{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1421",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1421,
    "subject": "Ozflash Revised, Part 2",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1999-03-09T00:46:43+00:00",
    "last": "1999-03-09T00:46:43+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0024-0050@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "William H. Ansley",
        "address": "wansley at warwick.net"
      },
      "date": "1999-03-09T00:46:43+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Ozflash Revised, Part 2",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "The New Improved Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz\nOz References in \"The Eyeflash Miracles\" Part 2\n\nGeorge Tibbs, usually referred to as Little Tib in the story (his father is\nknown as Big Tib), is a homeless blind boy living in a (probably[4]) future\nversion of the United States where everyone is identified by their retinal\npatterns. Since Little Tib's retinas were destroyed he has no official\nidentity or existence and he has completely fallen through the cracks in\nthe system.\n\nAt the beginning of the story he meets two homeless men, Mr. Parker, a\nwhite man who is a former school superintendent, and Nitty, a black man who\nwas a custodian at the same school[5]. They are both hoboes, travelling the\ncountry on freight trains and by hitch hiking. They lost their jobs when\nthe school where they worked became totally automated. Mr. Parker has\noccasional delusions that he is still a school superintendent and outbreaks\nof violent temper so Nitty has taken it upon himself to follow Mr. Parker\naround and take care of him. Mr. Parker has a plan to get Nitty and himself\ntheir old jobs back; it involves reprogramming the central computer in the\nschool district where they used to work.\n\nLittle Tib meets them while he is walking along a set of train tracks.\nNitty and Mr. Parker befriend Little Tib. Mr. Parker says he will be able\nto help Little Tib when he carries out his plan and is in a position of\nauthority again. That night Little Tib stays with Nitty and Mr. Parker and\nhas two dreams. We learn that Little Tib can see in his dreams. The first\nseems to rehash events from his earlier life in a distorted way, probably\nthe events which resulted in his blindness.\n\nThe second dream contains the first Oz references. It starts out with\nLittle Tib walking through a field of sunflowers which can see him and turn\nto look at him. When he is not looking at them, they whirl around and\naround. This is a distorted but recognizable reference to a scene in the\ntwelfth chapter of _The Marvelous Land of Oz_, entitled \"Mr. H. M.\nWoggle-Bug, T. E.\" Here, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and Tip (of whom\nmore later) are trying to get back to the Emerald City and are blocked by\nan enchantment that makes them see a field of sunflowers. These sunflowers\nwhirl when they look at them and dazzle their vision and mystify them so\nthey don't know which way to go. When the Tin Woodmen tries to cut them\ndown, they stop spinning and a girl's face appears at the center of each.\nThe Woodman is too tender hearted to try to cut the flowers down after\nthis, but they finally realize that the flowers are an illusion and by\nshutting their eyes they are able to pass beyond the field.\n\nIn the next part of Little Tib's dream a city floats down like a cloud and\nsettles on the ground in front of him. I think there may be floating cities\nin later Oz books beyond the ten I have re-read, but I am not sure.\nHowever, the description of the city is definitely that of the Emerald City\nas it appears in the movie _The Wizard of Oz_. The Emerald City was never a\nfloating city in any Oz book as far as I can recall. Then again, there are\nmany Oz books I haven't read even once yet[6].\n\nNext Little Tib appears before the gates of the Emerald City which also\nappear as they do in the movie with a window in them and a gate keeper\n(Little Tib calls him a gate-man) who looks through it. When Little Tib\nsays he wants to see the king, the gate-man reaches through the window and\npulls him through. One inside the gates, the gate-man hands Little Tib a\npair of toy glasses and tells him he must wear them. But when Little Tib\nputs them on they turn into lines drawn on his face, two circles around his\neyes connected by a line across his nose. Little Tib can see this because\nthe gate-man shows him his face in a mirror.\n\nThis bit is taken from the book _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ and others.\nWhenever anyone is allowed into the Emerald City he is made to put on a\npair of spectacles with green-tinted lenses[7]. The ear-pieces of the\nspectacles lock behind the head so they cannot be taken off. This is by\norder of the Wizard of Oz. The reason given is that the dazzling array of\nemeralds and other gems that are embedded in the walls and sidewalks of the\nEmerald City will blind anyone who's eyes are not protected. The real\nreason is that the Wizard decided that it would be more impressive if\n*everything* in the Emerald City looked green. By making everyone wear\nthese tinted spectacles, he achieves this aim[8]. Why Little Tib's toy\nglasses become lines on his face, I have no idea.\n\nThen Little Tib is walking through the city. The houses have sideways\ngardens on their walls. I am sure this is described in a book late in the\nseries, but I can't remember which. It is definitely not in the first\nten[9].\n\nLittle Tib comes to the palace. It has walls of \"trees holding hands\", a\n\"gate of bowing elephants\" and a long stairway that seems to extend into\nthe clouds. I don't remember any of this being in any Oz book. Little Tib\nexplains the stairway to himself by recalling that the whole city was\noriginally in the clouds. Down the stairway is coming the king. \"She was a\nbeautiful woman, and although she did not look at all like her, Little Tib\nknew that she was his mother.\"[10] This is Ozma, the ruler of Oz. Aside\nfrom the confusion inherent in dreams, there is a reason why Little Tib may\nrefer to her as a king which I will get to before I am done.\n\nThat was the end of Little Tib's dream and the end of this posting. This is\nthe pattern of the Oz references in this story. They are often distorted\nand mixed with other things. Wolfe combines Oz references with other\nreferences frequently. But I think all the references I mention are too\nstrong to be dismissed as coincidence and some of the later ones are\ninarguable. Even though I stated earlier that I think the reason for some\nof the distortions and errors in the Oz references is that Wolfe read the\nbooks long ago, I am sure some of the changes and probably all of the\nadditions and combinations are deliberate.\n\nWilliam Ansley\n\n[4] I don't have any reason to think otherwise, but with Wolfe, you never know.\n\n[5] I mention their race even though it isn't terribly important to the\nstory because one of the things Wolfe seems to be doing in \"The Eyeflash\nMiracles\" is commenting on race relations.\n\n[6] In fact, since Baum eventually tied many of his non-Oz books to the Oz\nseries (since the Oz books were by far the most successful) I would really\nhave to read all of his books to be sure I didn't miss any possible\nreferences. alga has suggested that a non-Oz Baum book called _Sky Island_\nmight be the source of the floating city image. Of course what really\nmatters is which books *Wolfe* read, but I have no way of knowing that,\nshort of asking him and that would be cheating.\n\n[7] This is true in at least the first two books. I think this practice\nends when Ozma starts ruling Oz and the Emerald City. Or Baum just forgot\nabout it.\n\n[8] Baum is very inconsistent about color in the Oz books. In later books,\neverything in the Emerald City really is green.\n\n[9] Based on a vague memory, I suspect this description occurred in the\n34th Oz book, _The Wonder City of Oz_ by John R. Neill, published in 1940.\nI should be getting a copy soon to check this.\n\n[10] Shades of Silk's vision in mainframe in _The Book of the Long Sun_."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}