strange and random happenstance: Ozma

The Road to Oz (Oz Book 5) by L. Frank Baum
Published by: Books of Wonder
Publication Date: 1909
Format: Hardcover, 267 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

One day Dorothy is sitting with Toto on her farm in Kansas, when a Shaggy Man appears and asks the way to Butterfield. Dorothy agrees to help, despite the fact he is very unkempt and shaggy. The Shaggy Man insists that she is helping him due to the fact he has the "Love Magnet" and all who meet him must therefore love him and do his bidding. Yet on the way to the road to Butterfield a strange thing happens, where once there was one road there are now many. Dorothy knows the signs of the start of adventure, she has been on four previous ones. She informs the Shaggy Man that they must just go along for the ride, because an adventure they must have.

Along the way they pick up several travelling companions, Button-Bright, the boy who doesn't know where he's from, and Polychrome, the daughter of the rainbow, who accidentally fell off. They also meet some odd people as well. The Fox-King is so certain that foxes are superior, he turns Button-Bright into a fox, while the Donkey king is so convinced donkeys are superior, he turns the Shaggy Man into a man with the head of a Donkey. They also meet the Musicker, the man who makes music which each breath and annoys them all beyond measure. They also encounter an entire race of people who purposefully live their lives invisible to avoid the danger of the Scoodlers and being eaten by them. Luckily they finally reach the border of the great desert that Oz is bounded by. Because of course all fairy lands lead to Oz. With the help of Johnny Dooit, they cross the vast desert, return to themselves via a pond of truth and make it in time for Ozma's birthday party in the Emerald City. It was Ozma after all who started Dorothy on the road to yet another journey.

This is easily the book of Oz I dislike the most. I mean, all Oz has something to offer, being Oz... but here there is nothing. First, let's look at the way the book is bound. It is gimmickly printed on many different colored paper stocks, changing to green once we're in Oz. Also it references their journey, each task or event being a different color and the fact that the rainbow's daughter is their dew drinking travelling companion. Blurg is what I say. It seems it was a gimmick that was thought up and then the book was written around it.

Yet, the gimmickry that is used to package the book, that of which I'm sure that humbug of a wizard would approve, isn't my main problem. My main problem isn't even the fact that we have yet another book that ends in a party. Because parties ending books can be fun, the party just can't be the purpose of the book, which it is here. Also, I don't take undue measures to point out how creepy the "Love Magnet" is... really it's just a way to take away free will, and the fact it's used on a child... hmmm and ewwww and no. My main problem is Dorothy's superiority complex. I know I have mentioned before how annoying all the characters going on about how wonderful they are is, but here it's not just self contained. It's not just one person bragging, it's Dorothy actually being mean to the Shaggy Man. She's insulting to almost everyone she comes across and it really made me want to slap her. Just because she's been on all these adventures and is the especial friend of Ozma doesn't mean everyone else is dirt. Her "friends" got turned into a fox and a donkey because they where a little too sure of their awesomeness. I wish somehow Dorothy could be smacked down a peg. I think I realize every time I read these books that more and more the world needed Gregory Maguire to smack some sense into Oz and show what a ruby slippered tyrant that little Dorothy was.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Dorothy Gale, Gregory Maguire, Kansas, L Frank Baum, Oz, Ozma, Superiority Complex, The Road to Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Oz Book 2) by L. Frank Baum
Published by: Everyman's Library
Publication Date: 1904
Format: Paperback, 624 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Tip lives with the wicked witch Mombi. Though she's not technically allowed to call herself a witch, she is truly wicked. Tip has been with her as long as he remembers. Basically a glorified slave or indentured servant, Tip takes every opportunity to get one over on Mombi. So one day when she heads over to a neighboring warlock's house to swap secrets, Tip laboriously creates Jack Pumpkinhead. Jack is a tall scarecrow like creation with a face carved out of a pumpkin with a maniacal grin. Tip even gives Jack working joints. Tip places Jack where he's sure he will startle Mombi on her return. Mombi is a hard one to scare, so instead she sees in Jack the perfect experiment. She has just gotten some "Powder of Life" and decides to test one of her precious three doses on Jack. It works marvelously. Jack is brought to life. What's more, Jack will be a far better servant than Tip, who has to eat and sleep, so Tip is thrown out. As revenge Tip steals the "Powder of Life" and Jack and heads south in order to find a new life in the Emerald City of Oz.

Soon it become apparent that Jack isn't as well made as Tip thought he was. He might rot or his joints might break from all the walking. Tip decides that Jack needs a stead, and makes a saw horse come to life as a real horse. The three continue on their way to the Emerald City but are soon separated and set upon by an approaching army. General Jinjur and her comely all-girl army of revolt are on their way to the Emerald City to depose the Scarecrow and claim the city and all it's jewels for themselves, armed only with their indignation that they have to do all the household work and knitting needles. Jinjer is successful in becoming queen, but she soon looses her Scarecrow captive who, with the help of Tip and his unlikely allies, rescues the Scarecrow and heads off to the Tin Man's Empire, where dear old Nick Chopper is a benevolent leader to the Winkie's, unlike the Wicked Witch before him. Soon the motley crew is planning on reclaiming the thrown, but things never go to plan... and it soon falls to Glinda to straighten things out and bring back the rightful ruler of Oz, Ozma, who has been missing these many years.

This book sets out to establish more of a history to Oz, with it's hidden princess and the evils the Wizard of Oz wrought, some with Mombi's assistance. The fault though lies in the fact there is no Dorothy. Dorothy was our access into the world, because she, like us, is an outsider. We have no literary conduit, instead we have a rag-tag group of self centered and self impressed asses. Each character spends almost the entire time saying how they are better that the others. The Scarecrow has the best brains, but Nick assures him, that without a great heart like his, he's nothing. How are these people friends? They never converse, they only shout monologues out into the air and occasionally they offend someone and use their superiority as an excuse. They grate on the readers nerves. But the egocentric character flaws are nothing compared to General Jinjer.

General Jinjer and her very attractive army are my problem! They are all "very attractive" and no longer want to do "women's work" so with a symbol of their imprisonment they march on the Emerald City, knitting needles in hand. Why do they really want the throne? For the jewels of course! For Baum, who was supposedly a big supporter of the Suffragettes, his depiction of these soldiers is rather sexist. They just want to be lazy and pretty, but are easily defeated the first time because some mice scare them. Talk about stereotype! Also, the women of Oz gladly taking back their chores at the end of the book because their husbands where useless, seems... stupid. It says to anyone reading this book that girls are only good for domesticity. Which is odd considering that the power base of Glinda is based on girl power as well... but a far more dangerous sword wielding kind. But Glinda's army is an army to maintain the status quo. But the status is not quo. This book implies that women should stay home and only take up arms if that status is upset. EXCUSE ME! Fight for your right for household chores? Mr. Baum, I think you really need to look to yourself. I think you're a hypocrite and I think this might be the worst Oz novel, if I remember correctly from my previous readings.