Written By...
Lewis Carroll originally wrote the story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland for three little girls he knew, the title character of his story is supposedly based on one of the little girls. The story was so good, that he decided to publish it, and history was written at that moment. L.Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz was heavily inspired by the old American dream. Dorothy is inspired by the brave pioneer women of the migration days, The scarecrow inspired by Midwestern farmers and the land of Oz is just all around very American both geographically and visually. Both Baum and Carroll both had small beginnings, and made their way up, but both were also clouded with controversy in their careers. Baum once wrote a an article supporting the genocide of American Indians, and Carroll was accused of being a pedophile. But all in all, Baum is just the better author. While Alice only got one sequel, Baum extended his fantasy universe with 14 sequels. His work helped the cause of American suffragettes, and his stories are just more put together. This point goes to Baum.
The Story
Alice follows the story of a girl who follows a White Rabbit down a hole. Afterwards, she is transported to Wonderland, a colorful and nonsensical fantasy land. There she meets many colorful characters, such as a white rabbit who is late, and a crazy Duchess and her even crazier cook, a smiling, vanishing cat and a hot tempered Queen. Oz follows Dorothy, an orphaned farm girl who is transported to the land of Oz via tornado. She goes to see the Wizard of Oz in hopes that he will send her home. On her journey, she meets A scarecrow who wants a brain, a tin woodsman who wants a heart and a cowardly lion who wants courage. Both these stories are beloved, but only one of them is iconic, and that's Oz. We all know how it begins, how it ends, and everything in between. Dorothy lands in Oz, she follows the yellow brick road, she meets her allies, she goes to the Emerald City, etc. For Alice, you never really know what goes where. The story isn't as easy to follow as Oz. It's very incoherent, and doesn't really make sense, but one can argue that it's not supposed to make sense, seeing how Wonderland is a land free of logic.
Another thing that makes Oz better than Wonderland is the ending. In The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Dorothy learns from Glinda The Good Witch Of The South that the power of her silver shoes could've taken her home the day she got to Oz, but wasn't angry at all, knowing that if she never made the journey, her friends would still be cowardly, heartless and brainless. "'This is all true' Said Dorothy, 'And I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each happy in having a kingdom to rule beside, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.'" And after a heartbreaking goodbye, Dorothy clicks her heels three times and goes back home, and immediately runs to Aunt Em and embraces her, glad that she's home again. In Alice's ending, Alice grows giant and starts yelling at the Queen and her subjects. The cards suddenly start flying at her, and then she wakes up realizing the whole thing was a dream. In the end, she learns nothing valuable or life changing. She's still the same old Alice. In the end, it's actually Alice's Sister who learns a lesson. So the theme of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz is that there's no place like home, even if it's not as beautiful as a city made of Emeralds. The moral of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland is...Don't use drugs, I guess. So all in all, Oz just tells a more consistent and memorable story with a beating heart and a clear message, so once again, Oz takes the cake.
The Main Character
Dorothy is a simple farm girl who lives on a farmhouse in the grey, Kansas prairies. It's shown that Dorothy is very poor, as she lives in a house with only one room. Alice, on the other hand, seems to have come from a good upbringing. She's educated and appears to have very good manners. Both these girls are Iconic, but only one of them is the better character, and that's Dorothy. Dorothy is shown to be kind, brave and very independent. She doesn't think too highly of herself (she introduces herself to the Wizard as Dorothy the 'Small and Meek') Alice on the other hand, while being seemingly well meaning, comes across as snooty. Unlike Dorothy, who rarely cries in the story, and is shown to be very brave. She stood up to the Cowardly Lion after he tried to bite Toto. "Dorothy, fearing Toto would be killed, and heedless of danger, rushed forward and slapped the Lion upon his nose as hard as she could, while she cried out: 'Don't you dare to bite Toto! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a big beast like you, to bite a poor little dog!'" Alice is kind of a wimp. The moment she gets to Wonderland, she literally cries an Ocean. "She soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high" She does show some signs bravery in the story, like when she rescues a pig baby from it's abusive mother, the Duchess, but only once in a while will she do something brave.
Another thing to point out is that Despite having a poor upbringing, Dorothy is much wiser than Alice. Right after Dorothy invites the Scarecrow to come with her to the Emerald City, she explains to him the importance of home, and why she wants to get back, despite it not being as beautiful as Oz. "No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other Country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home." Alice asserts her intelligence more than once, but it never really shows. For example, When Alice meets the Caterpillar, he asks who she is, and she couldn't even give him a clear answer. "I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir. Because I'm not myself, you see."
The final thing I'm going to touch upon is the importance of these girls in their respected stories. In Oz, Dorothy is very important to the plot. If not for her, there would be no story. The first thing Dorothy does when she arrives in Oz is accidentally kill the Wicked Witch of the East, freeing the Munchkins from her power. Then she killed the Witch of the West, forever freeing Oz of her tyranny. The entire story couldn't have happened if Dorothy never came to Oz. Alice doesn't really do anything groundbreaking while at Wonderland. In fact, Wonderland would be the same as it was even if she never arrived. In the end, Dorothy's time in Oz reminded her how much she loved Aunt Em (But not Uncle Henry?) And that there really is no place like home. Alice wakes up and tells her prim and proper older sister about her journey through Wonderland, and in the end, Alice's sister decides she should be more like her little sister, so It's Alice's sister who learns a lesson, not Alice herself. Dorothy wins this round, because she's just a more complex and progressive character.
Supporting Characters
Another thing that makes Oz better than Wonderland is the ending. In The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, Dorothy learns from Glinda The Good Witch Of The South that the power of her silver shoes could've taken her home the day she got to Oz, but wasn't angry at all, knowing that if she never made the journey, her friends would still be cowardly, heartless and brainless. "'This is all true' Said Dorothy, 'And I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each happy in having a kingdom to rule beside, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.'" And after a heartbreaking goodbye, Dorothy clicks her heels three times and goes back home, and immediately runs to Aunt Em and embraces her, glad that she's home again. In Alice's ending, Alice grows giant and starts yelling at the Queen and her subjects. The cards suddenly start flying at her, and then she wakes up realizing the whole thing was a dream. In the end, she learns nothing valuable or life changing. She's still the same old Alice. In the end, it's actually Alice's Sister who learns a lesson. So the theme of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz is that there's no place like home, even if it's not as beautiful as a city made of Emeralds. The moral of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland is...Don't use drugs, I guess. So all in all, Oz just tells a more consistent and memorable story with a beating heart and a clear message, so once again, Oz takes the cake.
The Main Character
Dorothy is a simple farm girl who lives on a farmhouse in the grey, Kansas prairies. It's shown that Dorothy is very poor, as she lives in a house with only one room. Alice, on the other hand, seems to have come from a good upbringing. She's educated and appears to have very good manners. Both these girls are Iconic, but only one of them is the better character, and that's Dorothy. Dorothy is shown to be kind, brave and very independent. She doesn't think too highly of herself (she introduces herself to the Wizard as Dorothy the 'Small and Meek') Alice on the other hand, while being seemingly well meaning, comes across as snooty. Unlike Dorothy, who rarely cries in the story, and is shown to be very brave. She stood up to the Cowardly Lion after he tried to bite Toto. "Dorothy, fearing Toto would be killed, and heedless of danger, rushed forward and slapped the Lion upon his nose as hard as she could, while she cried out: 'Don't you dare to bite Toto! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a big beast like you, to bite a poor little dog!'" Alice is kind of a wimp. The moment she gets to Wonderland, she literally cries an Ocean. "She soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high" She does show some signs bravery in the story, like when she rescues a pig baby from it's abusive mother, the Duchess, but only once in a while will she do something brave.
Another thing to point out is that Despite having a poor upbringing, Dorothy is much wiser than Alice. Right after Dorothy invites the Scarecrow to come with her to the Emerald City, she explains to him the importance of home, and why she wants to get back, despite it not being as beautiful as Oz. "No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other Country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home." Alice asserts her intelligence more than once, but it never really shows. For example, When Alice meets the Caterpillar, he asks who she is, and she couldn't even give him a clear answer. "I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir. Because I'm not myself, you see."
The final thing I'm going to touch upon is the importance of these girls in their respected stories. In Oz, Dorothy is very important to the plot. If not for her, there would be no story. The first thing Dorothy does when she arrives in Oz is accidentally kill the Wicked Witch of the East, freeing the Munchkins from her power. Then she killed the Witch of the West, forever freeing Oz of her tyranny. The entire story couldn't have happened if Dorothy never came to Oz. Alice doesn't really do anything groundbreaking while at Wonderland. In fact, Wonderland would be the same as it was even if she never arrived. In the end, Dorothy's time in Oz reminded her how much she loved Aunt Em (But not Uncle Henry?) And that there really is no place like home. Alice wakes up and tells her prim and proper older sister about her journey through Wonderland, and in the end, Alice's sister decides she should be more like her little sister, so It's Alice's sister who learns a lesson, not Alice herself. Dorothy wins this round, because she's just a more complex and progressive character.
Supporting Characters
Both these books have many memorable characters. You have great characters like the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow and Glinda the Good Witch, and you also have fun characters like The Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle and the Cheshire Cat. It's hard to chose who has a better entourage, so this one is a tie.
Villain
In Oz, the villain is the Wicked Witch of the West, an old woman who lives in a yellow castle in the yellow country of the Winkies. Unlike the movie Witch, who was completely terrifying, This Wicked Witch is very silly. She's short, has three braids and has an eye patch. In Wonderland, it's The Queen of Hearts, who isn't really a villain, just hot tempered. But seeing how she's probably beheaded many subjects, she counts too, I guess. In both stories, we don't get to meet these adversaries until almost the ending of the book. As much as I love to praise The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, I have to say that the superior villain is The Queen of Hearts, and for good reasons. When you think of the Wicked Witch of the West, you usually think of the movie Witch (Green skin, pointy hat, black dress) But the Witch of the book couldn't be any more different. And when you think of The Queen of Hearts, you think of a Queen who wears a lot of hearts and always yells "Off with their heads!", something very close to the book version. Another thing that makes the QOH superior to the WWOTW is that she is just more successful. She doesn't need to conquer any lands, because she already rules all of Wonderland.
WINNER
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! While Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland is a good story, and is probably smarter language wise with it's poems and riddles, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has a better story structure and is far more genuine.
WINNER
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! While Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland is a good story, and is probably smarter language wise with it's poems and riddles, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has a better story structure and is far more genuine.
I love both. Could never pick just one of them
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