L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land Of Oz

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s in Wonderland describes the adventure of a little girl named Alice who, after her unabating curiosity leads her on a pursuit of a fashionable White Rabbit, finds herself transported to a fantastical world. Once there, Alice interacts with characters like the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts during her efforts to return home. In L. Frank Baum’s The Marvelous Land of Oz, a young boy named Tip lives as the disgruntled servant of Mombi, an evil sorceress living in the Land of Gillikans. Hoping to get scare his wicked master, Tip fashions a scarecrow from wood and a pumpkin named Jack Pumpkinhead, and Mombi uses one of her magic potions to bring the scarecrow to life. After fleeing Gillikan Country, Tip

Frank Baum says that “Tip was made to carry wood from the forest, that the old woman might boil her pot. He also worked in the corn-fields, hoeing and husking; and he fed the pigs and milked the four-horned cow that was Mombi's especial pride” (Baum 1). Although it’s work done for someone else, it’s clear that Tip is familiar in agrarian life and doesn’t shy away from work. This is indicative of a good work ethic, which is a skill that people should develop if they want to be successful in their lives. Physical labor isn’t just a job for men, and it’s important that young girls know this. Later on in this very chapter, Baum writes that “Mombi's curious magic often frightened her neighbors, and they treated her shyly, yet respectfully, because of her weird powers. But Tip frankly hated her, and took no pains to hide his feelings. Indeed, he sometimes showed less respect for the old woman than he should have done, considering she was his guardian” (Baum 1). Disrespecting one’s guardians may seem like a character flaw, but viewing it in context reveals something different. It shows that Tip isn’t afraid to speak his mind, even though he may be punished by Mombi. Freedom of speech is a powerful tool, and if Tip can show the courage to use it despite the possibility of being reprimanded by the evil sorceress, so should other people. This bravery is one of the traits shared with Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Finally in the second to

They share some similarities and many differences with the Queen of Heart’s from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When Alice arrives in the Queen’s croquet ground, she notices a group of gardeners painting the roses on a tree near the entrance of the garden. She asks them why and “Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began, in a low voice, ‘Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and, if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know’” (Carroll 38). This is the first instance where Baum introduces the Queen of Heart’s temperament. This scene shows that the Queen is a severe character who will punish her subjects harshly if they make a mistake, or at least that’s the impression given by the gardeners’ response to Alice’s inquiry. Later on after the croquet game has begun, “the players all played at once, without waiting for turns, quarreling all the while and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time, the Queen was in a furious passion and went stamping about and shouting, ‘Off with his head!’ or ‘Off with her head!’ about once in a minute (Carroll 39). Carroll writes that after about an hour, everyone except the King, the Queen herself, and Alice had been arrested by the Queen’s guards and were waiting to be executed (Carroll