Chapter 5 - 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 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 5 the rescue of the Tin Woodman When Dorothy awoke, the sun was shining through the trees, and Toto had long been out chasing birds around him and squirrels. She sat up and looked around her. There was the scarecrow, still standing patiently in his corner, waiting for her. We must go and search for water, she said to him.

Why do you want water?

He asked. To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink so the dry bread will not stick in my throat.

It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, said the scarecrow thoughtfully, for you must sleep and eat and drink however you have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.

They left the cottage and walked through the trees until they found a little spring of clear water where Dorothy drank and bathed and ate her breakfast. She saw there was not much bread left in the basket, and the girl was thankful the scarecrow did not have to eat anything, for there was scarcely enough for herself and Toto for the day. When she had finished her meal and was about to go back to the Road of Yellow Brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan nearby.

What was that?

She asked timidly. I cannot imagine, replied the scarecrow, but.

We can go and see.

Just then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to come from behind them. They turned and walked through the forest a few steps. When Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of sunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to the place and then stopped short with a little cry of surprise.

One of the big trees had been.

Partly chopped through, and standing beside it with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood.

Perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.

Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the scarecrow, while Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his teeth. Did you groan?

Asked Dorothy.

Yes, answered the tin man.

I did. I've been groaning for more than a year and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me.

What can I do for you? She inquired softly, for she was moved by the sad voice in which the man spoke.

Get an oil can and oil My joints, he answered, they are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all. And if I am well oiled, I shall soon be all right again. You will find an oil can on.

The shelf in my cottage. Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil can, and.

Then she returned and asked anxiously, where are your joints? Oil my neck first, replied the tin woodman. So she oiled it, and as it.

Was quite badly rusted, the scarecrow took.

Hold of the tin head and moved.

It gently from side to side until it worked freely, then the man could turn himself.

Now oil the joints in my arms.

He said, and Dorothy oiled them, and the scarecrow bent them carefully until they.

Were quite free from rust and as good as new.

The tin woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered his axe, which he leaned against the tree. This is a great comfort, he said.

I've been holding that axe in the air ever since I rested, and I'm glad to be able to put it down at last. Now if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all right once more.

So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely, and he thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very polite creature and very grateful.

I might have stood there always if you had not come along, he said. So you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here? We are on our way to the Emerald City to see the great Oz, she answered, and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night. Why do you wish to see Oz?

He asked. I want him to send me back to Kansas, and the scarecrow wants him to put a few brains into his head, she replied. The tin woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said, do you suppose Oz.

Could give me a heart?

Why, I guess so, Dorothy answered. It would be as easy as to give the scarecrow brains.

True, the tin woodman returned. So if you will allow me to join your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me.

Come along, said the scarecrow heartily, and.

Dorothy added that she would be pleased.

To have his company.

So the tin woodman shouldered his axe.

And they all passed through the forest until they came to the road that was paved with yellow brick. The tin woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil can in her basket.

For he said, if I should get caught in the rain and rust again, I would need the oil can badly.

It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party for soon after they had begun their journey again, they came to a place where the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the travelers could not pass. But the tin woodman set to work with his axe and chopped so well that he soon cleared a passage for the entire party.

Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they.

Walked along that she did not notice.

When the scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to the side of the road. Indeed, he was obliged to call to.

Her to help him up again. Why didn't you walk around the hole?

Asked the tin woodman.

I don't know enough, replied the scarecrow cheerfully. My head is stuffed with straw, you know, and that's why I'm going to Oz to asking for some brains. Oh, I see, said the tin woodman. But after all, brains are not the best thing in the world. Have you any? Inquired the scarecrow. No, my head is quite empty, answered the woodman. But once I had brains and a heart also, so having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart. And why is that?

Asked the scarecrow.

I will tell you my story and then you will know.

So while they were walking through the forest, the tin woodman told the following. I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the.

Forest and sold the wood for a living.

When I grew up, I too became a woodchopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother.

As long as she lived.

Then I made up my mind that instead of living alone I would marry so that I might not become lonely. There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I soon grew to love her with all my heart. She on her part promised to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better house for her. So I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived with an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she was so lazy. She wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking and the housework. Though the old woman went to the Wicked Witch of the east and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the marriage. Thereupon the wicked witch enchanted my axe, and when I was chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new house and.

My wife as soon as possible, the.

Axe slipped all at once and cut off my left leg.

This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one legged man could not do very well as a woodchopper. So I went to A tinsmith and had him make me a new leg out of tin.

The leg worked very well once. I was used to it.

But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the east, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again, my axe slipped and cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinsmith and.

Again he made me a leg out of tin.

After this, the enchanted axe cut off my arms and one after the other, but nothing daunted. I had them replaced with tin ones. The Wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinsmith happened to come along.

And he made me a new head out of tin.

I thought I'd beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever. But I little knew how cruel my enemy could be.

She thought of a new way to.

Kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin Maiden and made my axe slip again so that it cut right through my body, splitting me into two halves. Once more the tinsmith came to my help and made me a body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it by means of joints so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas, I now had no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin Girl and did not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her. My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it. And it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me. There was only one danger, that my joints would rust. But I kept an oil can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and being caught in a rainstorm before I thought of the danger, my joints had rusted and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help me. It was a terrible thing to undergo. But during the year I stood there, I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love, I was the happiest man on earth. But no one can love who has not a heart. And so I am resolved to ask.

Oz to give me one.

If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin Maiden and marry her.

Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been.

Greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman and Now they knew why.

He was so anxious to get a new heart. All the same, said the Scarecrow, I shall ask for brains instead of a heart, for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one. I shall take the heart, returned the tin Woodman, for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.

Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of her two friends was right, and she decided.

If she could only get back to Kansas and Aunt Em, it would not.

Matter so much whether the Woodman had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart.

Or each got what he wanted.

What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone and another meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket.

To be sure, neither the Woodman nor.

The Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw.

And could not live unless she was fed.

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 or an environmental shift changes the value positively or negatively. A working scene contains at least one story event. To determine a scene's story event, answer these four Socratic questions. Question number one what are the characters literally doing? That is what are their micro on the ground actions?

Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow wake up the next morning, have breakfast, discover a rusted Tin man, and proceed on their journey with another member of the party in search of a heart? Question number 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 rescue a rusted tin Woodman. Question number three 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 story grid spreadsheet?

After the crew sets off on the yellow brick road, they reach an impasse where the trees have covered the brick, the Tin man cuts the branches away so they can continue when in doubt. The story grid 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. The value shifts from stopped to started. Question number 4 what StoryGrid event sums up the scene's on the ground actions, essential tactics and value change. We will enter that event in the story grid spreadsheet.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow rescue a rusted tin Woodman who joins their mission and cuts a pathway forward.

Now let's examine how the scene abides the five Commandments of storytelling. What's the inciting incident?

A voice calls out from the wilderness. What's the turning point? Progressive complication.

The pathway is choked with vegetation. What's the crisis?

It's an irreconcilable goods choice. If the tin woodman cuts through the pathway, he'll be more susceptible to freezing up again as the oil will be worn away.

If he doesn't, they won't be able.

To make it to the Emerald City. What's the climax? The tin Woodman cuts a pathway. What's the resolution?

The group moves on. 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.