Fairy tales are stories that we grew up with as children. Many of these classic tales were used as a way to teach important morals at the time of their creation. However many of these stories contained one-dimensional, stereotypical characters with simple, almost predictable, plots. This was how many fairy tales were told until 1900 when L Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz. L Frank Baum thought differently of these stories and wanted The Wizard of Oz to be a modernized fairytale. The term modernized, in the context of Baum, pertains to the 20th century, the era in which the books were written. It is important to understand Baum’s book was primarily made for the children audience of that era. Therefore when looking through the story through
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The place contains magical creatures much like a fairy tale. However, Baum’s OZ has a lot of similar connections to the real world. While Dorothy and her friends are on the journey they come across “scarlet poppies which were so bright in color they almost dazzled Dorothy’s eyes” (111). As you can see, Baum does not describe the poppies as magical but rather just poppies that we would see in our world. The illustrations also help support this, showing them as simple flowers rather then something magical. This can also be shown in the cyclone that takes Dorothy to OZ. At the beginning of the book, Baum describes the cyclone as “ very dark, and the wind howled horribly…” (17). The terms he uses are not things that are uncommon when talking about a cyclone. Even when Baum described the Scarecrow’s face (“a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes, nose, and mouth face” (42).), he does not use anything adjectives that would tell the reader that this was a magical scarecrow. Thus we can see that Baum wanted OZ to be magical yet still have some connection to the real world. Baum’s The Wizard of OZ is considered a modern fairy tale. He creates this modern fairy tale by breaking the trend of one-dimensional characters and stereotypes. He also uses his anthropomorphic character as vehicles to show American values. Finally, Baum develops the land of OZ as magical yet still has some connection to our world. These ideas have changed how children literature, primarily fairy tales, are written from then on, allowing people to create their own modern fairy tales. This, of course, is all thanks to L. Frank Baum and his envision of what fairy tales can
The place contains magical creatures much like a fairy tale. However, Baum’s OZ has a lot of similar connections to the real world. While Dorothy and her friends are on the journey they come across “scarlet poppies which were so bright in color they almost dazzled Dorothy’s eyes” (111). As you can see, Baum does not describe the poppies as magical but rather just poppies that we would see in our world. The illustrations also help support this, showing them as simple flowers rather then something magical. This can also be shown in the cyclone that takes Dorothy to OZ. At the beginning of the book, Baum describes the cyclone as “ very dark, and the wind howled horribly…” (17). The terms he uses are not things that are uncommon when talking about a cyclone. Even when Baum described the Scarecrow’s face (“a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes, nose, and mouth face” (42).), he does not use anything adjectives that would tell the reader that this was a magical scarecrow. Thus we can see that Baum wanted OZ to be magical yet still have some connection to the real world. Baum’s The Wizard of OZ is considered a modern fairy tale. He creates this modern fairy tale by breaking the trend of one-dimensional characters and stereotypes. He also uses his anthropomorphic character as vehicles to show American values. Finally, Baum develops the land of OZ as magical yet still has some connection to our world. These ideas have changed how children literature, primarily fairy tales, are written from then on, allowing people to create their own modern fairy tales. This, of course, is all thanks to L. Frank Baum and his envision of what fairy tales can