L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a light-hearted narrative commonly referred to as the “first American fairytale” (Lecture). Fairytales developed from the folktale, which began as oral literature that was passed down from one generation to the next. That being said, the stories were often acted out. It is very plausible that Baum, who was an actor and playwright himself, saw in his mind’s eye the story of Oz being acted out as he wrote it. As such, many of the scenes are quite theatrical. Dorothy herself is certainly the most melodramatic, and Baum wrote her lines accordingly. For example, during the most famous scene in which she throws a bucket of water over the wicked witch, Dorothy says, “I’m very sorry, indeed,” and then Baum goes on to describe how frightened and sorry Dorothy is (85). In each scene the reader is able to imagine just how each character is acting and feeling, so much so that the reader could probably act out each and every character with no problem at all. …show more content…
Another instance in which we see Dorothy at her most affected is when she discovers that Oz is, in fact, simply a man. He tells her that all this time he has been playing make-believe, to which Baum writes, ‘“Making believe!’ cried Dorothy. ‘Are you not a great Wizard?’” (103). She is justly surprised in her exclamation, as this has come as quite a shock, but it does not take away from the fact that it is highly theatrical. Baum’s book translated onto the big screen quite effortlessly, especially in terms of dialogue, as most of it is original from the