Kansas Farmhouse
The Kansas Farmhouse is the small, gray, one-room dwelling on the Kansas prairie where Dorothy lives with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and from which she is carried by a cyclone to the Land of Oz; it also serves as the instrument that kills the Wicked Witch of the East and as the final destination of Dorothy's return journey.
Identity and Setting
The farmhouse stood in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, a small structure whose lumber had to be carried by wagon many miles. It contained four walls, a floor, and a roof, making one room that held a rusty cookstove, a cupboard, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds — a big bed for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in one corner, and a little bed for Dorothy in another. There was no garret and no cellar except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor with a ladder leading down into the small, dark hole. The house had once been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, leaving it as dull and gray as everything else on the prairie. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass with little cracks, and even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color. When Dorothy stood in the doorway, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side, with not a tree nor a house breaking the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky.
The Cyclone and the Journey to Oz
On the day of the cyclone, Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and a sharp whistling came from the south. Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up and called to his wife, "There's a cyclone coming, Em," and ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept. Aunt Em dropped her work, came to the door, and screamed, "Quick, Dorothy! Run for the cellar!" Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and when Dorothy caught him and started to follow her aunt, a great shriek from the wind shook the house so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor. The house then whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air, with Dorothy feeling as if she were going up in a balloon. The north and south winds met where the house stood, making it the exact center of the cyclone, and the great pressure of the wind on every side raised it up higher and higher until it was at the very top of the cyclone, where it remained and was carried miles and miles away. After the first few whirls, Dorothy found she was riding quite easily, rocked gently like a baby in a cradle. Hour after hour passed, and she eventually crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, lay down, and fell fast asleep. She was awakened by a sudden and severe shock, and when she sat up she noticed that the house was not moving and that bright sunshine came in at the window. She sprang from her bed and ran to open the door, finding the house set down very gently in the midst of a country of marvelous beauty.
The Instrument of Liberation
The cyclone had set the house down in the land of the Munchkins, and under the corner of the great beam the house rested on, two feet were sticking out, shod in silver shoes with pointed toes. The Witch of the North explained to Dorothy that these were the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East, who had held all the Munchkins in bondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. "Your house did, anyway," the Witch said with a laugh, "and that is the same thing." The house had killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and the Munchkins were now set free. The feet of the dead Witch soon disappeared entirely, dried up quickly in the sun, leaving nothing but the silver shoes, which the Witch of the North gave to Dorothy. The Witch of the North later told Oz that Dorothy had killed the Witch of the East, and Oz himself acknowledged this when he said to Dorothy, "You killed the Witch of the East and you wear the silver shoes, which bear a powerful charm." The house thus became the unwitting agent of liberation for the Munchkins.
The Return and the New Farmhouse
After her long adventures in Oz, Dorothy used the power of the Silver Shoes to return home. The shoes took but three steps, and she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was. She sat up and found herself sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry had built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the barnyard, and Toto jumped out of her arms and ran toward the barn, barking furiously. Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her. She cried, "My darling child!" and folded the little girl in her arms, covering her face with kisses. Dorothy said gravely, "From the Land of Oz. And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!" The new farmhouse thus marked the end of Dorothy's journey and her joyful reunion with her family.
