Color Symbolism in the Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a fictional book published by L. Frank Baum. The book is basically about a girl named Dorothy who comes from Kansas and is swept away by a tornado to the Land of Oz.

The writing has gorgeous illustrations and graphics created by William Wallace Denslow, a Philadelphia-born artist. In the novel, the primary lands of Munchkins, Winkie, and Quadlings are represented by the primary colors Blue, Yellow and Red respectively (Baum 18). Munchkins is located in the East, Winkie in the West, and Quadlings in the South. This is quite symbolic, as the regions are located similarly to the standard color wheel, where blue is located to the right (east), yellow to the left (west), and red at the bottom (south). The colors were not chosen arbitrarily, since Baum had knowledge of the color theory since he has

She is described as a woman who possessed rich red hair, blue eyes and wore a pure white dress (Baum 74).

The colors of the national flag signify that she was powerful, and her white dress represents her good nature. This is in contrast to the wicked witch who wore black. Her black clothes symbolized her evil nature. Another illustration of the use of color was when Dorothy was presented with a pair of silver shoes during the passing of the wicked witch of the East. In 1939, when the book was displayed on the large screen on Hollywood, the character Dorothy was presented with Ruby Red slippers, instead of the initial silver shoes. According to Gills, the change was made because the Technicolor red stood out better as compared to the silver against the Yellow Brick Road (16).

In conclusion, it is clear that the use of color is very prominent and important in this book. The use of color captivates the mind and makes the writing to be more interesting. This could be the reason why it still is among the bestsellers up to