The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Chapter 2

Study guide for 10th – 12th Grade

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Copywork

About This Passage

This short speech is a miniature argument. The Witch lays down a premise (civilized countries have no magic), supplies a fact (Oz was never civilized), and draws a conclusion with a logician's Therefore. Copying it lets the student feel the architecture of reasoning, and notice the provocative claim folded inside a children's tale: that wonder survives precisely where civilization has not reached.

“Then that accounts for it. In the civilized countries I believe there are no witches left; nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor magicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for we a...

Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.

Discussion Questions

Narration Prompt

Give a concise summary, then identify the single most important moment in the chapter and explain what it reveals about Baum's larger concerns as Dorothy enters Oz.

Discussion Questions

  1. If this chapter has a single governing idea, what is it, and why? Consider whether Dorothy's truthfulness and her longing for home strengthen the same reading or pull the chapter in different directions, and use the chapter's structure and details to defend your view.
  2. The good Witch claims that magic survives only in lands too cut off to become civilized. Why does this small theory deserve a reader's attention, and what might Baum be suggesting about civilization and wonder by placing it here? Use the chapter's details to explain.

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Vocabulary

Item 1

Forced servitude with no freedom or liberty.

Item 2

Belonging to an advanced, settled, organized society.

Item 3

Free of guilt or wrongdoing.

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Critical Thinking

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