Of Belonging And Identity In L. Frank Baum's The Wizard Of Oz

L. Frank Baum described his novel, The Wizard of Oz, as a modernized fairy tale. It is a story that expresses the theme of finding belonging and identity through a set of journeys and adversity. While with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry farm in Kansas a tornado sends the farmhouse with Dorothy and Toto hiding inside to the wonderful Land of Oz Upon landed in Oz, Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the East with her house, freeing the blue Munchkins, but the Munchkins or the Wicked Witch of the North could not tell her how to get back home. This is where Dorothy embarks on her first journey, and comes across some new friends. She meets the straw-stuffed Scarecrow who wants to come to Oz with her to get some brains; then she meets the Tin Woodman, who was originally Nick Chopper before he was cursed by a witch, and getting his limbs cut off; then finally Dorothy meets the Cowardly Lion who is

Quest one ends with the aid from the Queen of Mice who helps Dorothy and her friend escape the deadly fumes of a poppy field. Dorothy and her friends survive their first journey, and finally arrive in Oz just sent on another journey. The Great Wizard of Oz told them that in order to get their wishes they must kill the Wicked Witch of the West, who saw them coming through her one good eye. She tries to kill them by sending wolves, crows, and bees that does not work through. That is when she tells the flying monkey to capture Dorothy, cage the Lion, and destroy the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow. When the witch tries to starve the Lion, Dorothy secretly feeds him, however when the Witch finds out she tries to take Dorothy silver shoe, which she gets after killing the Witch of East with her house, she is only able to get