Ok for this week’s Oz Update, I’ll be reviewing some of the important details I’ve read, and tell you a little bit about the land of Oz.
Notes
- When Dorothy lands in Oz for the first time, it is not Glinda who meets her, but the Witch of the North. Which is confusing, because in the movie, Glinda introduces herself as the “good witch of the north” when in fact she is the Witch of the South. Dorothoy doesn’t even meet Glinda until after she has killed the Wicked Witch and the Great and Terrible Oz has left in his balloon.
- The Munchkins were held in “bondage” by the Witch of the East, which I assumed meant slavery, but I think it was more of like a dictatorship. They were freed when Dorothy’s house landed on her.
- The Winkies in the west, however, were most certainly kept in slavery by the Wicked Witch of the West. They were overjoyed when she was defeated, and they asked the Tin Woodsman to rule over them. (Which is weird because you think a group of oppressed people would want to rule themselves..)
- The ruby slippers from the movie are not actually ruby in the books, they are silver.
- Throughout the book, people tell Dorothy of the powerful charm that her silver slippers have. And although she is never told what it is, I find it very interesting that Dorothy and the Wicked Witch are each wearing one slipper when she throws the water on the witch and melts her. (As you can see in the original illustration above.)
The Land of Oz
Ok so I started writing out these notes, and then I found the Oz wiki, which seriously has everything you could ever want to know about the Land of Oz. So if you’re interested, skip my pathetic explainantion and go directly to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Oz
- There are 5 regions of Oz: Central Oz, Northern Oz, Eastern Oz, Southern Oz, and Western Oz.
- Each region has it’s own distinctive color based on the color of the landscape.
- Central Oz — Green
- Northern Oz — Purple
- Eastern Oz — Blue
- Southern Oz — Red
- Western Oz — Yellow
- The people in each region wear these colors and paint their buildings these colors as a sort of sense of patriotism or respect for their environment and culture.
- Although its a relatively small nation, the landscape of Oz is diverse. It has everything from farmlands and forests, to mountains and lakes.
- While Baum’s history of Oz is always changing, the books hint at a certain air of political chaos in the land of Oz. Power vacuums, opposition, slavery, oppression—it’s all there.
Next week I’ll be sharing some more notes with you, specifically about Ozma’s history and how she fits into my story (spoiler: she plays a very important part, haha).