In “A Trickster’s Tale: L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” William R. Leach argues that Baum’s work is not the fairy-tale celebration of America we see in the 1939 Judy Garland movie; it is actually a celebration of values responsible for making America the economic power it is today. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz amplifies the American ideology of mind-cure, American Urbanization through its use of color, and embodies the real American “trickster.” Leach believes Baum’s use of these themes conveys an unspoken message of what fueled America’s growth was during the turn of the twentieth century. An overlooked element of America’s growth, but one that is vital to Leach, is the role played by mind-cure and positive thinking. Mind cure
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Even when she is faced by the winged moneys they know they can’t harm her because she is protected by the good witch’s kiss: “We dare not harm this little girl," he said to them, "for she is protected by the Power of Good [or good witches kiss]” (Baum 99). In Baum’s “Americanized fairy-tale” (160) Dorothy is never threatened like in traditional fairy-tales. She never has to feel the “awful consequences of being deserted or left alone” because she always has something to protect her. Even when she is face to face with the wicked witch, she is safe because “no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North” (Baum 13). Leach contends that Dorothy’s protection of “benign ambience of Oz” (Leach 171) reflects Baum’s Mind cure beliefs about …show more content…
Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz does celebrate the modern elements that has help America grow into what it is today. Baum’s American ideologies of mind-cure are present throughout the book. Leach’s argument may not be valid in the way that the wizard of Oz and Glinda demonstrate the mind-cure “mother/father” (Leach 168) version of God, but his other arguments are rational. The mind-cure belief in being worry-free is amplified in the character of Dorothy who treks through the Land of Oz without sweating the small stuff. The mind-cure idea of untapped potential is the base of the story. This book is commonly remembered by the idea that there is no place like home, but the essence of the story is that Dorothy had the power to get home all
Even when she is faced by the winged moneys they know they can’t harm her because she is protected by the good witch’s kiss: “We dare not harm this little girl," he said to them, "for she is protected by the Power of Good [or good witches kiss]” (Baum 99). In Baum’s “Americanized fairy-tale” (160) Dorothy is never threatened like in traditional fairy-tales. She never has to feel the “awful consequences of being deserted or left alone” because she always has something to protect her. Even when she is face to face with the wicked witch, she is safe because “no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North” (Baum 13). Leach contends that Dorothy’s protection of “benign ambience of Oz” (Leach 171) reflects Baum’s Mind cure beliefs about …show more content…
Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz does celebrate the modern elements that has help America grow into what it is today. Baum’s American ideologies of mind-cure are present throughout the book. Leach’s argument may not be valid in the way that the wizard of Oz and Glinda demonstrate the mind-cure “mother/father” (Leach 168) version of God, but his other arguments are rational. The mind-cure belief in being worry-free is amplified in the character of Dorothy who treks through the Land of Oz without sweating the small stuff. The mind-cure idea of untapped potential is the base of the story. This book is commonly remembered by the idea that there is no place like home, but the essence of the story is that Dorothy had the power to get home all