deep ditch. As the party returns to their journey, the trees begin to thin, they came upon a large river for whose crossing the Scarecrow asks the Tin Woodman to build a raft.
The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow use long poles to push the raft, but when the raft reaches the middle of the river, the current becomes too strong and the river takes them away from their course. In his attempt to navigate the raft, the Scarecrow gets his pole stuck in the mud of the riverbed and he is lifted clean off the raft, stuck holding onto a pole above the middle of the river. The rest of the party tries to reach the bank by having the Lion go into the river and swim towards the bank. They make it to the bank and begin to follow back the river up to try and find the yellow road, and soon find the place where they can see the Scarecrow stuck on the pole. A kind Stork soon finds them, and Dorothy elicits her help in carrying the light straw-stuffed Scarecrow to the shore.
The party sets off again towards the yellow road and begin to encounter beautiful flowers, as they go on in the field, the scarlet poppies become more numerous. Soon it is learned that the smell of the red poppies can make people fall asleep and remain asleep. Dorothy and Toto are the first to fall asleep, but the Lion also begins to feel drowsy. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow ask the Lion to quickly find a way out of the field of flowers, so he bounds away. The other two then carry the sleeping Dorothy and Toto out of the field but just before its end, they discover the Lion fast asleep.
Analysis
Dorothy's companions are now complete and they all wish for things that they believe will make them feel complete. All of these characters claim to lack a characteristic that they evidently possess. The Scarecrow believes he lacks a brain, and yet he is the one to come up with nearly all the solutions to the obstacles that block their path. The Tin Woodman claims to lack a heart but cries profusely at the death of a small beetle. The Lion believes he lacks courage, and yet he jumps over the ditch with his friends on his back despite being afraid.
While most of the characters consistently prove that they do indeed possess the qualities they seek from Oz, the Tin Woodman is rather inconsistent. It is confusing that he cries so profusely for the death of a beetle but can uncaringly cut down a wild cat and a pack of wolves with no displays of any such emotion.
The Kalidahs mentioned in this section of the book are also interesting, although animal hybrids are littered throughout mythology, that name has never been connected with any existing mythology. This is another way in which Frank Baum attempts to legitimise his story as a fairy tale since that was his aim in writing this book. He aimed to create an American fairy tale like those of the European cultures, and such fairy tales always had mythical creatures as well as helpful animals such as the Kind Stork who rescues the stranded Scarecrow in the river.
