In Campbell's monomyth the trials begin when, "once beyond the threshold, the hero of the mythic cycle encounters not only threatening forces but supernatural helpers overtly or secretly sent by the patron god or goddess." Dorothy receives further supernatural aid and protection from three future kings of Oz: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. In addition, their destinies become inexplicably bound up with her own.
Nothing in the Baum books has aroused as much controversy as these non-human and semihuman characterizations. The major controversy is a moral one, namely, whether these characterizations represent healthy role-models for the child reader. Some regard Baum's inventions as sterile, castrated, semi-masculine figures, revealing the author's own psycho-sexual abnormalities. This seems an interesting, but simple view, for even if figures like the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the other.....
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