Irony & The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
One of the most beloved children’s classic books that involve a great deal of situational irony throughout its pages is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. As previously mentioned, situational irony is when the author creates a situation and leads the reader to expect a certain ending when in fact a completely different ending ends up occur (Winokur 12). In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the readers meet Dorothy who landed in Oz by accident and just wants to go back home to Kansas. She is told by the Witch of the North that in order to get back to Kansas she must make her way to the City of Emeralds and meet with the Great Wizard Oz because “he is more powerful than all the rest of us together” (Baum 24). On her journey, she meets a Scarecrow who wishes for brains, a Tin Woodman who wishes for a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wishes for Courage (Russell 48). Throughout the story the reader sees these three new friends of Dorothy berate themselves for not having what they wished but at the same time, subtle hints are dropped that show that perhaps these characters do possess what they had all along, even if they are unaware of those qualities. For example, in one scene when two large beasts (the Kalidahs) were about to attack Dorothy and the gang, the Cowardly Lion says, “We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws. But stand close behind me, and I will fight them as long as I am alive” (Baum 81). The Cowardly Lion, despite his pleas to the contrary, is prepared to fight to the death to protect is new found friends. That doesn’t sound much like Webster’s definition of the word coward – “one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In fact by the time the group gets to the City of Emeralds and Oz tells the Cowardly Lion that he already has plenty of courage, “all you need is confidence in yourself” (Baum 189), most readers tend to nod their head in agreement. “Both children and adults need hints that a comment is ironic as opposed to literal” (Herbert 81) and in the case of the Cowardly Lion (who by the end has irony embodied in his name) hints are given throughout the novel that he is not as cowardly as he previously thought.
Another aspect of situational irony shown in this book is through the individual called the Wizard of Oz. During Dorothy’s whole journey she hears the Wizard of Oz called “Great” and “Powerful” and “Terrible” by many. All the inhabitants of Oz that Dorothy encounters on her journey towards the City of Emerald express amazement and awe that she has the nerve to seek an audience with the Wizard of Oz. One farmer tells her that he has never seen Oz, nor does he know of any other living person who has (Bruccoli 76). So by the time the farmer has said that the reader, along with Dorothy, is already believing in the vast rumors about Oz’s power and appearance and eagerly anticipating how the Wizard can help to get Dorothy home. Yet when the group finally meet and knock down the screen that the Wizard of Oz is hiding behind they encounter an “old man, with a bald head and wrinkled face” (Baum 183) who, in his own words, is just “a common man” (Baum 184). It is huge disappointment for the reader and Dorothy, since all her hopes and wishes were pinned on his knowing the way to get her back home. And despite his attempts to help her, because he is not a bad man in spite of his deceptions (Bruccoli 76), Oz cannot get Dorothy home and she starts to despair.
However, all is not lost for Dorothy. In literature, sometimes situational irony also includes foreshadowing which oftentimes is not known until the closing pages of the novel. In the case of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this foreshadowing occurs right in the opening pages when a Munchkin tells Dorothy that “the Witch of the East was proud of those silver shoes, and there is some charm connected with them; but what it is we never know” (Baum 25). Dorothy then takes the shoes and puts them on, because they are more study and equipped for walking then her old and worn pair and she wears them throughout the whole journey to get to Oz and find a way home. It is not until the end of the novel that Dorothy is told that the shoes had the magical power to carry her home to Kansas. She has the means all along to get back home on her own two feet. She just didn’t realize it until her journey was almost complete. For many readers, that is the hallmark definition of irony.
Works Cited
Baum, L.Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: William Morrow and Co, 1987. Print.
Bruccoli, Matthew J., and Judith Baughman. Student's Encyclopedia of American Literary
Characters. Vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, 2008. Print
Herbert, Wray. "A Sense of Irony." Scientific American Mind 19.5 (2008): 80-81.Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Russell, David. Literature for Children: A Short Introduction. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Winokur, Jon. The Big Book of Irony. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. Print.
Another aspect of situational irony shown in this book is through the individual called the Wizard of Oz. During Dorothy’s whole journey she hears the Wizard of Oz called “Great” and “Powerful” and “Terrible” by many. All the inhabitants of Oz that Dorothy encounters on her journey towards the City of Emerald express amazement and awe that she has the nerve to seek an audience with the Wizard of Oz. One farmer tells her that he has never seen Oz, nor does he know of any other living person who has (Bruccoli 76). So by the time the farmer has said that the reader, along with Dorothy, is already believing in the vast rumors about Oz’s power and appearance and eagerly anticipating how the Wizard can help to get Dorothy home. Yet when the group finally meet and knock down the screen that the Wizard of Oz is hiding behind they encounter an “old man, with a bald head and wrinkled face” (Baum 183) who, in his own words, is just “a common man” (Baum 184). It is huge disappointment for the reader and Dorothy, since all her hopes and wishes were pinned on his knowing the way to get her back home. And despite his attempts to help her, because he is not a bad man in spite of his deceptions (Bruccoli 76), Oz cannot get Dorothy home and she starts to despair.
However, all is not lost for Dorothy. In literature, sometimes situational irony also includes foreshadowing which oftentimes is not known until the closing pages of the novel. In the case of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this foreshadowing occurs right in the opening pages when a Munchkin tells Dorothy that “the Witch of the East was proud of those silver shoes, and there is some charm connected with them; but what it is we never know” (Baum 25). Dorothy then takes the shoes and puts them on, because they are more study and equipped for walking then her old and worn pair and she wears them throughout the whole journey to get to Oz and find a way home. It is not until the end of the novel that Dorothy is told that the shoes had the magical power to carry her home to Kansas. She has the means all along to get back home on her own two feet. She just didn’t realize it until her journey was almost complete. For many readers, that is the hallmark definition of irony.
Works Cited
Baum, L.Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: William Morrow and Co, 1987. Print.
Bruccoli, Matthew J., and Judith Baughman. Student's Encyclopedia of American Literary
Characters. Vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, 2008. Print
Herbert, Wray. "A Sense of Irony." Scientific American Mind 19.5 (2008): 80-81.Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Russell, David. Literature for Children: A Short Introduction. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Winokur, Jon. The Big Book of Irony. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. Print.