Character Development - Dorothy
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TCHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

Is the character dynamic or static?

(dynamic = changes because of events in the story;  static = does not change)

The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy, dynamic character

In the story The Wizard of Oz Dorothy is a dynamic character because she changes or “develops”  throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, Dorothy is unhappy with her life and wishes to be somewhere else. She thinks that if she could find a new place to live, all her problems would be solved. Page 96 in the text says,  “Dorothy had thought of running away from home because she felt she did not really fit in on the farm. She knew Auntie Em loved her, but she still felt like a stranger out here in the countryside, and longed to be someplace that had no real problems, someplace ‘over the rainbow’ where the sky was always blue. She thought she could solve her loneliness by going to a different place.”  She even toys with the idea of running away, but is stopped by the onset of the tornado. (Mobile) (Flash)


Once she finds herself in the Land of Oz, the Munchkins give her hope by telling her that the Wizard can help her, if she can only get to him. (Mobile) (Flash) On her journey she meets three characters -- Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion. She hears about their problems, which makes her think about her own life. With this experience, she begins to change a little bit because she gains some appreciation for her life back home. The fact that she has security and people who love her makes her consider what she is missing by being away. As the story progresses, Dorothy is frightened by the Wicked Witch (p. 212) and wishes her trusty friends from the farm could be there to protect her. (Mobile) (Flash) This experience causes her to again consider how great “home” was and pushes her to further consider that maybe life there wasn’t so bad after all. This is a change in her outlook.
The final evidence of change for Dorothy is the point at which she finally meets the Wizard himself. She had come to Oz originally to find wisdom and a perfect life, only to realize that all she really wanted was to go back home to the people who loved her. The real solution to her “problem” was inside of her the whole time: appreciate the good things you have and stop thinking things are better in other places.
(Mobile) (Flash) Her ultimate statement, and the pinnacle of her change of heart, is when the Wizard tells her to click her heels together and repeat, “There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home”    (p. 320). She returns to the farm with a completely different attitude: she now appreciates the life she has and, rather than want to leave it, wants only to tell everyone how much she loves and appreciates them. Dorothy is a dynamic character because she is a very different person in her heart (mind) at the end of the story than she was at the beginning. (Mobile) (Flash)