English Language and Literature Commons^™

Do You Believe? Peter Pan And The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz As Historical Artifacts, Tamara Stone

Honors Theses

Scholars often analyze J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz biographically through the author, didactically, or as pure entertainment. While those interpretations provide insight, children's literature like Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz can also be analyzed as political and social commentary. Although children’s literature is often discounted as a lesser genre of literature, analyzing children’s works offers later generations a view into contemporary societal mores because the generally straightforward plotline allows for subtly incorporated commentary by the author. One can read Peter Pan as “simply a children’s story,” or note the …