Finding Oz

1.

How old were you when you first read Baum’s novel or first saw the Judy Garland movie? What was your first reaction to The Wizard of Oz?

2.

Which of Dorothy’s three companions—the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion—do you like the most? Which one do you relate to the most and why?

3.

What is your very favorite moment in the classic movie and why?

4.

L. Frank Baum’s childhood dream was “to write a great novel that will win me fame.” What was one of your dreams for yourself when you were young? Is it realistic to try and realize such dreams?

5.

Frank Baum experienced a traumatic episode during childhood when he was sent away by his father to military school. What effect do you think this dark experience had on him as a person and a storyteller?

6.

What effect did Maud Gage and her mother Matilda Joslyn Gage have on Baum’s creation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? Do you think he would have created the story if he never married into the Gage family?

7.

What is your impression of Matilda Joslyn Gage? Was she “satanic” and a heretic,” as her critics charged? Was she an effective leader of the women’s rights movement? What issues did she fight over that are still with us today?

8.

The Wicked Witch of the West is generally considered the most frightening female character in movie history. Why do you think this is so? What does the Wicked Witch symbolize?

9.

What is your view of the Dakota newspaper editorials that Frank Baum wrote in 1890, during the time of the Wounded Knee massacre of the Native Americans. How would you explain Baum’s motivation? What situation today has parallels with what was happening then?

10.

What or who inspired Baum to create the mysterious Wizard character? In what ways does the Wizard change over the course of the story?

11.

Consider the Swami’s Four Yogas: the path to wisdom, the path to compassion, the path to courageous action, and the path to inner harmony. Do you think you have been traveling one or more of these paths in your life? Have you recently been able to overcome obstacles along any one of these paths?

12.

How did L. Frank Baum go about discovering his True Self? Was finding the right livelihood for himself an easy process? What were the major obstacles that he had to overcome to get there?

13.

Did Frank Baum actively set out to create The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? How did the ideas for the story come to him? How does Baum’s experience change your view of the process of creativity?

14,

What is the difference between the way Baum’s novel ends and the MGM movie ends? What did Baum mean when he wrote “there’s no place like home?”