It is hard to read the Wizard of Oz without comparing it to the movie that I grew up watching. There are a few things that are similar to the movie, but for the most part it has been quite a bit different. For example, in the movie, Dorothy's neighbor is always mean to her and Toto and when Dorothy is in Oz, the neighbor almost seems to represent the witches. There was also the three men that help Dorothy and her aunt and uncle on the farm. They seem to represent the tin man, the scarecrow, and the cowardly lion. However, in the book, there is no mention of these farm workers. That is one of the characteristics of the movie that I liked and wished was in the book. Dorothy's shoes that she gets after killing the Wicked Witch of the East were silver instead of red and the good witch seemed to be more like the munchkins than like a beauitful witch. When I was little, I was afraid of the movie because of the flying monkeys. However, if the movie was made based on the book, I think it would have been a much more frightening book. The book seems to have a lot more violence with the death of the Kalidhas and the killings of the wolves, crows, and bees. As a child, I do not think I would have liked to watch a movie like that.
I think that it is a shame that I did not know how the original story went. I grew up thinking that the movie was the only version that was out there and now I am finding out that I grew up with the contaminated version. I am excited to read the rest of the book and I hope that someday I will be able to share the original with my children.
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Yeah, AAers the book is practically nothing like the book with the exception of a few of the characters, the yellow book road and Emerald city. I liked this book much more than I thought I would because of how much I loved the movie growing up. At first, it was hard not to imagine the characters in the book like the ones in the movie but the further I read, the less alike they became until at the end they barely had any resemblence at all. Of course, the version of the book I have is illustrated a little so this may have helped. I really liked Dorothy more and I came to like Scarecrow much, much more than in the movie. He has so much more character and the dialogues they have and how smart and brave and caring they all become was much better illustrated in the text than in the film. This book was a little easier to read than the last, I finished in one day but again, this book was definitely plot driven as opposed to Alice just have random adventures. When I finished my husband asked something about Dorothy waking up in the end and I told him she doesn't, she really goes to Oz in the book and we both thought this a little odd. I'm not sure why, maybe it needs to be thought of contextually and at the time this was more a fairy tale? I'm not quite sure. I was suprised that Toto never got to talk because everyone and everything else does there, but I suppose it would be the same thing as if Dorothy got telekinetic powers or something just by being in Oz. I never remember being afraid of the Monkeys when I was little but I do remember definitely not liking them (or the music when the Wicked witch was coming) but I think that if they would have been more like the ones in the book, although more violent but they had character and a story, I think I would have liked them more. They book was more violent but I think this version could have translated well to cinema without being frightening. I mean, it would have been easy enough to just not show the heads being cut off or show how deep the trench was that the bear/tiger things feel into. I liked the story of the book a lot and think it's sad I've never known the real Dorothy.
I knew that this book would be very different then the movie with Judy Garland, because in my history class, the teacher explained that Baum wrote the story to help the United States changhed from a unimodal money system to a bimodal money system. This is why Dorothy wears silver slippers and walks down a yellow brick road, symbolizing silver and gold money. This is also why the Emerald City is green, it represents money.
One thing that I did notice with this story is that ever though the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Cowardly Lion have no brain, heart and courage, respectively, they show qualities of the things that they would like to possess. The Scarecrow would like a brain, but he already has the abilities to figure out how to overcome the obstacles that face the foursome. Another point is that the Tin Woodsman claims to not have a heart, but he is very sensitive when he steps on a bug or when he kills the wildcat that is chasing the Queen Mouse.
I have not completely finished the book, but I am very curious to see how Emerald City turns out in the book. One thing that I enjoy very much about The Wizard of Oz is the illustrations that help create a mental image. This included the idea that Dorothy is actually a yonger girl, not the teenager that Judy Garland portrays in the feature film.
I feel bad that I could not get into the book.While readin it I did think of the movie, but I have seen several movie versions of the Wizord of Oz including my favorite, the one with Michael Jackson. I am appreciative of this book over Alice and Wonderland, but I think I only get into books that are totally new to me. I was pleased with the illustrations throughout the book because I think that for a child, looking at this book of many pages without any pictures would have been intimidating. The pictures are also unlike what i expected, but I am pleased considering that it is a classic
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