It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by L. Frank Baum,
one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It
achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after
four years, he returned to it. The land was described and expanded upon
in the Oz Books.[1] An attempt to cut off the production of the series with The Emerald City of Oz,
by ending the story with Oz being isolated from the rest of the world,
did not succeed owing to readers' reactions and Baum's financial need
to write successful books.[2]
The canonical demonym for Oz is "Ozite". The term appears in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. The term "Ozian" appears in the modern work Wicked.
The land of Oz is depicted as real in the books, unlike the 1939 movie adaptation, which presented it as a dream of Dorothy's.[3]
In Baum's time, it was common for authors to present works of fiction as true accounts (compare Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the Opera and Tarzan
for other examples). While Baum presented Oz as fiction in some of his
forewords such as that of the first book, in other books he presented
it as a true account related to him by those involved. Most notably, in
The Emerald City of Oz he attempted to end the series on the basis of a letter he had claimed to have received from Dorothy Gale, the main character. In the following book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, he explained that after some difficulty he had re-established communication with the characters by wireless telegraph.
Baum also began signing himself as "Royal Historian of Oz," a title
which several other authors of the series have taken on after his death.
Because Baum himself wrote from an in-universe standpoint, many fans
of the series treat the books as if they were true, known among the
fans as the "Oz as History"
standpoint. Any confusion or contradiction between the different
versions of their histories is said to be the fault of the historian
making an honest mistake, of the editors for removing parts which they
did not consider suitable for the child audience, of the characters
involved who reported the incidents in question back to the historian,
or explained by the concept that many alternate versions of Oz co-exist
simultaneously.
There are many discussions founded on clues in the series in Oz fan group Regalia [1] (and previously Nonestica [2] and the Ozzy Digest [3])
on how large Oz is, its population, and many other details not
addressed explicitly in the books themselves. Articles of the sort
frequently appear in The Baum Bugle as well.
While some fans enjoy trying to explain the various inconsistencies
in the books, others prefer to ignore them, since apparently the
inconsistencies were not important to Baum himself. These fans prefer
to view Oz from the contrasting, but more traditional, Oz as Literature
standpoint. Many fans enjoy both standpoints, and it is not uncommon
for new ideas about Oz to be examined from both standpoints by the same
people.
Oz is, in the first book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
distinguished from Dorothy's native Kansas by not being civilized; this
explains why Kansas does not have witches and wizards, while Oz does.[4] In the third book, Ozma of Oz, Oz is described as a "fairy country", new terminology that remained to explain its wonders.[5]
The Land of Oz; note that the map is a mirror image of "actual"
locations, but that the compass rose shows east on the right-hand side.
Oz is roughly rectangular in shape, and divided along the diagonals into four countries: Munchkin Country (but commonly referred to as 'Munchkinland' in adaptations) in the East, Winkie Country (called "The Vinkus" in Gregory Maguire's Wicked and its sequel Son of a Witch) in the West (sometimes West and East are reversed on maps of Oz, see West and East below), Gillikin Country in the North, and Quadling Country in the South. In the center of Oz, where the diagonals cross, is the fabled Emerald City, capital of the land of Oz and seat to the monarch of Oz, Princess Ozma.[6]
The regions have a color schema: blue for Munchkins, yellow for
Winkies, red for Quadlings, green for the Emerald city, and (in works
after the first) purple for the Gillikins, which region was also not
named in the first book.[7] (This contrasts with Kansas; Baum, describing it, used "gray" nine times in four paragraphs.[8]) In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this is merely the favorite color,
used for clothing and other man-made objects, and having some influence
on their choice of crops, but the basic colors of the world are natural
colors.[7] The effect is less consistent in later works. In The Marvelous Land of Oz,
the book states that everything in the land of the Gillikins is purple,
including the plants and mud, and a character can see that he is
leaving when the grass turns from purple to green, but it also
describes pumpkins as orange and corn as green in that land.[9]
Baum, indeed, never used the color schema consistently; in many books,
he alluded to the colors to orient the characters and readers to their
location, and then did not refer to it again.[10]
His most common technique was to depict the man-made articles and
flowers as the color of the country, leaving leaves, grass, and fruit
their natural colors.[11]
Most of these regions are settled with prosperous and contented
people. However, this naturally is lacking in scope for plot. Numerous
pockets throughout the land of Oz are cut off from the main culture,
for geographic or cultural reasons. Many have never heard of Ozma,
making it impossible for them to acknowledge her as their rightful
queen. These regions are concentrated around the edges of the country,
and constitute the main settings for books that are set entirely within
Oz.[12]The Lost Princess of Oz, for instance is set entirely in rough country in Winkie Country, between two settled areas.[13] In Glinda of Oz, Ozma speaks of her duty to discover all these stray corners of Oz.[14]
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a yellow brick road
leads from the lands of the Munchkins to the Emerald City. Other such
roads featured in other works: one from Gillikin Country in The Marvelous Land of Oz, and a second one from Munchkin Land in The Patchwork Girl of Oz.[15]
Oz is completely surrounded on all four sides by a desert, which
insulates the citizens of Oz from discovery and invasion. In the first
two books, this is merely a desert, with only its extent to make it
dangerous to the traveler.[16] Indeed, in The Marvelous Land of Oz,
Mombi tries to escape through it and Glinda chases her over the sands.
Still, it is the dividing land between the magic of Oz and the outside
world, and the Winged Monkeys can not obey Dorothy's command to carry her home because it would take them outside the lands of Oz.[17] In Ozma of Oz, it has become a magical desert, the Deadly Desert with life-destroying sands (no destruction is depicted in the Oz books, unlike in the film Return to Oz), a feature that remained constant through the rest of the series.[18]
The desert has nonetheless been breached numerous times, both by
children from our world (mostly harmless), by the Wizard of Oz himself,
and by more sinister characters, such as the Nome King, who attempted to conquer Oz. After such an attempt in The Emerald City of Oz, the book ends with Glinda creating a barrier of invisibility around the Land of Oz, for further protection.[19]
This was, indeed, an earnest effort on Baum's part to escape the
series, but the insistence of the readers meant the continuation of the
series, and therefore the discovery of many ways for people to pass
through this barrier as well as over the sands.[2]
Despite this continual evasion, the barrier itself remained; nowhere in
any Oz book did Baum hint that the inhabitants were even considering
removing the magical barrier.[14]
The first known map of Oz was a glass slide used in Baum's Fairylogue and Radio-Play
traveling show, showing the blue land of the Munchkins in the east and
the yellow land of the Winkies in the west. These directions are
confirmed by the text of all of Baum's Oz books, especially the first,
in which The Wicked Witch of the East rules over the Munchkins, and The Wicked Witch of the West rules over the Winkies.
Like traditional western maps, the Fairylogue and Radio-Play
map showed the west on the left, and the east on the right. However,
the first map of Oz to appear in an Oz book had those directions
reversed, and the compass rose adjusted accordingly.[20]
It is believed that this is a result of Baum copying the map from the
wrong side of the glass slide, effectively getting a mirror image of
his intended map. When he realized he was copying the slide backward,
he reversed the compass rose to make the directions correct. However,
an editor at Reilly and Lee reversed the compass rose, thinking he was
fixing an error and resulting in further confusion.[21] Most notably, this confused Ruth Plumly Thompson, who frequently reversed directions in her own Oz books as a result.
Another speculation stems from the original conception of Oz, which
at first appeared to be situated in an American desert. If Baum thought
of the country of the Munchkins as the nearest region to him, it would
have been in the east while he lived in Chicago, but when he moved to
California, it would have been in the west.[22]
Modern maps of Oz are almost universally drawn with the Winkies in
the west and the Munchkins in the east, although west and east often
appear reversed. Many Oz fans believe this is the correct orientation,
perhaps as a result of Glinda's spell, which has the effect of
confusing most standard compasses; perhaps resembling its similarity to
the world Alice found through the looking glass in which everything was a mirror image; or perhaps just reflecting the alien nature of Oz. In Robert A. Heinlein's book The Number of the Beast he explains that Oz is on a retrograde
planet, meaning that it spins in the opposite direction of Earth so
that the sun seems to rise on one's left as one faces north. March Laumer's The Magic Mirror of Oz attributes the changes to a character named Till Orangespiegel attempting to turn the Land of Oz orange.
Oz, like all of Baum's fantasy countries, was presented as existing
as part of the real world, albeit protected from civilization by
natural barriers.[23] Indeed, in the first books, nothing indicated that it was not hidden in the deserts of the United States.[6] It gradually acquired neighboring magical countries, often from works of Baum's that had been independent, as Ix from Queen Zixi of Ix, and Mo from The Magical Monarch of Mo.[24] The first of these is Ev, introduced in Ozma of Oz.[18]
Oz and surrounding countries, on the map from Tik-Tok of Oz
(The directional indicator in the map's corner shows North and South
correctly, but it flips East to the left, and West to the right).
In Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum included maps in the endpapers which definitively situated Oz on a continent with its neighboring countries.[25] Oz is the largest country on the continent unofficially known as Nonestica (this name was proposed by Robert R. Pattrick for the whole of the countries surrounding Oz; Pattrick proposed "Ozeria" for the whole continent,[26]
but that name is generally unused in fan discussions), which also
includes the countries of Ev, Ix, and Mo, which has also been known as
Phunniland, among others. Nonestica is, according to the map, in the
Nonestic Ocean. A fair amount of evidence in the books point to this
continent as being envisioned as somewhere in the southern Pacific Ocean.[27] At the opening of Ozma of Oz,Dorothy Gale is sailing to Australia with her Uncle Henry when she is washed overboard (in a chicken coop, with Billina
the yellow hen), and lands on the shore of Ev—a rare instance in which
an outsider reaches the Oz landmass through non-magical (or apparently
non-magical) means. Palm trees grow outside the Royal Palace in the
Emerald City, and horses are not native to Oz, both points of
consistency with a South-Pacific location; illustrations and
descriptions of round-shaped and domed Ozite houses suggest a
non-Western architecture. Conversely, Oz has technological,
architectural, and urban elements typical of Europe and North America
around the turn of the twentieth century; but this may involve cultural
input from unusual external sources (see History below). Ruth Plumly
Thompson asserts in her first Oz book, The Royal Book of Oz, that the language of Oz is English, which also suggests European or American influence.
An argument against the South Pacific is that the seasons in Oz are
shown as the same seasons in the United States at the same time. In
addition, in The Wishing Horse of Oz, Pigasus follows the North Star when he flies to Thunder Mountain, which could only be done in the Northern Hemisphere.
Baum's creation of the Emerald City may have been inspired by the White City of the World Columbian Exposition,
which he visited frequently. Its quick building, in less than a year,
may have been an element in the quick construction of the Emerald City
in the first book.[28]
Schematically, Oz is much like the United States, with the Emerald
City taking the place of Chicago: to the East, mixed forest and
farmland; to the West, treeless plains and fields of wheat; to the
South, warmth and lush growth, and red earth.[28]
It has also been speculated since The Wizard of Oz was first written that Oz may have been based on China.[29] Either way, the oriental influence on Oz has been noted by more than one scholar.[30]
Ruth Plumly Thompson took a different direction with her Oz books, introducing European elements such as the title character of The Yellow Knight of Oz, a knight straight out of Arthurian Legend.
A new discovery discusses the origin of the maps that Baum claims he
discovered, rather than penned from his own imagination. In the book,
The Origin of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, provides evidence to show the
maps found in the Oz books, forty of them in all, were derived from
drawing blueprints taken from the text of a King James Version Bible
dating from around 1611.[31]
Eden Blueprint compared to the Land of Oz Map
Another theory is that it is the reflection of Eden, taken from the
symbolism known as the Merkabah. "Baum reflects the Eden map to
humanities emotional structure to the images we are made in through the
portrayal of the four characters." [32] Transposing the Merkabah symbols of Man, Ox, Lion and Eagle into Dorothy, Tin Woodman, Lion and Scarecrow.
The world of the Oz books is ruled (and presumably created) by the immortals. These include fairies, nomes, mermaids, nymphs, and several races created by Baum himself, including ryls, knooks, gigans, and rampsies.
But in the center of the circle sat three others who possessed
powers so great that all the Kings and Queens showed them reverence.
These were Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, who rules the
forests and the orchards and the groves; and Kern, the Master
Husbandman of the World, who rules the grain fields and the meadows and
the gardens; and Bo, the Master Mariner of the World, who rules the
seas and all the craft that float thereon. And all other immortals are
more or less subject to these three.
The word "fairy" is used in several ways throughout the Oz books.
"Fairy people" is often used to describe the people of Oz, who seem to
be nothing more than human inhabitants of a fairy country. A number of
supernatural creatures are also called fairies, from female spirits of
nature who live in mist and on the rainbow, to the nomes, who are
seemingly all male, yet also described as earth fairies.
The most powerful kind of fairy is never known by any other name in
the books, although Baum sometimes differentiated them by spelling
Fairy with a capital F. The Fairies seem to be the most powerful race,
with seemingly limitless power. They travel in bands ruled over by
Fairy Queens, and spend their time primarily in helping mortals and
dancing.
Lurline
is a Fairy Queen, and she and her band were the ones who made Oz a
fairyland. According to Baum's later books, Ozma is a member of
Lurline's band. There are no other Fairies of the highest sort in the
Oz books, although The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and Queen Zixi of Ix, which take place in lands neighboring Oz, both mention other Fairy Queens and their bands.
Baum introduced the Nomes in Ozma of Oz, and they served as
antagonists throughout the rest of the series. Baum always spelled
their name without the traditional silent G, perhaps to Americanize the
name, or to make it easier for his child audience to pronounce.
Thompson later "corrected" Baum's spelling in her first book, and
retained it throughout all the Oz books she wrote.
The Nomes are subterranean people who spend their time mining
precious stones from the earth. They consider all of the mineral wealth
of the world to be their own rightful property, which often leads to
conflicts with other races; as, for instance, when the Shaggy Man's brother disappears in a mine, it is because the Nomes have captured him.[33]
They have a massive army, but not much innate magical ability. Although
they play a major role in the Oz series, throughout a major part of the
series, there are no Nomes actually living in Oz.
The other immortal races of the world of the Oz books play less
significant roles, largely appearing in the "borderlands" books by Baum
that occur outside of Oz.
The mermaids care for all life in the ocean, and the nymphs serve a
similar function under the Fairies in the forests. The nymphs are
helped by the ryls, who color the flowers and care for all plants; and
the knooks, who are crooked creatures who govern the beasts.
The massive gigans also served the Fairies until Fairy Queen Lulea,
becoming annoyed with their large forms, transformed them into the tiny
rampsies, smallest of all immortals. Whatever function they served is
unknown, for they're only mentioned in Baum's short story Nelebel's Fairyland, in which the gigans reshape the land in their boredom.
The native human inhabitants of Oz are referred to according to the regions where they live: Munchkins, Winkies, Quadlings, and Gillikins, as well as the residents of the Emerald City.
Since the time of Lurline's enchantment, they do not age or die. Baum
refers to humans in or out of Oz as "meat people," in contrast to
nonhumans such as the Scarecrow or the Tin Woodman.
Although Baum did not often use the word "mortal," Thompson seemed
far more fond of it as a way of describing the people who had come to
Oz from the great outside world. Since Oz was a land much like any
other prior to Lurline's enchantment, it seems that the only mortals in
Oz are those who were not in Oz at the time it was enchanted, and were
not born in Oz thereafter.
The Wizard was the first mortal in Oz described in Baum's books,
followed by Dorothy and all the characters she met in her travels.
Apart from the Wizard, the only mortals who originally found their way
to Oz without Dorothy in Baum's books were Trot, Cap'n Bill, and Betsy Bobbin.
At the time of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
the lands in the North, South, East and West of Oz are each ruled by a
witch; the Witches of the North and South are Good, while the Witches
of the East and West are Wicked. Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, is later revealed to be the most powerful of the four. After Dorothy's house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East, thereby liberating the Munchkins from bondage, the Good Witch of the North
tells Dorothy that she (the Witch of the North) is not as powerful as
the Wicked Witch of the East had been, or she would have freed the
Munchkins herself.
During the first scene in Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
the Good Witch of the North (Locasta or Tattypoo) explains to Dorothy
that Oz still has witches and wizards, not being civilized, and goes on
to explain that witches and wizards can be both good and evil, unlike
the evil witches that Dorothy had been told of.[34]
That book contained only the four witches (besides the humbug wizard),
but despite Ozma's prohibition on magic, many more magicians feature in
later works.
Baum tended to capitalize the word "Witch" when referring to the
Witches of the North, South, East or West, but did not do so when
referring to witches in general. For example, in the aforementioned
first scene of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Locasta (or
Tattypoo) thanks Dorothy for killing the "Wicked Witch of the East",
and introduces herself as "the Witch of the North", with the word
"Witch" capitalized in both cases. However, when she goes on to tell
Dorothy that "I [the Witch of the North] am a good witch, and the
people love me", the word "witch" is not capitalized.
White is the traditional color of witches in Oz. The Good Witch of
the North wears a pointed white hat and a white gown decorated with
stars, while Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (called a "sorceress"
in later books), wears a pure white dress. Dorothy is taken for a witch
not only because she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East, but
because her dress is blue and white checked.[35]
There is a multitude of other races living in the land of Oz, many of which only appear once. Among these are:
The Flatheads: Humans who carry their brains in cans
The Cuttenclips: Living paper dolls
The Hammerheads: An armless race with extensible necks
The bun people of Bunbury
The bunnies of Bunnybury
The living kitchen utensils of Utensia
The Fuddles: Anthropomorphic jigsaw puzzles
The china people
The Loons: Living balloon people
The Hoopers: Tall people who move by grabbing their ankles and rolling.
Outside of them are many other strange races who are often found
living in the wilderness of Oz. Despite the overlordship of Ozma, many
of the communities live autonomously; Oz has great tolerance for
eccentricity and oddness.[38]
Many characters in Oz are animated objects. Such figures as the Glass Cat and the Scarecrow are common.[6]
Entire regions are the homes of such animated beings. The Dainty China
Country is entirely filled with creatures of china, who would freeze
into figurines if removed; the China princess lives in fear of
breaking, because she would never be as pretty even if repaired.[39]
Many other characters are highly individual, even unique members of
a species. Many such people from the outer worlds find refuge in Oz,
which is highly tolerant of eccentricity.[40]
The history of Oz prior to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (often
called the prehistory of Oz as it takes place before Baum's
"histories") is often the subject of dispute, as Baum himself gave
conflicting accounts. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the title character recounts that he was a ventriloquist and a circus balloonist from Omaha, and during one flight the rope for his parachute vent
became tangled, preventing him from descending until the next morning,
and he awoke to find that he was floating over a strange land. When he
landed, the people thought he was a great wizard because of his ability
to fly. He did not disabuse them of this notion, and with his new power
over them, he had them build a city with a palace in the center of Oz.
He also ordered them to wear green glasses so it would appear to be
made entirely of emeralds.[28] However, in the later Oz books the city is depicted as actually being made of emerald or other green materials.[10] The Wizard was a young man when he first arrived in Oz, and grew old while he was there.[41]
Afraid of the Wicked Witches of the West and the East, who, unlike him,
could do real magic, the Wizard hid away in a room of his palace and
refused to see visitors. He lived in this way until the arrival of
Dorothy in the first book.
In The Marvelous Land of Oz
the prehistory was changed slightly. Glinda, the Good Witch of the
South, reveals that the Wizard usurped the previous king of Oz, Pastoria,
and hid away his daughter Ozma. This was Baum's reaction to the popular
1903 Broadway extravaganza Baum adapted from his book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which the Wizard took the role of the main antagonist and the Wicked Witch of the West was left out.[42]
The wizard, however, had been more popular with his readers than he thought. In Ozma of Oz, he omitted any mention of the Wizard's having usurped the throne of Ozma's father,[43] but the largest changes occurred in the next book.
In the preface to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
Baum remarks that the Wizard had turned out to be a popular character
with the children who had read the first book, and so he brought the
Wizard back. During it, the Wizard relates yet another account of his
history in Oz, telling Ozma that his birth name was Oscar Zoroaster
Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs, which, being a
very long and cumbersome name, and as his other initials spelled out
"PINHEAD," he preferred to leave just as O.Z. The balloon part of his
story was unchanged, except for the detail added by Ozma, that the
people probably saw his initials on his balloon and took them as a
message that he was to be their king. She relates that the country was
already named Oz (a word which in their language means "great and
good"), and that it was typical for the rulers to have names that are
variations of Oz (King Pastoria being a notable exception to this rule).
Ozma elaborates further, saying that there were once four Wicked
Witches in Oz, who leagued together to depose the King, but the Witches
of the North and South were conquered by Good Witches before the Wizard
arrived in Oz. According to this version, the King at the time was
Ozma's grandfather. This version of prehistory restores the Wizard's
reputation,[41] but adds the awkwardness of both Ozma and her father having been born in captivity.
Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was much like
other lands, except it was shut in by a dreadful desert of sandy wastes
that lay all around it, thus preventing its people from all contact
with the rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy band of
Queen Lurline, passing over Oz while on a journey, enchanted the
country and so made it a Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her
fairies to rule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on and
forgot all about it.
Thenceforward, no one in Oz would ever age, get sick, or die. After
becoming a fairyland, Oz harbored many Witches, Magicians and Sorcerers
until the time when Ozma made magic illegal without a permit. In yet
another inconsistency, it is implied that Ozma was the fairy left
behind by Queen Lurline to rule the country, contradicting the story
where she was Pastoria's daughter. This is later confirmed in Glinda of Oz:
"If you are really Princess Ozma of Oz," the Flathead said, "you
are one of that band of fairies who, under Queen Lurline, made all Oz a
Fairyland. I have heard that Lurline left one of her own fairies to
rule Oz, and gave the fairy the name of Ozma."
While this explains why no one dies or ages, and nevertheless there
are people of differing ages in Oz, it is completely inconsistent with
the earlier versions of the prehistory.[44]
Maguire, author of Wicked
addresses this inconsistency by saying that the people of Oz believe
that Ozma is reincarnated—that her spirit was left behind by Lurline,
but her body is reborn to different mortal queens.
In Jack Snow's The Magical Mimics in Oz,
the prehistory story is retold. This version relates that Ozma was
given to the king of Oz as an adoptive daughter, for he was old and had
no children.
In the Magic Land stories of Alexander Melentyevich Volkov, the
prehistory is quite different. The land was created 6-7,000 years ago
by a wizard named Gurrikap, who was tired of people coming to him with
requests, so he decided to find a place without them annoying him. He
found a remote land and separated it from the rest of the world, along
with putting all the other enchantments (Volkov's version doesn't seem
to include any forms of immortality). However, he failed to notice that
the land already contained people (since he was a giant, already
suffering from nearsightedness in his advanced age, and the people in
the Magic Land were much shorter than in other places), but, upon
discovering the fact, decided that removing the enchantments would be
unnecessary, and instead ordered the people to keep away from his
castle. After that, the notable events included a conquest attempt by a
sorceress named Arachna (Gurrikap was still alive, and put her in an
enchanted sleep for 5,000 years. Her awakening formed the story for the
fifth book in Volkov's series), an unsuccessful coup by a prince named
Bofaro to overthrow his father about 1,000 years ago (they were
banished to an underground cave and became the Magic Land's main source
of metal and gems, perhaps analogous to the Nomes), and the arrival of
the Four Witches (which only occurred about 500 years ago in this
continuity).
Eventually, Dorothy Gale and her whole house are blown into Oz from Kansas by a tornado. When the house lands, it crushes the Wicked Witch of the East (in Gregory Maguire's book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, she is given a name, Nessarose), ruler of the Munchkins. In an attempt to get back to her home, she journeys to the Emerald City. Along the way, she meets the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow,
all of whom accompany her. Once there, they become the first people to
gain an audience with the Wizard since he went into seclusion, although
he disguises himself because Dorothy now has the Wicked Witch of the
East's magic silver slippers, and he is afraid of her. The Wizard sends
Dorothy and her party to destroy the Wicked Witch of the West
and in exchange promises to grant her request to be sent home.
Surprisingly, Dorothy "destroys" the Witch (in the Broadway show
'Wicked', loosely based on Maguire's book, this was later revealed to
be untrue; the Witch and the Scarecrow faked her death) by throwing a
pail of water on her, causing her to melt. Defeated, the Wizard reveals
to the group that he is in fact not a real wizard and has no magical
powers, but he promises to grant Dorothy's wish and take her home
himself in his balloon. He leaves the Scarecrow in his place to rule
Oz. (In 'Wicked', it is eventually revealed by Glinda that the Wizard
was the father of Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West, as she was
conceived illegitimately. Glinda sent him away by hot-air balloon, and
the Scarecrow, better known as Fiyero, left Oz secretly with the
"Wicked" Witch of the West.)
Finally, it is discovered that the wizard had given the daughter of the last king of Oz, Princess Ozma, to the old witch Mombi
to have her hidden away. Mombi had turned Ozma into a boy named Tip,
whom she raised. When all of this is revealed Tip is turned back into
Ozma and takes her rightful place as the benevolent ruler of all of Oz.
Ozma successfully wards off several attempts by various armies to
overthrow her. To prevent any upheaval of her rule over Oz, she outlaws
the practice of all magic in Oz except by herself, the returned and
reformed wizard, and by Glinda, and she has Glinda make all of Oz
invisible to outsiders. Ozma remains the ruler of Oz for the entirety
of the series.
Some political analysts have claimed that Oz is a thinly disguised socialistutopia, though some Baum scholars disagree.[45] Advocates of this theory support it using this quotation from The Emerald City of Oz:
"There were no poor people in the land of Oz, because there was
no such thing as money, and all property of every sort belonged to the
Ruler. Each person was given freely by his neighbors whatever he
required for his use, which is as much as anyone may reasonably desire.
Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people
enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be
occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers set
to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with them. So
each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and neighbors,
and was glad when they would accept the things he produced."
This is a revision of the original society: in the first two books, the people of Oz lived in a money-based economy.[4] For instance, the people of the Emerald City use "green pennies" as coinage.[46] Money was not abolished in the course of the series, but excised from the conception of Oz.[47] Indeed, in The Magic of Oz, a character from Oz gets into trouble when he goes to Ev because he was unaware of the concept of money.[48]
This decision to remove money from Oz may reflect Baum's own financial
difficulties in the times when he was writing these books.[46]
Since Oz is ruled by a monarch, benevolent though she may be, Oz is closer in nature to a absolute monarchy than a welfare state or a Marxist one.[49] When she was first introduced, Ozma was the monarch specifically of the Emerald City, but in the description of Ozma of Oz, Oz is presented as a federal state, rather like the German Empire, in monarchies rather than republics: having an overall ruler in Ozma, and individual kings and queens of smaller portions.[50]
The society grew steadily more utopian, in that its peace and
prosperity were organized, but from the first book, it was a
stupendously wealthy country, in contrast to Kansas's crop failures,
droughts, and mortgages—just as it also is colorful to contrast with
Kansas's gray.[51]
On the other hand, despite the presence of the Emerald City, Oz is an
agrarian country, similar to Kansas; the story has been interpreted as
a populist parable, and certainly contains many populist themes.[52]
In The Wonder City of Oz, Princess Ozma (called "Queen Ozma" in this book) is seen running for election ("ozlection") to her office as ruler against Jenny Jump, a half-fairy newcomer from New Jersey.
However, this book was not written by Baum, but by John R. Neill,
Baum's second successor. Further, the concept of the "ozlection" was
not in Neill's manuscript for the book, but was added by an editor at
Reilly and Lee, the publisher.
At times the rulers of Oz's territories have grander titles than
would normally be customary, but this is done mostly for the
satisfaction of the incumbents. The ruler of the Winkie Country is the
Emperor, the Tin Woodman. The ruler of the Quadling Country
is Glinda the Good. The Munchkin Country is ruled by a king, later
identified as Cheeriobed, who is revealed to be married to the Good
Witch of the North, who, a spell broken, abdicates leadership of the
Gillikin Country to Joe King and Queen Hyacinth of Up Town.[53]
The Royal Flag of Oz is based on the map of the Land of Oz, the four
colors represent the four countries, and the green star represents the
Emerald City.
Oz is mostly a peaceful land and the idea of subversion is largely
unknown to its people. Most military positions are only formal. This
has caused many problems, such as in The Marvelous Land of Oz
when the Emerald City, which was only guarded by an elderly doorman and
one soldier who was the entire Army of Oz at the time, was easily
conquered by the Army of Revolt led by General Jinjur. This army was in turn overwhelmed by another army of girls, led by Glinda.
Security of Oz is mostly maintained by magic, such as Glinda's spell
making Oz completely invisible. Oz also has a natural barrier in the
form of a desert that surrounds the land: anyone who touches the desert
turns to sand. The Nome King
has tried to conquer Oz on several occasions. A nominal army once
existed, but it had an extremely large officers/privates ratio, other
than its commander the Tin Woodman and one private, the portion of it
seen in Ozma of Oz was composed entirely of cowardly officers.
In the end of the book it was said that there are three privates all in
all, and it is unknown how many—if any—officers were left at home
during Ozma's travel to Ev. The private seen in the book, named Omby Amby, is later promoted to Captain General.
In the movie Return to Oz, the mechanical man Tik-Tok is the entire royal army of Oz.
Attempts by outsiders to conquer the Land of Oz are frequent,
particularly in the Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. But these
attempts are always successfully thwarted in the end, usually by Ozma
or by forces sympathetic to her.
Glinda, the good witch of the South, or Quadling Country, and its benevolent ruler (although in the 1939 MGM movie, she was the Good Witch of the North)
The Land of Oz as portrayed in the 1939 MGM film
is quite different from that portrayed in the books. The most notable
difference is that in the film the entire land of Oz appears to be
dreamed up by Dorothy (thus making it a dream world),
although, Dorothy earnestly corrects the adults at the end that she was
indeed there. The apparent message is that one should appreciate one's
home, no matter how dull it may be. This contrasts sharply with the
books, in which Dorothy and her family are eventually invited to move
to Oz due to a bank foreclosure on the farm, showing both that Oz is a
real place, and that it is a utopia compared to Kansas.
There are many other small differences between the books and the
movie. For example, the first witch Dorothy meets in Oz in the book is
the Good Witch of the North, a minor character that only had one other
appearance in Baum's books. In the movie this character is conflated
with Glinda, who is the Good Witch of the South in the book.
It is also worthy of note that the Dorothy of the books is brave and
resourceful, only crying when faced with despair, whereas the older
Dorothy of the movie (portrayed as a twelve-year-old by
sixteen-year-old Judy Garland) spends several portions of the film
crying and being told by others what to do, however her fear was
overshadowed by Lion's. This is more consistent with Thompson's
portrayal of Dorothy—Baum is known for his strong female characters.[54]
The Wicked Witch of the West also changes significantly between
books and movie. In the books no mention is ever made of her skin
color, whereas in the movie she is green without explanation, although
the Winkies she has enslaved are also green. In the book she is
portrayed as having only one eye, which could see distant objects like
a telescope, but in the movie she uses a crystal ball to watch Dorothy
from afar. The 1939 MGM film makes the first reference to The Witches
of the East and West being sisters, which was not the case in the book.
The Wizard of Oz does not resort to anywhere near as much trickery
in the movie as the book. In the book he entertains each member of
Dorothy's party on a different day, and takes a different form for
each. In the movie he takes only one false form—that of a giant head.
The nature of the Emerald City is changed in the film. In the book,
the city is not actually green, but everyone is forced to wear green
spectacles (ostensibly to protect their eyes from the dazzling splendor
of the city), thus making everything appear green. In the film, the
city is actually green. The architecture of the Emerald City in the
movie uses a much more contemporary Art Deco style than Baum could have
imagined.
The movie replaces the silver shoes of the book with ruby slippers.
This was because full color motion pictures were still a relatively new
technology in 1939, and MGM wanted to show off the process. Shiny red
shoes were more impressive in a color motion picture than silver ones.[55]
Due to the popularity of the movie, the green witch and the ruby
slippers are more well known to the general public than their book
counterparts, and are even considered iconic.
In his revisionist Oz novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men, Gregory Maguire
portrays a very different version of the Land of Oz. Maguire's Oz is
not Baum's utopia, but a land troubled by political unrest and economic
hardship. One political issue in Maguire's novels is the oppression of
the Animals (Maguire distinguishes speaking Animals from non-speaking
animals by the use of initial capital letters). There are many
religious traditions in Maguire's Oz, including Lurlinism (which
regards the Fairy Lurline as Oz's creator), Unionism, which worships
the Unnamed God, and the pleasure faiths which had swept Oz during the
time that the witches were at Shiz. An example of the pleasure faiths
were tic-toc (where creatures were enchanted to tell secrets or the
future and run by clockwork), and sorcery.
Maguire's presentation of Oz's geography is also tinged with
politics. A large political prison, Southstairs, exists in caverns
below the Emerald City. Gillikin, home of Shiz University, has more
industrial development than other parts of Oz. Munchkinland is Oz's
breadbasket and at one point declares its independence from the rule of
the Emerald City. Quadling Country is largely marshland, inhabited by
the artistic and sexually free Quadlings. The Vinkus (Maguire's name
for Winkie Country) is largely open grassland, populated by
semi-nomadic tribes with brown skin.
The musical Wicked, based on Maguire's first Oz novel, portrays an Oz slightly closer to the version seen in Baum's novels and the 1939 film.
The oppression of the Animals is still a theme, but the geographical
and religious divisions portrayed in Maguire's novel are barely present.
In both the book and musical, several characters from the
traditional Oz stories are present with different names. Glinda is
originally called Galinda, but changes her name. The Wicked Witch of
the West is called Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the East is called Nessarose. In the musical, but not in the book, Boq becomes the Tin Man, and Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow.
Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was a Russian author best known for his translation of The Wizard of Oz
into Russian, and for writing his own original sequels, which were
based only loosely on Baum's. Volkov's books have been translated into
many other languages, and are better known than Baum's in some
countries. The books, while still aimed at children, feature many
mature political and ethical elements. They have been retranslated into
English by Peter L. Blystone and partially by March Laumer, who used
elements of them in his own books.
March Laumer
was one of the first authors to continue the Oz series after the Famous
Forty. His books were written with the permission of Contemporary
Books, who owned Reilly & Lee, the original publisher.[56]
His canon includes everything he knew of that was set in the land of
Oz, including Volkov's Russian Oz, the MGM movie, the Disney sequel,
and many of Baum's own books that most fans do not consider canonical.
Laumer also made several controversial changes to Oz. He married off
several of the major characters, often to unlikely prospects. For
example, the intelligent and mature sorceress Glinda was married to
Button Bright, who had been a small and dim-witted child throughout
Baum's books. He also aged Dorothy to a teenager to make her a romantic
prospect for several characters, made Ozma a lesbian based on her upbringing as a boy, and made the Shaggy Man an ephebophile based on his frequent travels with young girls.
Laumer's books do not portray one consistent version of Oz. Because
most of his books were collaborations, he often included elements of
other author's visions of Oz which may have been inconsistent with his
own. For example, while he explicitly made Dorothy sixteen in A Fairy Queen in Oz, he had her physically eight in Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Oz; and while he portrayed Volkov's Oz as a parallel universe in Farewell to Oz he also showed Volkov's characters living in Baum's Oz in many of his other books, such as Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in Oz.
Despite these discrepancies, many of his books are consistent with each
other, and characters introduced in some often appear in others.[57]
Philip José Farmer portrays a very different Oz in his book A Barnstormer in Oz.
The premise is that nothing after the first book occurred—Dorothy never
returned to Oz, and instead grew up, got married, and had a son. Her
son, Hank Stover, is the main character, a World War I veteran flier
and the titular barnstormer. While flying in his Curtiss JN-4biplane he enters a green haze and emerges in the civil war-stricken land of Oz.
Farmer portrays the land of Oz as a science fiction author, attempting to explain scientifically many of the "magical" elements of Baum's story.
The Oz portrayed in the book is very close to Baum's Oz, although
Heinlein does make an attempt to explain some things from the
standpoint of a science fiction author. He explains that Oz is on a
retrograde planet, where the direction of rotation relative to the
poles is reversed, resulting in the sun seeming to rise in what would
normally be the west.
Heinlein also explains that the population remains steady in Oz
despite the lack of death because it is impossible for children to be
born in Oz. When the population does increase through immigration,
Glinda just extends the borders an inch or two in each direction, which
makes more than enough space for all additional people.
In his originally collaborative Harold Shea series, L. Sprague de Camp, as Heinlein did later, brings his own characters to Oz from their own universe in his book Sir Harold and the Gnome King.
Unlike Heinlein, he does not attempt to explain Oz as science fiction,
but he does deviate from the original books. He follows Thompson's Oz
books, thus using her spelling of "Gnome" and her final fate of the
character, but he makes several changes to the world, including aging
Ozma and Dorothy and marrying them both.
In the Otherland series, by Tad Williams,
a virtual reality version of Oz exists, wherein real-world antagonists
play sadistic versions of the roles of the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and
the Cowardly Lion, in a twisted, martial, and post-apocalyptic version
of Oz, populated both by characters from the novels, and a large
quantity of male and female humans who go by the names "Henry" and "Em"
respectively. The humans, computer-generated characters based on the
lost minds of children drawn into the Otherland program, look forward
to a messianic prophecy foretelling the coming of "The Dorothy," where
a child would be born among them.
The 2007 Sci Fitelevision miniseriesTin Man reinvents Oz as the Outer Zone (O.Z.), a parallel universe that was first visited by Dorothy Gale during the latter Victorian Era
and is ruled over by her descendants. It is implied, by reference to
centuries having elapsed since Dorothy came to the O.Z., that time has
progressed at different rates in the O.Z. and "the other side". The
re-imagined Oz is described as a place where "the paint has peeled, and
what was once the goodness of Oz has become the horrible bleakness of
the O.Z."[58] The scenic design of the O.Z. features elements of steampunk, particularly the "1930's fascist realist" decor of the evil sorceress's palace and the computer-generated Central City, analogue of the Emerald City.[59]
The 2009 point-and-click adventure video game Emerald City Confidential reinvents Oz in a film noir style, with Dorothy Gale as a femme fatale, the Lion as a corrupt lawyer and some other changes.[60]
This is a Season 2 episode from Phineas and Ferb.
Candace is reading the book of the same name and is swirled into the
Land of Odd. Along the way the Yellow Sidewalk to Bustapolis, she meets
Isabella Garcia-Shapiro who is the good witch, Dr. Doofenshritz who is
the evil witch and other characters.
Powder of Life is a magic substance from the book series, which first appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz .
It is a magical powder that brings inanimate objects to life. The witchMombi first obtained it from a "crooked magician." Later in the series it is revealed that the substance is made by a Dr. Pipt. In order to make the substance, Dr. Pipt had to stir four large cauldrons for six years. Only a few grains of the powder could be made at a time. It is always described as being carried in a pepper box.
Mombi's shaker also contained three "wishing pills" fabricated by Dr. Nikidik.
The Powder has been used by Volkov in his series. There, it is
produced from a certain plant of such viability that the smallest piece
can grow into a plant within a day, on any surface except for solid
metal. However, if it is sun dried on such a surface, it turns into the
Powder of Life. No incantation is required to make the powder work. The
second book of the series is centered around a man who animates an army
of wooden soldiers with the Powder and uses them for conquering the
Magic Land.
The Magic Belt is first introduced in Ozma of Oz.
The belt is a magical tool with seemingly limitless powers. It is
generally used as a universal problem solver, and functions as a deus ex machina solution in several of the books. Originally the belt belonged to the Nome King but was stolen away from him by Dorothy Gale and given to Ozma.
Ozma uses the belt several times to magically transport people, and
most notably to make all of Oz invisible to outsiders. It gives the
wearer protection from harm.
In the Oz books, this object is always identified as the Magic
Belt—in capitals—to distinguish it from any generic magical belts that
may exist in the fantasy universe.
In The Lost Princess of Oz,
Dorothy states that the Magic Belt only grants one wish a day: she used
yesterday's wish on a box of caramels, but saved today's for an
emergency. Baum's decision to ration the Magic Belt to one wish a day
may be a retcon
attempt to limit the Belt's otherwise infinite ability to get his
characters out of predicaments; at any rate, this one-per-day wish
limit is never mentioned again in any other Oz book.
In Ozma's boudoir hangs a picture in a radium frame. This picture
usually appears to be of a pleasant countryside, but when anyone wishes
for the picture to show a particular person or place, the scene will
display what is wished for. Sometimes the onlooker is able to hear
sounds from the scene within the Magic Picture and sometimes an
additional device is necessary to transmit sound.
A similar device is present in Volkov's series. There, it is given as a present to the Scarecrow by the Good Witch of the South.
It is a box of pink wood with a thick frosted glass screen. The device
is password activated, and limited in range to the Magic Land (with the
exception of deep underground caverns and certain types of magical
interference). The box is shown to be virtually indestructible; it
withstood repeated abuse from a villain attempting to use it.
Glinda's Great Book of Records is introduced in Chapter 29 of The Emerald City of Oz:
" 'It is a record of everything that happens,' replied the Sorceress.
'As soon as an event takes place, anywhere in the world, it is
immediately found printed in my Magic Book. So when I read its pages I
am well informed.' " The Book proves useful in The Scarecrow of Oz and Glinda of Oz;
and it recurs in many of the stories of Baum's successors and
imitators. It is one of the prime magic devices of Oz; villains steal
it when they can (as in The Lost Princess of Oz or in Handy Mandy in Oz).
Since it covers the planet and not merely Oz, the Book's entries are
compressed and sometimes cryptic, and difficult to decipher (as in Paradox in Oz or Queen Ann in Oz).
In the later Oz books, no one can die. One of the books assures us
that while you are in the Land of Oz, you can not die. Unfortunately,
this information comes after characters in the books have been
chopped into pieces, beheaded, melted, and so forth and it is mentioned
that you could be transformed into an inanimate object, turned into
sand, and buried. Even so, you would still be alive and presumably
conscious.
"No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no
one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from
living."
Note also the spell which caused this also prevented aging, and took
effect on everyone in Oz at the same time; this means that any babies
in Oz are eternally babies, and that anyone who was at the moment of
death is permanently caught there, and so on.
Death is treated inconsistently; in some books it is said that it is
impossible to die, in others, people die. Problematically, the plot
often depends on something either dying, or not being killable.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz shows an early example of the
problem: although the Tin Woodman does not die when his limbs and head
are severed, the two wicked witches are killed (The Wicked Witch of the
East could be explained that she was simply crushed and not really
dead, but couldn't do anything anyway, and in The Oz Odyssey,
the Wicked Witch of the West comes back to life.) One theory brought
forth as to why the Tin Woodman does not die is discussed in Edward Einhorn's book "Paradox in Oz",
where King Oz says that the Tin Woodman (then Nick Chopper) would have
died were it not for his time magic. When the Tin Woodman rescues the
Queen of the Field Mice by chopping off the head of a pursuing wildcat,
it seems unlikely the cat's unjoined head and body continue to live
independently of each other, although this goes unmentioned. Again,
although the Tin Woodman survived losing all his body, prior to that,
he had grown up and lost his parents in a manner inconsistent with
later descriptions of Oz.[61] Again, in Ozma of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead was described as "a little overripe", and in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz,
he does not appear at all, although all the other characters do
reappear; the implication is that he spoiled, as he feared from his
creation.[62] It is unlikely, however, since, according to the previous book, while a pumpkin which serves as Jack's head can spoil, it can be replaced, which was done several times without a problem.
Both Ozma of Oz and Tik-Tok of Oz describe trees with
meat growing on them, so it is possible that no animal was killed for
most of the meat eaten in Oz. However, in Tin Woodman of Oz a
hungry Jaguar tries to eat a live monkey, suggesting that occasionally
(among non-human animals, at least) animal flesh is preferred to that
of plants.
Death is a matter of some debate among Oz fans,[63]
and there seem to be as many explanations as there are fans, none of
which has ever been widely accepted by a majority of the fans because
none of them explain all the deaths. For example, in The Road to Oz
Baum attempted to explain this inconsistency by saying that only bad
people could die. However, he had already mentioned the death of good
King Pastoria in a previous book, and went on to mention the death of
good King Kynd in a later book.
Another of Baum's attempts to explain death in Oz is the following passage from The Emerald City of Oz.
No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and no
one ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from
living.
This passage has been translated by some fans to mean that one
ceases to live if one's body is damaged to the extent that it cannot be
repaired. However, in Tik-Tok of Oz Baum suggested that Oz
people could go on living after being eaten and digested, and also that
Nomes would continue to live after being cut into tiny pieces, which
disproves the destruction theory.
Any working theory must make Baum wrong about something, but fans
may never reach a consensus on exactly what he was wrong about.
The issue of death leads into another issue of much dispute among fans. Baum says in The Emerald City of Oz
that no one ever ages in Oz either. Many Oz fans feel that this is
unfair as it leaves extremely old people eternally bedridden, and it
leaves some families changing diapers and comforting crying infants for
eternity. Presumably this includes pre-birth aging, which makes
everyone in Oz sterile and fixes the population. However, although
pregnancy is never mentioned in Oz, it is also possible that some women
are left eternally pregnant, although if Dot and Tot of Merryland is considered canon, babies are delivered by storks.
It has also been questioned whether children continue to be mentally childlike, or remain children only in body.
In Oz, animals such as the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger can talk, and all native animals appear to be able to.
It is important to note that Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
emphasized the difference between Animals and animals. Animals
(capitalized) are sentient beings that can talk. Several theories exist
as to how animals gained the gift of speech.
The treatment of non-native animals was inconsistent. In the first book, the dogToto never speaks, although brought to Oz. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz Dorothy even outright says that Toto can not talk because he's not a fairy dog. However, in Ozma of Oz, the chickenBillina acquires the ability to speak merely by being swept to the lands near Oz, and in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the kitten Eureka and the cab horse Jim also gained the ability when reaching the land of Mangaboos, a similarly magical land. In Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum restored the continuity: Toto can speak, and always could, but never bothered to, because it was unnecessary.
An additional inconsistency is introduced with Tik-Tok of Oz:
Hank the Mule can not speak until he reaches the Land of Oz, although
he lands on the shore of Ev first, where Billina the chicken gained the
ability to speak. This might be because Tik-Tok of Oz was originally a stageplay version of Ozma of Oz.
Dorothy was replaced by Betsy because he had sold the stage rights for
Dorothy, and Billina was replaced by Hank because a mule could more
convincingly be played by two people in a costume.[64]
Hank probably could not talk because Baum already had his speaking
comedy characters: the Shaggy Man, and Tik-Tok. Thus Hank would fill a
better niche as a visual comedy character, in the tradition of British
pantomime. The part of Hank was also an analog to the part of Dorothy's
cow Imogene, Toto's replacement on stage in the immensely successful
1903 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz, a success that Baum tried to duplicate for the rest of his life.
A legend of uncertain validity is that when relating bedtime stories
(the earliest form of the Oz books) Baum was asked by his niece, Ramona
Baxter Bowden, the name of the magical land. He glanced at a nearby
filing cabinet, which had three drawers, labeled A–G, H–N, and O–Z.
Thus he named the land Oz. This story was first told in 1903, but his
wife always insisted that the part about the filing cabinet was not
true.[65] In Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the name is translated as "great and good", which is roughly equivalent to the meaning of "Öz" in Turkish, although that would be pronounced more like "ohs," which Jack Snow suggested was a possible pronunciation of the name. It has also been speculated that Oz was named after the abbreviation for ounce, in the theory that Oz is an allegory for the populist struggle against the illusion (the wizard) of the gold standard.
Others have said that Oz stands for New York, since the letters before O and Z respectively are NY. However, this works as well with Oz standing for Pennsylvania,
because the letters are PA if you take the letters after the O and Z.
That is, O becomes P and the letter Z, restarting at the beginning of
the alphabet, becomes A.
Several of Baum's fairy stories that take place in the United States were situated on the Ozark Plateau, and the similarity of name may not be a coincidence.[66]
In Wicked, Elphaba researches the etymology of Oz and concludes that it comes from either oasis, because it is surrounded by desert on all sides, or ooze, due to the creation legend of a great flood.
In the Sci-fi mini-series "Tin Man" Oz was portrayed as an acronym for The Outer Zone.
Oz is a common vernacular contraction of Australia
(Australia—Aussie—Aus—Oz). Australia is a large continent predominated
by desert regions, with pockets of intense green tropical, sub-tropical
and sub-alpine greenlands and rainforests. It is quite possible that
Baum took the popular nickname of Australia as the national name for
his fictional world. Also note that many fans place Oz in the South
Pacific, see Location above. However, according to the Oxford English dictionary, the first references to Australia by this name were made in 1902—after the first book had been published.
Another theory is from the bible story book of Job. Job begins with, “There was a man from the land of Uz.”
The word Uz is pronounced in Hebrew Ooz, and the word Oz in Hebrew
means strength (interestingly, that's the word Israeli author and
translator Yemima Avidar-Tchernovitz, the first to translate Baum's
works to Hebrew, used to translate Oz).[67] "Os" (with an s) is also Old English for God.
^ James Thurber, "The Wizard of Chitenango", in Fantasists on Fantasy, edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski, New York, Avon, 1984; pp. 64–5. ISBN 038086553X.
