Stay or Go?

Question

I just finished watching The Wizard of Oz for probably the millionth time. I have probably read it just as many times. The ending has confused me ever since I was a little kid. I would have stayed in Oz. To me, Kansas seemed so dull and boring. What would you have done? Stayed in Oz or gone home? Just wondering. Pax - C

Gerry inx - Did someone pee in your Cheerios today? This was a thoughtful question, that is all. I am sure that everyone who answered it does sleep, read books and help the poor. If it upset you so much that it was a waste of time question, why did you answer it? A lot of people submitted very thoughtful answers. It was just something I always wondered about.

Answer 1

WOW! Who would have thought such a seemingly simple and hyopthetical (fictious) would give me such cause to ponder my life. I now have my husband , 10 year old daughter and 29 year old step-son all weighing in with their opinions (we all differ i should add). So if you don't mind, after answering for me I will add their input. I am putting myself in the shoes (pardon the pun) of Dorothy at the age udy Garland purported to be at the time. I would have stayed in oz. The only factor tht may have changed my mind and you did not put this in your hypothet, is this a permanent decision? If permited to stay and then go home whenever I chose then i would definately have stayed. If it was an all or nothing, if I stay i can never go home it would be a much harder choice, but taking my own life experiences and lack of into account I still believe at that age i would choose to stay. Yes, I would miss my family very much, but I am young and just starting my life. My auntie Em is probably dead and even if she is not, she and my uncle are my only family. They are old are probably do not have too long to live anyway. Kanas is boring, and my aunt and uncle can barely make ends meet and they have the awesome responsibility of taking care of me. They have to be burdened by this although they would never admit it because they ;love me so. I am sure they have often worried about what will become of me once they are gone. I am a young girl, I lack the skills and means to run a farm. I have no one else in the whole world but now i am off in this wonderful adverterous place. Most of the danger is gone. I have proven to myself that I can make it on my own and I have made some wonderful new friends that have become like family to me (the tin man, the lion, the scarecrow) and most importantly I have my very best friend with me, T0-TO. we are together and we have our whole lives ahead of us, we have a fun exciting new place to make a life for ourselves. I am not alone anymore, I am not lonely, I have friends and the ability to make more and learn about the world, not just learn about it but actually live it. If i go home, I will get to see my family again, but for how long and then when they do die what will I do? I will certainly be all alone. I am definately staying. This is the beginning of the rest of my life and I have been given an opportunity to venture to a fantansyland and make my own way. Having friends , knowing that I am not doomed to a life of lonliness perhaps a foster home etc. I know that i will not be alone or lonely, this definateluy weighs heavy in my choice not to go home. I know that if I go home I have no future once my Auntie em and uncle die, I have no money no other family, no resourses and a neighbor that would probably move heaven and hell to see that to-to is taken to place where i will never see him and i will be turned over to some orphange until I am 18, then turned loose in a world with no family, no money, no education. I am here to stay and I know tha auntie em will be looking down on me from heaven, much happier that I am happy and have a life. She does not have to worry about me anymore.

My husband a 64 year old Jewish man, whose faith and customs are extremely family oriented said he choses to go home. Family is far too important, even if they are old and don't have long to live, he could not ever enjoy his life in Oz if he was left to live witht he guilt that he abandonded the two people who took care of him

My ten year old has an advertous side, much like mine. She would stay in oz. As long as she had her dog, and because she has no mom or dad she would stay where life offers more opportunities.

my 29 year old step-son (not married- no kids) chooses to go home, simply to see his family. No matter what their age or condition, family is family. He would rather have one day with family than a lifetime without.

so there you have it. I can't believe how much I have just reflected back over my entire life after reading this question, considering 1000's of differendt scenarios, picking apart how things would be different (some good some bad) had I made different choices along the way to where I am now

Answer 2

I would go home. Although Oz is a wonderful place, and for Dorothy, it was a place of discovery and learning, it is not home. I consider Oz like college:
1. It was a lot of fun, and you meet some new and interesting people - friends that you now have a lifelong bond with.
2. You were on your own for the first time.
3. You would not have made it through if it were not for friends.
4. Sometimes you got yourself into trouble.
5. A witch (or landlord) stole your dog (or made you get rid of your duck).
6. You made the discovery that the world is not the way it seems on the surface.
7. You learned more about life when you were away from home.
8. You missed the people that you love.
9. You discovered what you are capable of.
10. At the end of the day, you realize a couple of things: a) that nothing tastes better than a home-cooked meal and b) nothing is as comfortable as the bed you have known your entire life.

Its not that Oz wasn't better, more glamorous, or even more exciting. Its that no matter how great college was, eventually you had to leave.

Chris

Answer 3

The real Dorothy in the books was very young (only about nine) and not ready to leave home. To her family was very important and she made the decision that she had to make.

I have to admit at age nine, I would have wanted to go home. Oz was too strange and there really was no one I could turn to and call family. I would have sorely missed my parents and older brother--not the younger brothers, though.

As an adult, I would have wanted to stay in Oz for a few years. It is a fascinating place, but there's an inherent problem with it. No one gets older. It is frozen in time and after a while everything would get old except you. No, I wouldn't have wanted to stay in Oz forever. Forever can be pretty dull.

Answer 4

Dorothy did end up making the right move, because later in the series she got to go back to Oz and take her family with her to stay. Of course, she did not know this was going to happen when she left Oz the first time. It's a tough call. Oz was a cool place to visit, but I don't think I would have stayed. Now, if it were Wonderland, I probably would have stayed.

Answer 5

Go, the first and obvious reason is the fact that you'd miss your family. Also what sort of a life could Dorothy hope to have in Oz once the novelty of being amongst all those oddities wears off? What will she do for a living? I suppose the the munchkins would give her food and board since she was after all the "good witch" that saved them from the Wicked Witches of the East and West. Then again who would she marry? The Scar-Crow, a munchkin perhaps? No, as she grew up she would miss having a "normal life" Besides "dull" is in the eye of the beholder. There's always cow tipping and tornado chasing. :P

Answer 6

You know, that is a funny question to ask. A million years ago when I was a radio disc jockey I did a little show called The Fantasy Hour. I would read snippets of stories, all in the fantasy category and then play music that either had the stories as subject or had lyrics relating to them. One of the songs I played I heard in the 1970s recorded by a female singer named Jackie DeShannon and was entitled "Dorothy". The lyrics of that song go something like this:

"Living in Kansas, a life alone.
She never married, she's hardly known.
She stares out her window, far away.
Looking for another windy day.

Chorus:
Dorothy was a fool to leave, she could have stayed.
She held it right in her hand, she had it made.
She could have had it all for keeps
But was afraid.
She could have stayed.

Seems like only yesterday
But forty years have up and slipped away
Since a lovely black haired girl
Was taken from her one and only world

Chorus

Same old bluebirds,
Flying high
Over rainbows in the Kansas sky
Why oh why oh why?

I guess it only serves her right
For trading all that color for black and white
All her sorrow,
All because
There ain't no way to stand Kansas
When you've been to Oz.

Chorus.

Written by Hugh Prestwood
copyright 1977 Lorber Sheer Music, BMI

That song has a beautiful, sad melody as well and is one of my all-time favorites. So it's really funny that you should ask this particular question.

Answer 7

If I made the decision while her age, I just might stay. Growing up I always planned to get out and see the world. I saw some and found out my little corner wasn't so bad and it was what you make of it no matter where you are. So that leads to this...

If I made the decision in my present state, it'd be back to Kansas. It's the family thing. And think of all the stories you could write when you got back - maybe you could turn the adventure into a bestselling book or two! Who else has been in a tornado and survived? Not too many!

Answer 8

She does not belong in Oz even though it is wonderful. Home always seems boring and dull hey even my town does. But it does not always remain so. You grow up get married and have a family and realize just what is so important to you. You have to have the bitter with sweet that is what makes us grow makes us become the best person we can become. By the end of the movie she realizes that what she always wanted was right in front of her. Not beyond a rainbow or in a distant land.

Answer 9

Stayed if it the Oz from the play Wicked. If it had been the original Oz, I would have returned home to my familynot, writen a book called "My Journey in Oz", and make enough money to move away from Kansas with my family to someplace else.

Answer 10

Al the people who really cared about Dorothy were in Kansas. I think I would have gone back, if I could have. I would have loved the ability to travel between the places. In the books, that's exactly what happened. Dorothy kept finding Oz.