Chapter 4 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Masterwork Analysis

Hello and welcome to the StoryGrid Masterwork Podcast. We're part of a growing StoryGrid community that includes thousands of writers and editors from all over the world. We're dedicated to helping writers improve their craft through books, podcasts, courses, and online forums. In this StoryGrid Masterwork podcast, we'll be reading and analyzing great books to learn what makes them work so well. I'm your host, Bib Bailey. This season, we're reading the Wonderful wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum's classic novel about a young girl's heroic journey. In each episode, I'll read you one of the book's 24 scenes and then we'll analyze the scene using storygrid tools and methods in order to understand how and why this story endures and still captivates readers more than a century after it was written. Editor and publisher Sean Coyne developed StoryGrid during 30 years in the storytelling business. He's applied his knowledge to dozens of best selling fiction and nonfiction stories and now shares what he's learned in the StoryGrid community. You'll find a full introduction to StoryGrid's method of analyzing scenes in the first episode of this series. Now let's review how we'll analyze today's scene. If you're already familiar with StoryGrid, you can skip ahead 1 minute 40 seconds to start listening to the scene. We use five first principles to analyze any story. First, we look at a story both as a whole and in smaller parts. In this podcast, we'll dissect the Wonderful wizard of Oz in parts, scene by scene. Second, we look for a change inside the world of the story, because all stories are about change. Third, we figure out how the change is linked to a universal human value such as safety, love, or justice. Fourth, we sum up the change in that human value in a single sentence called a story event. To find the story event, we ask four Socratic questions. These questions help us see what's actually happening in the scene, what the character's essential tactics are, and how they connect to the universal human value at stake. Fifth, when we know our story event, we look at how the scene is constructed by using what we call the the five commandments of storytelling. The five commandments we'll find in each scene of the Wonderful wizard of Oz the inciting incident, which kicks off the action. The turning point Progressive complication, An unexpected event that turns the human value at stake in the scene and gives rise to the crisis, which is a dilemma about how to confront the unexpected event. The climax which is the decision and action a character takes in response to the crisis, the resolution which is the outcome of the action of the climax. Now let's step onto the yellow brick road with Dorothy and listen to this week's scene and analysis.

The Wonderful wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Scene 4 the road through the Forest.

After a few hours the road began to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow bricks, which were here very uneven. Sometimes, indeed, they were broken or missing altogether, leaving holes that Toto jumped across and Dorothy walked around. As for the scarecrow, having no brains, he walked straight ahead and so stepped into the holes and felt full length on the hard bricks. It never hurt him, however, and Dorothy would pick him up and set him upon his feet again while he joined her in laughing merrily at his own mishap. The farms were not nearly so well cared for here as they were farther back. There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, and the farther they went, the more dismal and lonesome the country became. At noon they sat down by the roadside near a little brook, and Dorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. She offered a piece to the scarecrow, but he refused.

I'm never hungry, he said, and it is a lucky thing I am not, for my mouth is only painted, and if I should cut a hole in it so I could eat, the straw I'm stuffed with would come out, and that would spoil the shape of my head.

Dorothy saw at once that this was true, so she only nodded and went on eating her bread.

Tell me something about yourself and the country you come from, said the scarecrow.

When she had finished her dinner. So she told him all about Kansas and how gray everything was there, and how the cyclone had carried her to this queer land of Oz. The scarecrow listened carefully and said, I.

Cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.

That is because you have no brains, answered the girl. No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country. Be it ever so beautiful, there's no place like home. The scarecrow sighed.

Of course I can't understand it, he said. If your heads were stuffed with straw like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains.

Won't you tell me a story while we are resting? Asked the child. The scarecrow looked at her reproachfully and.

Answered, my life has been so short that I really know nothing whatever. I was only made the day before yesterday. What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me. Luckily, when the farmer made my head, one of the first things he did was to paint my ears so that I heard what was going on. There was another munchkin with him, and the first thing I heard the farmer saying was, how do you like those ears? Well, they aren't straight, answered the other. Well, never mind, said the farmer, their ears just the same. Which was true enough. Now I'll make the eyes, said the farmer. So he painted my right eye. As soon as it was finished, I found myself looking at him and at everything around me with a great deal of curiosity. But this was my first glimpse of the world. That's a rather pretty eye, remarked the munchkin, who was watching the farmer. Blue paint is just the color for eyes. I think I'll make the other a little bigger, said the farmer, and when the second eye was done, I could see much better than before. And then he made my nose and my mouth, But I did not speak, because at that time I didn't know what a mouth was, For I had the fun of watching them make my body and my arms and legs, and when they fastened on my head at last I felt very proud, for I thought I was just as good a man as anyone. This fellow will scare the crows fast enough, said the farmer. He looks just like a man. Why, he is a man, said the other, and I quite agreed with him. The farmer carried me under his arm to the cornfield and set me up on a tall stick where you found me. He and his friends soon after walked away, left me alone. I did not like to be deserted this way, so I tried to walk after them, but my feet would not touch the ground, and I was forced to stay on that pole. It was a lonely life to lead, for I had nothing to think of, having been made such a little while before. Many crows and other birds flew into the corn field, but as soon as they saw me, they flew away again, thinking I was a munchkin. This pleased me and made me feel that I was quite an important person. By and by, an old crow flew near me, and after looking at me carefully, he perched upon my shoulder and said, I wonder if that farmer thought to fool me in this clumsy manner. Any crow of sense could see that you are only stuffed with straw. Well, then he hopped down at my feet and ate all the corn he wanted the other birds, seeing he was not harmed by me, came to eat the corn too. So in a short time there was a great flock of them about me. I felt sad at this, for it showed I was not such a good scarecrow after all. But the old crow comforted me, saying, if you only had brains in your head, you'd be as good a man as any of them, and a better man than some of them. Brains are the only things worth having in this world, no matter whether one is a crow or a man. After the crows had gone, I thought this over and decided I would try hard to get some brains by good luck you came along and pulled me off the stake, and from what you say, I'm sure the great Oz will give me brains as soon as we get to the Emerald City.

I hope so, said Dorothy earnestly, since you seem so anxious to have them.

Oh, yes, I am anxious, returned the scarecrow. It is such an uncomfortable feeling to know one is a fool.

Well, said the girl, let us go. And she handed the basket to the scarecrow. There were no fences at all by the roadside now, and the land was rough and untilled. Toward evening they came to a great forest where the trees grew so big and close together that their branches met over the road of yellow brick. It was almost dark under the trees, for the branches shut out the daylight, but the travelers did not stop and went on into the forest.

If this road goes in, it must come out, said the scarecrow, and as the Emerald City is at the other end of the road, we must go wherever it leads us.

Anyone would know that, said Dorothy. Well, certainly.

That's why I know it, returned the scarecrow. If it required brains to figure it out, I never should have said it.

After an hour or so the light faded away and they found themselves stumbling along in the darkness. Dorothy could not see at all, but Toto could, for some dogs see very well in the dark, and the scarecrow declared he could see as well as by day. So she took hold of his arm and managed to get along fairly well. If you see any house or any place where we can pass the night, she said, you must tell me, for it is very uncomfortable walking in the dark. Soon after, the scarecrow stopped.

I see a little cottage at the right of us, he said, built of logs and branches. Shall we go there?

Yes, indeed, answered the child. I am all tired out. So the scarecrow led her through the trees until they reached the cottage, and Dorothy entered and found a bed of dried leaves in one corner. She lay down at once and with Toto beside her, soon fell into a sound sleep. The Scarecrow, who was never tired, stood up in another corner and waited patiently until morning came.

Now let's use StoryGrid first principles to analyze the scene. A story event is an active change of a universal human value for one or more characters. As a result of conflict, one character's desires clash with another's or an environmental shift changes the value positively or negatively. A working scene contains at least one story. Eventually, to determine a scene's story event, answer these four Socratic questions.

What are the characters literally doing? That is, what are their micro on the ground actions?

Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow continue their journey into the dark stretches of the Yellow Brick road. They stop for lunch and then continue on until dark, where the Scarecrow finds an old cabin just off the road.

Question number two.

What is the essential tactic of the characters? That is, what macro behaviors are they employing that are linked to a universal human value?

Dorothy and the Scarecrow get to know each other as they move through the forest. Dorothy puts the Scarecrow in his place when he questions her devotion to Kansas.

What universal human values have changed for one or more characters in the scene? Which one of those value changes is most important and should be included in the storygrid spreadsheet? Dorothy and the Scarecrow share their stories. Dorothy tells the Scarecrow about how she longs to get back to Kansas, and the Scarecrow tells her of how he came to life and failed at his job scaring off crows. An old crow told him he'd succeed if he got some brains and then he'd be just like a man. Dorothy and the Scarecrow move from strangers to companions, and Dorothy shifts their dynamic by moving from confrontation to put in one's place when in doubt. The storygrid rule of thumb is to highlight the value that best aligns with the progress of the global human value at stake in the story. The Wonderful wizard of Oz is an action story which has a global value at stake of life death. Throughout the story grid spreadsheet, we'll track the ways life is threatened or enhanced scene by scene. As Dorothy is seizing the alpha position in this relationship, she is taking on the responsibility of leadership, which in this instance will threaten her survival more than enhance her survival. Question number 4 what story event sums up the scene's on the ground actions, essential tactics, and value changes? We will enter that event in the story grid spreadsheet.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow spend the day traveling together, getting to know each other and establishing a power hierarchy between them. Now let's examine how the scene abides the five Commandments of storytelling. What's the inciting incident?

Lunchtime requires Dorothy to take a break, and courtesy requires her to engage the Scarecrow in conversation. What's the turning point? Progressive complication.

The Scarecrow confronts Dorothy about why she would want to return to a place that's gray, like Kansas. What's the crisis?

It's a best bad choice. If Dorothy really thinks about what the Scarecrow brought to her attention, she'd have to really consider the reality of Kansas as opposed to her fantasy about Kansas. Or she can blow off the Scarecrow's question by telling him he wouldn't understand because he's not flesh and blood and has no brains. What's the climax?

Dorothy tells his Scarecrow he wouldn't understand.

What's the resolution?

The Scarecrow accepts Dorothy's explanation and resolves to prove himself to her by standing guard while she sleeps in a cabin he's found in the darkness of the forest.

Thanks for listening, and please join Dorothy, Toto, and me on the next leg of our fantastic journey. If you're writing or thinking about writing a story about a heroic journey, you'll be interested in Sean Coyne's upcoming online seminar devoted to helping writers understand and use the heroic journey in their own work. It's a macro and micro examination of why these stories speak to us so compellingly and how to use the heroic journey to level up Your writing using StoryGrid specific tools. It includes a trip to the Shire to do a macro analysis of J.R.R. tolkien's the Hobbit, with a few detours to Oz and Emerald City along the way. Go to www.storygrid.comhero to find out more. We'd love to see you there. This has been Bib Bailey for the Story Grid Masterwork podcast. I'll see you next time. My prettiest.