{"id":365,"date":"2022-02-23T09:04:12","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T09:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/?p=365"},"modified":"2022-02-23T09:04:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T09:04:12","slug":"blog-post-5-what-on-earth-is-the-wizard-of-oz-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/2022\/02\/23\/blog-post-5-what-on-earth-is-the-wizard-of-oz-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog Post 5: What on Earth is &#8220;The Wizard of Oz&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The novel <em>The Wizard of Oz <\/em>was written by L. Frank Baum and was published in 1900. Baum is the communicator of the story, and he attempted to communicate a social commentary in the form of a children\u2019s story. The main demographic of the novel\u2019s audience is children, however, the novel contains messages directed towards an older audience. I consider this book a children\u2019s story because it reads like a fairy tale. Dorothy takes the role of the hero who defeats evil with the help of her companions, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion. Glinda, the Good Witch, is similar to the fairy godmother from Cinderella. The Wicked Witch of the West and her minions are prime examples of fairy tale villains. However, the role of the wizard is a character I have trouble placing. The role and symbolism behind the Wizard&#8217;s character are why I think it would be incorrect to say that Baum did not consider an adult audience. Ultimately, I think there are aspects of this novel that are directed towards children and adult audiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In chapter six of the novel, the word \u201cwild\u201d is addressed in the context of describing creatures that live in the realm of nature. Chapter six begins by describing Dorothy and her companions in the forest where they are separated from the rest of civilization, and there they meet the Cowardly Lion. The lion is introduced as a \u201cwild\u201d creature, and later on, in the chapter, \u201cwild\u201d beasts are mentioned. The word \u201cwild\u201d is rhetorically used to appeal to the reader\u2019s pathos. In the chapter, Dorothy states, \u201c..for you will help to keep away the other wild beasts.\u201d The mention of \u201cwild\u201d animals living in the forest is meant to be terrifying because they exhibit uncontrollableness. This usage of \u201cwild\u201d exemplifies an appeal to pathos because Baum wanted to invoke the feeling of fear to emphasize the unknown of nature and the creatures that dwell in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>-Anna Allen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The novel The Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum and was published in 1900. Baum is the communicator of the story, and he attempted to communicate a social commentary in the form of a children\u2019s story. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/2022\/02\/23\/blog-post-5-what-on-earth-is-the-wizard-of-oz-4\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":367,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/wild-things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}