Oz and Emerald City people

The relationship between Oz and the people of the Emerald City is the central political fiction of the Land of Oz, a system of benevolent despotism built on a foundation of elaborate stagecraft and mass illusion. Oz, a ventriloquist and balloonist from Omaha who arrived by accident, rules not through magical power but through a carefully maintained performance of authority, enforced by physical barriers, optical deception, and the willing credulity of his subjects.

The Construction of the Illusion

Oz ordered the building of the Emerald City and his Palace shortly after his arrival, and the people built it willingly and well. To make the name "Emerald City" fit better, he put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green. As he later confessed to Dorothy, the city is no more green than any other, but because his people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long, most of them think it really is an Emerald City. The Guardian of the Gates enforces this rule, locking the spectacles onto every visitor and resident with a key only he possesses, explaining that without them the brightness and glory of the city would blind them. The city itself is a beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and Oz has been good to the people, who like him. But ever since the Palace was built, he has shut himself up and refused to see any of them, maintaining his mystique through absolute inaccessibility.

The Nature of Oz's Rule

Oz's rule is defined by fear and distance. He never lets anyone come into his presence, and even those who wait upon him do not see him face to face. The people believe he can take on any form he wishes—a bird, an elephant, a cat, a beautiful fairy, a brownie—and that he is a Great Wizard more powerful than all the witches combined. This reputation protects him, for while he has no magical powers at all, he knows that the Witches of the East and West are terribly wicked, and had they not thought him more powerful than themselves, they would surely have destroyed him. He lives in deadly fear of them for many years. The people, for their part, are proud of their city and their ruler; they are happy, contented, and prosperous, and they obey Oz's commands without question, as when he orders the Scarecrow to rule in his absence and they accept it.

The Exposure and Its Aftermath

The illusion shatters when Dorothy and her companions, having destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West, demand their promised rewards. Oz, forced to appear before them, is revealed as a little old man with a bald head and a wrinkled face, a humbug who has been "making believe" all along. He confesses that he has fooled everyone so long that he thought he should never be found out, and that his greatest mistake was ever letting them into the Throne Room. Yet even after this exposure, the relationship is not fundamentally broken. Oz, though ashamed, continues the performance: he gives the Scarecrow brains made of bran and pins, the Tin Woodman a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Cowardly Lion a potion of courage, all while admitting he is not a real wizard. The people never learn the truth. When Oz departs in his balloon, they remember him lovingly, saying, "Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise Scarecrow to rule over us." They grieve for many days and will not be comforted. The Scarecrow, now ruler, is accepted by the people, who are proud that "there is not another city in all the world that is ruled by a stuffed man." The system of benevolent deception thus perpetuates itself, with the new ruler inheriting the same unquestioned authority that the old one enjoyed.