![]() ![]() The Tinman, who claims to once be human, lacks a heart, which is necessary for life and ventures to Oz to request one from the Wonderful Wizard in order to feel emotion. The Tinman and Scarecrow, two characters constructed out of materials far from the animation of life, are each given significant roles in Baum’s novels despite their lack of humanity in the most technical sense. Throughout the novel, these three nonhumans are contrasted with Dorothy who is clearly a human girl, perpetuating their differences and yet simultaneously illustrating we are not all that different. ![]() Baum also experiments with anthropomorphization in giving a lion, an animal of the jungle, qualities such as “cowardly” or “brave” and the ability to speak in addition to his roar. Baum explicitly addresses that these beings are not entirely human by indicating one is missing a heart and the other a brain (which are quite necessary to be alive and well), yet maintains their identity as pseudo-humans by conveying they, too, cry and experience things much like we would. Baum transforms them from inactive objects and into characters with feelings, goals, and dreams. In the novel, Baum toys with the idea of what exactly it means to be human by assigning personalities and emotions to inanimate objects such as a scarecrow and a pile of tin and rust. Among these classics is the greatest of all: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. In many children’s classics, animals are attributed human qualities such as the ability to communicate creatively through language and are often given much importance through significant character roles. ![]() ![]() Heather looks at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its peculiar collection of non-human characters who might reveal more about humanity than you’d think. Today’s guest post comes from Heather Halak, a student in Rebekah Fitzsimmons’s “Golden Age of Children’s Literature” class. ![]()
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