The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Q&A

It would be quite easy for any child reading the novel to relate with Dorothy. First of all, Dorothy is never described as having any special characteristics that could be considered unique. She is kind, moral, friendly, and draws very little attention to her inner thoughts. Like most children, her behaviour and attention are directed outwards towards the strange situations and people that she meets. She remains in the present and processes her surroundings calmly and without any hysteria. She continues to crave for parent figures and to return to the place she calls home, irrespective of the many wonders that she encounters in the land of Oz.

Oz himself declares early on that he was a bad wizard but a good man, as such the answer to this question is not quite straightforward. Oz rose to power because he failed to correct the people when they described his descent from the clouds as a mark of great magical power. He used this assumption to create for himself a position of power and authority and used it to direct the people to build the Emerald City. It is important to note however that he did not enslave the people of Emerald City as the Witches of East and West did. A comparison between the conditions and disposition of the people under the two wicked witches and that of the people in Emerald city seems to indicate that Oz was a good ruler and his people were generally happy. He did deceive Dorothy and her companions by promising them the fulfilment of their wishes even though he could not do so and then sent them to complete a dangerous quest. In the end, he did attempt to aid Dorothy in returning home, as such Oz may not be entirely good or bad.

The geography of Oz is reminiscent of America, the book makes mention of a very wide variety of geographical features like deserts, prairies, forests, swamps, plain farmlands, and several others that bear a close resemblance to the geography of America. It is also noted that Emerald city draws inspiration from Chicago, and the World's fair that Baum attended in the city. He expressed this wonder in his works where he gave all these ideas and influences shape in the form of strange creatures in the land of Oz. It has also been theorised that the book uses symbolism to describe populist elements that were relevant to Frank Baum's own experience of America during that time.