Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Oz characters with Night Vision

They expected to reach some other house before it grew dark, but the twilight was brief and Ojo soon began to fear they had made a mistake in leaving the woodchopper.

"I can scarcely see the path," he said at last.
"Can you see it, Scraps?"

"No," replied the Patchwork Girl, who was holding fast to the boy's arm so he could guide her.

"I can see," declared the Glass Cat. "My eyes are better than yours, and my pink brains—"

"Never mind your pink brains, please," said Ojo hastily; "just run ahead and show us the way. Wait a minute and I'll tie a string to you; for then you can lead us."
--The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Wow! The Glass Cat can see in the dark! But was Bungle the first Oz character with night vision?

After an hour or so the light faded away, and they found themselves stumbling along in the darkness. Dorothy could not see at all, but Toto could, for some dogs see very well in the dark; and the Scarecrow declared he could see as well as by day. So she took hold of his arm and managed to get along fairly well.

"If you see any house, or any place where we can pass the night," she said, "you must tell me; for it is very uncomfortable walking in the dark."

Soon after the Scarecrow stopped.

"I see a little cottage at the right of us," he said, "built of logs and branches. Shall we go there?"
--The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
So, wait a minute, how can these two see in the dark? I believe it is because they do not have natural eyes. Our eyes see by detecting light and the way it reflects from different objects. However, the Scarecrow's eyes are painted, and the Glass Cat's eyes are glass. (Although it is a long-thought of idea that cats can see in the dark.) They can use these to see because their eyes are enchanted to see. So, wouldn't some other characters be able to see in the dark? Here's a list of the characters from Baum's books who would...
  • The Scarecrow
  • The Tin Woodman
  • Jack Pumpkinhead
  • The Sawhorse
  • The Gump (NOTE: Stuffed animal skins usually use glass eyes, so he would have night vision, although in The Marvelous Land of Oz he can't stop in the dark, but this could be because he does not know what Glinda's palace looks like. However, shouldn't the Scarecrow or Tin Woodman have known?)
  • Tik-tok
  • The Wooden Gargoyles (Although they live in a land with no night.)
  • The Scoodlers
  • The Cuttenclips
  • Bungle the Glass Cat
  • Scraps the Patchwork Girl
  • Captain Fyter

Interesting, no? Nine characters and three people groups who could see in the dark!

Wow.

I really need more ideas for blog entries...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haave an idea for an entry! You could write about how Oz characters changed from the books to the movies! Like in Return to Oz, how Mombi the Witch was combined with Princess Langwidere!

Jay said...

... Is this Sean/pumpkinhead?

Anonymous said...

No, that actually wasn't me. I was reading it and I was like, hmph...sounds like something I'd say! haha.

Nathan said...

And yet, when Glinda sends the Scarecrow to Jinxland, he says that he can't see as well by day, and Glinda provides a magic light.