She had to learn it for herself

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2001)

A couple of people have said they've wondered why Glinda would think that Dorothy would not have "believed" her that all she had to do to get back home was click her heels. I've wondered about that too, and have come up with this suggestion: Perhaps Glinda was *not* referring to clicking the shoes when she said Dorothy "wouldn't have believed me." Perhaps she was referring to what Dorothy needed to learn from her adventures in Oz.

Consider, if you will: After Glinda says, "She had to learn it for herself," the tin man then asks Dorothy what she's learned. Dorothy then makes her speech about how from now on she's going to look for "her heart's desire" "in her own back yard." She then says, "Is that it?" to which Glinda says, "That's all it is." It's only after all that's settled that Glinda says, "Now all you have to do is click your heels together three times," or something like that. The implication being--to me, anyway--that clicking her heels, while necessary, wouldn't have helped her get home if she hadn't gone through the step of learning what she learned in Oz. And, presumably, at least according to Glinda, Dorothy would *not* have believed that she needed to look for her hearts' desire in her own back yard, etc., etc., had Glinda "told her that before." .