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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wizard of Oz, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Doubt vs. Self-Confidence
Home and Belonging
Good vs. Evil
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Dorothy hears a groaning nearby as she has breakfast by a stream. Dorothy and the Scarecrow follow the noise to a man made of tin, who seems to be frozen in the middle of chopping down a tree. The Tin Woodman says he’s been groaning for more than a year, but only now has someone finally heard him. Moved by his sad voice, Dorothy asks how she can help, and the tin man explains that he needs to be oiled so he can move his joints again. Dorothy quickly finds his oil can in the cottage and uses it to oil all of the Tin Woodman’s rusty joints and give him freedom of movement again. He thanks her for saving him and asks her what brings her here.
Dorothy once again demonstrates her kindness and childlike innocence as she immediately helps the Tin Woodman move again. The Tin Woodman is the second person Dorothy has befriended on her journey, which highlights how easily she connects with others and empathizes with their struggles.
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When Dorothy explains that she and the Scarecrow are on their way to the Wizard of Oz, the Tin Woodman asks if the Wizard could give him a heart. Assuming that this is also within the Wizard’s power, Dorothy and the Scarecrow gladly accept the Tin Woodman into their party, and they continue down the yellow brick road together. During the journey through the dark woods, the Tin Woodman explains why he wants a heart so badly. He wasn’t always made of tin, and he once loved a Munchkin girl who promised to marry him when he earned enough money to build a house for the two of them. But the girl’s mother wanted to keep her daughter in her own house forever to do all the chores for her, so she sought out the Wicked Witch of the East to spoil the union.
Just like the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman feels that he lacks something essential—something that would make him a complete person. The two characters clearly parallel each other in their self-doubt. While the Scarecrow doubts he can think, the Tin Woodman doubts he can love another person. Once again, a character allows another person’s opinion of them to determine their self-worth.
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The Wicked Witch of the East enchanted the woodman’s axe so that the blade would slip off the handle. The first time this happened, the blade cut off his left leg, which he soon replaced with a tin leg. The axe continued to slip and cut off more and more of the woodman’s body until he was made entirely of tin replacements. The Tin Woodman lost his heart and his feelings for the Munchkin girl in the process. He continued his woodcutting duties and was careful to oil his joints when he needed to. But one day, he forgot to bring his oil can with him, and a heavy rain rusted him and froze him in place. Even after hearing the Tin Woodman’s story, the Scarecrow would still rather have a brain than a heart, but the Woodman believes a heart is more important.
The Tin Woodman’s story once again reinforces the fairy-tale nature of Oz. Rather than suffering from a random accident, the Woodman lost his limbs due to an evil witch’s curse. His innocent love for the Munchkin girl contrasts with the girl’s selfish mother and the evil witch she employs. Back in the present, the Tin Woodman continues to doubt his own ability to love, but there’s a hole in his story as well. If he’s truly heartless, it’s puzzling why he still wants a heart so that he can love the Munchkin girl again—surely he would only care about love if he had a heart. Nonetheless, the Scarecrow’s belief that a brain is more important than a heart suggests that neither character is likely to change the other’s mind about what the other believes they need.
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