Today I wrote a lovely little mini-essay on Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, mini-essay isn't quite the aesthetic we're aiming toward in the book world.
Thus do you, my dear book-readers, get to enjoy it instead.
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The Wizard of Oz is a story rich in symbolic and political meaning; a rare delight to adults and children alike. While some fawn over illustrator and political cartoonist Denslow's influence on the tale, more are drawn to its message of individualism. In Baum’s narrative, all but the titular character pursue their individual needs purposefully, and with integrity. Although the events of the book revolve around a set of travelers seeking aid from a Wizard, the story’s end teaches the reader that personal integrity is the only aid that the worthy need identify. The travelers -- Dorothy, a young girl who seeks neither beauty or fame, but only to find a true home; the Scarecrow, who wishes for greater intellect to better understand his circumstances; the Tin Man, who desires a heart so as to impress upon his rationality some human feeling; and the Cowardly Lion who, in chasing after courage with his new friends, builds for himself the very virtue he hopes to find -- demonstrate the virtues that Baum hopes young readers will imbue. The cultivation of individual strength among the populace, Baum suggests, is what will keep American Society of the 20th century from adopting the willful ignorance of the munchkin’s small-minded peoples, or else following the smoke and mirrors of a falsely omnipotent and morally-debased leader.