Tammy’s Reviews > The Wonderful Wizard of Oz > Status Update

Lady Lucas is kind but not clever enough to be too far above Mrs. Bennet. She had many children and Charlotte, the eldest girl, seemed unmarriable at 27. Mrs. Bennet compliments her as Mr. Bingley’s first choice but she’s really fishing for comments about Jane. Mrs. B dangles Mr. Robinson hopeing to hear what he said about Jane. Charlotte repeats it for her but changes the subject to what Darcy said about Lizzie.

He’s had a whole year to reflect on his situation and now he really wants to get the girl so he needs a new heart. The scarecrow wants a heart because a fool would not know what to do with a heart. The tinman wants a heart because brains does not make one happy. Dorothy can’t decide who is right. She just knows she wants to go home. She’s also worried about the bread situation.

Once he was given a tin heart, he no longer loved the girl and his problems were solved. Bless Baum’s heart. Isn’t this the tripartite soul? He doesn’t have a heart and a brain but he is all body. The same is true for the scarecrow but he would rather have a brain. The tinman was proud of his new body and took care of himself by always carrying around the oil can. One day he forgot it and became stuck after a rain.

They invite him to come and they are glad they did. Whenever branches covered the yellow-brick road, he gladly took care of them. He doesn’t have a brain nor a heart, but he would have the latter and he explains why. Baum thinks he tried to avoid nightmarish stories but this one sounds perfectly grim to me (ha, ha). He fell in love with a munchkin but her mother did not approve.

He tells them he has been stuck for a whole year. He groans from time to time but this is the first time anyone has heard him. He instructs Dorothy to get his oil can and tells her where to give him oil. He loosens up and is able to move. He’s very thankful and he asks where they are going and they tell him to see the great wizard so Dorothy can go home and the scarecrow can get a brain. The tinman wants a heart.

Ch. 5 Dorothy woke up and found a nearby stream to wash her face and get drinking water. She and Toto ate bread and there is not much left. She’s glad that the scarecrow doesn’t eat. He’s also glad because having flesh seems to be such a bother. Just as they were ready to go, They hear a groan and follow it into the woods. It turns out to be a tin man in the process of chopping down a tree but he is frozen.

Dorothy and Toto slept in a bed of leaves while the scarecrow stood watch over them.

He hated being viewed as a fool. They renewed their journey and the road grew even worse. The land was untilled and their were no fences. Trees grew so thick that they dimmed the light. They did not lose hope and kept going. Toto and the scarecrow could see well, but not Dorothy. They were getting tired; they hoped they would see a place to spend the night. The scarecrow spotted a cottage made of wood and branches.

Dorothy explained that people love their home even if it is dull and gray. She asked for a story and he told the story of his making in great detail. When he was put on the pole in the cornfield, he thought it was ridiculous because crows and birds were not afraid of him. Before long, a flock of birds arrived and ate the corn. He was sad about how useless he was and that’s when he decided he wanted a brain.

Ch. 4 The yellow-brick road became uneven. There were gaps that tripped the scarecrow and he fell. Toto fell in them. They kept up a good sense of humor. There were fewer farms and the ones that they did see were in poor shape. They stopped for lunch. The scarecrow didn’t eat because he doesn’t have a hole and, if he did, straw falls out. Dorothy eats her bread and he asks her about Kansas. It sounds too gray to him.