The Yellow Brick Road: The
Path to Self-Realization
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz has held a special place in the hearts of people
around the world for years. Everyone
wants to believe that somewhere over the rainbow there is a mystical land of
magic and adventure. The story of
Dorothy Gale is a classic tale of mystery and suspense that captivates the
hearts of all ages. The novel is one of
reinvention and realizing how to reach one’s full potential. Heath L. Buckmaster once said, “Often, it’s
not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be,
and already are, but don’t know how to be.”
This quote represents all the main characters of the Land of Oz because
they are struggling to be who they should be, rather than whom society tells
them to be. Self-realization is a
journey everyone goes though in their lives.
Whether it is the bleak landscape of our reality or the beautiful Land
of Oz, our journey makes us who we are.
The Land of Oz is a whimsical world full of the unknown. Encounters with wicked witches and flying
monkeys in the Dark Forest are always just around the corner. As the characters of the book wind their way
down the yellow brick road they stumble upon extraordinary adventures that
allow them to realize who they really are and break the mold of societal
norms. Through the study of the main
characters, from the Scarecrow and the Tin Man to Dorothy and the Wizard himself,
I will analyze their journey of self-realization and how they became who they
were supposed to be.
In order to properly understand the
way Baum created the journey for his characters, one must understand the idea
of theme and passive ideologies. The
theme of a novel or film is not supposed to send the readers a message or be a “moral
to a story”, a theme is supposed to relate to the reader “an aspect of human
experience” (MHS Composition Guide). Because
everyone experiences some sort of personal growth at one time or another, the
idea of self-realization is a basic human experience that readers of all ages
can relate to. This basic idea becomes
the main theme of the novel and the main idea of my analysis. Although this is the underlying theme, Baum
never comes out and says that his characters were on a quest of
self-realization. The readers experience
and relate to the trials of the heroic group and are introduced to the concept
through Baum’s usage of ideologies. An
ideology can be defined as “the body of ideas that controls (or at least, tries
to control) how members of the society view the world and understand their
place within it” (Nodelman and Reimer 79-80).
There are several different ways in which ideologies can be expressed in
a piece of writing because “literature addresses the problems inherent in the
systems” and are open to interpretation by each individual reader. (Nodelman
and Reimer 152). “Subtly imparted values
rather than explicit instruction has been a constant theme of children’s
[literature]” (Grenby 62). Therefore, Baum
did not find it necessary to explicitly state the theme of self-realization
because “a work is tied to ideology not so much by what it says as by what it
does not say” (Nodelman and Reimer 156).
Meaning, that the readers’ own personal situational analysis of each
adventure and outcome would give them a deeper tie to the idea of becoming an
individual than if he had just plainly stated it.
Dorothy Gale is the lead character
in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She is a simple and farm girl from Kansas
who lives among the bleak landscape with her aunt and uncle. The novel begins quite abruptly with a
cyclone that would change Dorothy forever.
Upon her arrival in Oz she is immediately viewed as a hero and seen as a
“most noble Sorceress” to the Munchkins because they are “grateful […] for
[her] having killed the Wicked Witch of the East and setting [their] people
free” (Baum 17). This event sets the
theme into motion immediately because she is being regarded as someone who
matters, rather than the little girl with the dog on the farm. Because of the drastic and instantaneous
shift in how she is viewed Dorothy does not know how to react. After a counsel with the Munchkins and
Glenda, the good witch, she sets out on her adventure of self-realization. Throughout the book Dorothy is seen as
rescuing those in need and doing brave and heroic things that would make grown
men cringe. Through her escapades of
rescuing the Scarecrow and Tin Man and Lion as well as eradicating the land of
their most vicious villain she became the strong individual she was meant to
be. Right before she leaves the Oz she
says, “I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has what he most
desired […] I should like to go back to Kansas” (Baum 208). This shows that once an individual is taken
out of their societal norms, like the boring plains of Kansas, and given the
proper encouragement even a timid farm girl can become a hero to her friends
and all those who know her.
As Dorothy skipped down the yellow
brick road she found a most peculiar character.
The Scarecrow: a stuffed and painted man meant to keep the Munchkins’
crops from being ruined by birds, but who had a much bigger plan for
himself. Upon being released from the
pole he was stuck on he tells Dorothy what else ails him. As they walk along the yellow brick road he
reveals that he feels self-conscious because his “head stays stuffed with
straw, instead of with brains as [hers] is” (Baum 34). Although Scarecrow seems to think he is
unintelligent, he is actually the one who comes up with most of the plans to
keep their merry group out of trouble.
At the end of the book the Great Oz gives the Scarecrow a diploma. As most individuals know, diplomas give no
one any knowledge; they simply represent your attempt at gaining knowledge. They are merely a symbol of what one is
supposed to know. Because the Scarecrow
had escaped his post and made strong relationships with people who cared about
him, even becoming Dorothy’s best friend, he had the confidence to realize his
full potential. Having a brain is only
half the battle, wanting and needing information is the hard part.
Next on the adventure is the Tin
Man, a rusted, worthless, hunk of junk in the forest. Tin Man joins their quest because he wants
the Wizard to “give him a heart” (Baum 46).
He travels along with the group and shows that having a heart does not
mean you can love. The Wicked Witch of
the West had a heart and she was as evil as could be. The Wizard gives Tin Man a heart-shaped watch
after they show proof that the witch had been killed and it is at this point
that he realizes he had loved all of his friends all along and the watch was
merely a symbol of how he felt (Baum). This
self-realization further shows that the person the Tin Man wanted to be was
always inside of him, he just needed to find the right people to bring it out
in him.
The Cowardly Lion is the group’s
next close encounter. This “King of
Beasts” is really not king of anything (Baum 57). After being chastised by Dorothy he admits he
is scared of everything in the forest and wishes the Wizard could “give [him]
courage” (Baum 58). Although the lion
represents a smaller role in the book, his plight goes hand in hand with the
theme of self-realization. Once he
realizes he has friends and nothing to be scared of, her embraces his role as
the “King of Beasts” and wears the medal given to him by the Wizard proudly.
Last, but definitely not least, we
have the Wizard himself. Although is
role in the classic book was mostly an old man who hid behind curtains and
wires and flames, he once really was great.
In the newest Walt Disney Pictures release, Oz the Great and Powerful, Oscar Diggs, or Oz for short, goes on an
adventure very similar to Dorothy’s. He
was a know-nothing nobody in Kansas until one day a cyclone hit his rundown
circus. He was whisked away in a hot air
balloon and landed in the Land of Oz (Raimi).
Upon his arrival he is a less than noble man and makes almost as many
enemies as friends. On his quest to gain
the riches of the Emerald City he has a turn of heart and ends up doing the
right thing for the people of this mystical land and becomes the ruler they deserve
and the ruler they respect. Throughout
the Oz adventures realizing who one really is a never ending journey, almost as
long and difficult as the yellow brick road itself, not even the Great and
Powerful Wizard himself could escape this theme.
As we all travel down our own
personal yellow brick road we encounter our own wicked witches and travel
through our own dark forests, but it is only with the support and
acknowledgement of our family and friends that we become who we are truly meant
to be. The concept is no different in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Without the Land of Oz adventure Dorothy
would still be a shy farm girl stuck in the pig pen, Scarecrow would still be a
brainless-being stuck on a pole, the Tin Man would still be a heartless hunk of
junk stuck in an uncomfortable pose in the forest, the Lion would still be a
coward stuck hiding from his own shadow, and the Wizard himself would still be
a fake magician stuck in a going-nowhere circus. Self-realization becomes a tangible aspect of
life when the individuals realize what they are worth. Self-realization is a journey that cannot be
traveled without the support of loved ones.
Self-realization is a voyage meant to allow someone the opportunity to
look into themselves and become who they were meant to be. The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz embodies every aspect of the journey of self, and
every character encounters their own understanding of who they are supposed to
be on the yellow brick road of their life.
Works Cited
Baum, Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Racine,
Wisconsin: Western Publishing
Company,
1970. Print.
Grenby, Matthew. Children's Literature.
reprint. Edinburgh University Press, 2008. Print.
MHS
Composition Guide.
N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 15 Apr 2013.
<http://www.ci.maryville.tn.us/mhs/studyskills/compguide/LitAnaTheme.htm>.
Nodelman,
Perry, and Mavis Reimer. "Literature and Ideology." Trans. Array The
Pleasures of Children's
Literature.
Third edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2003. Print.
Raimi,
Sam, dir. Oz the Great and Powerful. Walt Disney Pictures, 2013. Film.
15 Apr 2013.
