Brain and heart emblems
Chapter 16 · paragraphs 1–29 Full readingOriginal 1900 novel · Project Gutenberg eBook 55 · Chapter 16 · paragraphs 1–29
1Next morning the Scarecrow said to his friends: “Congratulate me. I am going to Oz to get my brains at last. When I return I shall be as other men are.” “I have always liked you as you were,” said Dorothy simply. “It is kind of you to like a Scarecrow,” he replied. “But surely you will think more of me when you hear the splendid thoughts my new brain is going to turn out.” Then he said good-bye to them all in a cheerful voice and went to the Throne Room, where he rapped upon the door. “Come in,” said Oz. The Scarecrow went in and found the little man sitting down by the window, engaged in deep thought. “I have come for my brains,” remarked the Scarecrow, a little uneasily. “Oh, yes; sit down in that chair, please,” replied Oz. “You must excuse me for taking your head off, but I shall have to do it in order to put your brains in their proper place.” “That’s all right,” said the Scarecrow. “You are quite welcome to take my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it on again.” So the Wizard unfastened his head and emptied out the straw. Then he entered the back room and took up a measure of bran, which he mixed with a great many pins and needles. Having shaken them together thoroughly, he filled the top of the Scarecrow’s head with the mixture and stuffed the rest of the space with straw, to hold it in place. When he had fastened the Scarecrow’s head on his body again he said to him, “Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains.” The Scarecrow was both pleased and proud at the fulfillment of his greatest wish, and having thanked Oz warmly he went back to his friends. Dorothy looked at him curiously. His head was quite bulged out at the top with brains. “How do you feel?” she asked. “I feel wise indeed,” he answered earnestly. “When I get used to my brains I shall know everything.” “Why are those needles and pins sticking out of your head?” asked the Tin Woodman. “That is proof that he is sharp,” remarked the Lion.
2“Well, I must go to Oz and get my heart,” said the Woodman. So he walked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door. “Come in,” called Oz, and the Woodman entered and said, “I have come for my heart.” “Very well,” answered the little man. “But I shall have to cut a hole in your breast, so I can put your heart in the right place. I hope it won’t hurt you.” “Oh, no,” answered the Woodman. “I shall not feel it at all.” So Oz brought a pair of tinsmith’s shears and cut a small, square hole in the left side of the Tin Woodman’s breast. Then, going to a chest of drawers, he took out a pretty heart, made entirely of silk and stuffed with sawdust. “Isn’t it a beauty?” he asked. “It is, indeed!” replied the Woodman, who was greatly pleased. “But is it a kind heart?” “Oh, very!” answered Oz. He put the heart in the Woodman’s breast and then replaced the square of tin, soldering it neatly together where it had been cut. “There,” said he; “now you have a heart that any man might be proud of. I’m sorry I had to put a patch on your breast, but it really couldn’t be helped.” “Never mind the patch,” exclaimed the happy Woodman. “I am very grateful to you, and shall never forget your kindness.” “Don’t speak of it,” replied Oz. Then the Tin Woodman went back to his friends, who wished him every joy on account of his good fortune.
Decoded Meaning & consequence
The thinker receives an emblem that permits him to trust his thinking
needles and pins
The Wizard replaces ordinary straw with a mixture bearing needles and pins. The joke gives sharpness a literal visible form. The Scarecrow receives an object that confirms the identity he previously refused.
Back to these wordsThe thinker receives an emblem that permits him to trust his thinking
The Wizard replaces ordinary straw with a mixture bearing needles and pins. The joke gives sharpness a literal visible form. The Scarecrow receives an object that confirms the identity he previously refused.
The ceremony works through recognition, expectation, and public description. It does not explain the intelligence that built bridges and planned rescues beforehand. That faculty already acted while its bearer denied it.
A ritual can help someone inhabit an attained capacity. Its danger appears when the emblem becomes the supposed source of every future judgment. The Scarecrow still must use experience instead of assuming that the new head contains every answer.
The heart emblem gathers feeling around a recognized center
stuffed with sawdust
The silk heart gives the Woodman a center he can touch and name. His tenderness has already protected smaller lives and mourned injured friends. The object helps his account of himself catch up with those actions.
Back to these wordsThe heart emblem gathers feeling around a recognized center
The silk heart gives the Woodman a center he can touch and name. His tenderness has already protected smaller lives and mourned injured friends. The object helps his account of himself catch up with those actions.
Feeling becomes reliable through how it values and responds to another being. A badge of kindness cannot guarantee that response in a new situation. The emblem remains useful when it recalls actual care instead of replacing its practice.
Brain and heart emblems
The three ceremonies attach visible or felt signs to capacities already demonstrated on the road. Their usefulness lies in changed self-recognition. Their limit lies in confusing that recognition with the manufacture of a faculty.
Sources for this passage
L. Frank Baum · The Wonderful Wizard of OzChapter 16: The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
Robert Anton Wilson · Cosmic Trigger I · Preface to the 1986 EditionModel agnosticism, reality tunnels, and metaprogramming
The courage drink
Chapter 16 · paragraphs 30–41 Full readingOriginal 1900 novel · Project Gutenberg eBook 55 · Chapter 16 · paragraphs 30–41
3The Lion now walked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door. “Come in,” said Oz. “I have come for my courage,” announced the Lion, entering the room. “Very well,” answered the little man; “I will get it for you.” He went to a cupboard and reaching up to a high shelf took down a square green bottle, the contents of which he poured into a green-gold dish, beautifully carved. Placing this before the Cowardly Lion, who sniffed at it as if he did not like it, the Wizard said: “Drink.” “What is it?” asked the Lion. “Well,” answered Oz, “if it were inside of you, it would be courage. You know, of course, that courage is always inside one; so that this really cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it. Therefore I advise you to drink it as soon as possible.” The Lion hesitated no longer, but drank till the dish was empty. “How do you feel now?” asked Oz. “Full of courage,” replied the Lion, who went joyfully back to his friends to tell them of his good fortune. Oz, left to himself, smiled to think of his success in giving the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion exactly what they thought they wanted. “How can I help being a humbug,” he said, “when all these people make me do things that everybody knows can’t be done? It was easy to make the Scarecrow and the Lion and the Woodman happy, because they imagined I could do anything. But it will take more than imagination to carry Dorothy back to Kansas, and I’m sure I don’t know how it can be done.”
Decoded Meaning & consequence
The courage drink changes the will’s expectation about its own action
courage is always inside one
The Wizard directs the Lion to drink a substance whose identity is withheld. His explanation makes inward location proof that it has become courage. The Lion experiences a new permission to act through the accepted meaning of the ceremony.
Back to these wordsThe courage drink changes the will’s expectation about its own action
The Wizard directs the Lion to drink a substance whose identity is withheld. His explanation makes inward location proof that it has become courage. The Lion experiences a new permission to act through the accepted meaning of the ceremony.
The mechanism joins sensation, authoritative speech, and expectation. It resembles a placebo rite, where a trusted symbolic act alters the participant’s available response. The story establishes this particular ceremonial effect without making all magical objects equivalent to suggestion.
The Wizard smiles because the recipients now feel satisfied. Dorothy’s problem remains untouched: an actual geographical crossing cannot be completed merely by feeling that it has occurred. Different needs require different forms of help.
The courage drink
The companions gain confidence while Dorothy still requires transport. The difference prevents symbolic confirmation from becoming an all-purpose explanation of spiritual help. A rite’s result must be assessed against the particular work it claims to perform.
Sources for this passage
L. Frank Baum · The Wonderful Wizard of OzChapter 16: The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
Robert Anton Wilson · Cosmic Trigger I · Preface to the 1986 EditionModel agnosticism, reality tunnels, and metaprogramming
End of chapter