Inadequacy+of+Adults

The Inadequacy of Adults in the World of Oz By Harrison Pyros The famous author, Salmon Rushdie once said, “[//The Wizard of Oz’s//] driving force is the inadequacy of adults, even of good adults, and how the weakness of grownups forces children to take control of their own destinies.” And he is exactly right. Though out the entire film, Dorothy Gale is confronting all the problems head on and, in the end, solving them all, with the help of Toto, of course. There are numerous examples of the helplessness with the adults, but here are just a few.

In the exposition of the movie, we meet Dorothy, her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, Toto the dog, and Miss Gulch. Miss Gulch, who will eventually be portrayed as The Wicked Witch of the West, angrily accuses Toto of biting her in her garden and that she has papers from the sheriff to have him “destroyed”. Much to Dorothy’s sorrow, Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are powerless in this situation, and even though they would love and want to Toto to stay, they cannot do anything since evil old Miss Gulch has official papers from the sheriff. Realizing that the adults can do nothing to save her beloved dog, Dorothy takes matters into her own hands. She takes Toto and runs away. This action will eventually take her to The Land of Oz, where more problems and helpless adults await her.

When Dorothy lands in Oz, she soon discovers that she has killed a powerful witch, The Wicked Witch of the East, and now has a vengeful nemesis, The Wicked Witch of the West. Even though Dorothy never met to do this deed, she has just solved a problem the adults, being the Munchkins in this example, could not. The Munchkins are, in fact, all adults. They are just very short and have high squeaky voice and some are //played// by children, but altogether, the Munchkins are adults. If the Munchkins had been able to handle their situation with The Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy’s house never would have crushed the vile Witch and The Witch’s sister never would have wished Dorothy dead. If that had never happened, then Dorothy never would have taken on that insane quest down the Yellow Brick Road and would have got to her goal faster: to get back to Kansas. Plus, if the Munchkins had handled their problem and Dorothy’s house didn’t fall of the witch, then Dorothy never would have ended up with the Ruby Slippers, therefore, Glinda the Good Witch would have no probable reason for Dorothy to stay in The Land of Oz and would have just poofed her back home to Kansas. Unfortunately, the Munchkins never took charge so Dorothy went skipping merrily down the Yellow Brick Road, who by the way is doing this all in //heels//, only to find out that The Land of Oz isn’t so merry.

Finally, we come to my final example of the uselessness of adults in this movie. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and Toto are traveling alone the Yellow Brick Road in a dark spooky forest after singing the famous, “Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh my!” lines when suddenly, the seemingly un-Cowardly Lion pops out and scares them all. They all jump back, frightened, even Toto if my memory is correct, and stay shaking away from the “fierce” lion. The Scarecrow, who is practically undying, since there is no fire in that scene, could have stepped up and fought, but no, he stayed put. The Tin Man, who had an //ax//, could have stopped the “hostile” lion with one swing of his mighty weapon, but no, he also stayed huddled in the corner. Instead it was little Dorothy who stepped up and exposed the Lion for what he really was: a coward, yet again solving her problem the adults could not.

In conclusion, this evidence I have proposed proves the inadequacy of the adults in //The Wizard of Oz//. She takes nearly all of the problems, some hers, others not, that face her and solves them all. Even though Dorothy Gale may look like a weak little girl, she is really a powerful young woman who has the wit and capability to solve tremendous dilemmas that face her in everyday and fantastical life.