To Be Made of Flesh

Retelling stories is a practice essential to the human condition. Another essential condition is simply having a human body. Both circumstances are relevant in Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the novel, Dorothy and several other characters follow the common story structure explored by James Campbell in his novel The Hero With A Thousand Faces. With Dorothy as the heroin, all seventeen of Campbell's parts of this story structure can be applied to some point in her transformative journey from Kansas to the Emerald City and back home to Kansas again.

It is glaringly obvious that the third stage, where the hero(in) receives supernatural aid, can be applied when the Witch of the North advises Dorothy to visit Oz, lending her a kiss as a protective charm. However, the third stage can also be applied to the scarecrow because his lack of a human body makes him both supernatural and allows him to extend aid to Dorothy.

Baum introduces the scarecrow's lack of human experience when Dorothy first needs to rest on her journey to the Emerald City, and the scarecrow patiently waits for her to wake up. (Baum 36) While sleep is necessary for restoring the human body, it is also when humans are most vulnerable. Because the scarecrow didn’t need to rest, he could watch over Dorothy while she slept in her most vulnerable state. In several minor ways, Scarecrow lends a helping hand to what Dorothy needs to survive her human experience. He offers to carry Dorothy’s Basket because, without a human body, he never gets tired. (Baum 27) He expresses gratitude for never feeling hungry (Baum 29), yet he ensures Dorothy is fed. (Baum 79) The scarecrow’s ultimate service to Dorothy is when he and the Tin Woodsman save Dorothy in the poppy field. (Baum 70) Again, this was only possible because Baum created the scarecrow and Tin Woodsman as characters that do not possess a human body.

Campbell's 8th step in the Hero’s Journey, Temptation, can be applied to the poppy fields. The 8th step is described by Campbell as “Woman as the Temptress,” meaning there is a woman to blame when the hero is led astray. Scholars often criticize Campbell for a male-centered and sometimes blatantly misogynistic lens he took when synthesizing the Hero’s Journey. Baum has been praised for the opposite: a female-centered lens, hence Dorothy as the heroin. If we apply Campbell’s steps in The Hero’s Journey, Baum depicted temptation as a field of flowers rather than a woman with questionable morals.

Concerning the human body's experience, the poppy fields served no purpose for the body other than to end it. Compared to the bodily needs I had mentioned previously, resting and eating, Dorothy’s experience of smelling the poppy flowers did not serve to keep her alive but instead had the potential to sabotage her life and end her journey. It is worth noting that the scarecrow reinforced the notion that doing what is needed for the body to survive benefits Dorothy. Comparatively, smelling the poppy flowers and relishing their beauty was a bodily experience that was unnecessary and, therefore, indulgent. Indulgence is the same temptation Eve gives into when consuming the apple in the Book of Genesis.

I guess you can say the apple and poppy flowers were the same shade of red.