When Is a Door Not a Door?
Jan. 5th, 2010 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatWhile I'm not sure of the answer to that question, I do know that doors are significant in a few of the Oz books.
No, not THOSE Doors! They never went to Oz, except possibly on an acid trip. I mean ACTUAL doors. One of the most prominent is the Ambassa-Door in the tower workshop of the Wizard of Oz, as introduced in Neill's books. This door can magically transport someone entering it, and Number Nine uses it a few times within these stories, taking it anywhere from the great hall of the palace to the Nome Kingdom. The Wizard also has a portable version, Ambassa-Door Junior, which he carries in his black bag.
Doors also feature in one of Thompson's books, The Cowardly Lion of Oz, which includes a visit to the bizarre Kingdom of Doorways. This place appears from outside to be an enormous gray building located on a high hill in the southeastern Munchkin Country, but I kind of get the impression that there was a bit of multidimensional architecture involved in its design. There are seven doors in the front, and a sign warns newcomers to use the right door, but gives no indication as to which one it is. Each door has a plaque on it, giving some indication as to where it might lead.
1. Keep out! - As Notta Bit More and Bob Up obey this advice, we don't learn what's behind it.
2. Don't waken the baby - While this sounds innocuous, the baby in question is actually a dragon.
3. This way to the Dorms. No admittance till February - Later, we find out from the King of Doorways that a "dorm" is the kingdom's term for a hibernating animal, so perhaps the room behind this door is used as shelter for such animals in the winter.
4. King Theodore the Third
5. The Queen, Adora the First. No one without a title need apply - Notta and Bob use this one, which they enter by means of the doorknob somehow pulling them through the keyhole, and end up in the throne room. The king is also there, so perhaps both the fourth and fifth doors lead to the same place. While the clown and the boy do manage to escape from this room through a back door marked "Out," they have to fake out the monarchs to do so, so I'm assuming it isn't the right door.
Push! - Unfortunately, the door pushes back.
This door answers itself - Yes, it talks, and it turns out to be quite argumentative.
King Theodore is a mild-mannered bald man who enjoys rhyming, while Queen Adora has a terrible temper and bosses her husband and everyone else around. I'm inclined to think Thompson, whether consciously or not, based their characters on Lewis Carroll's King and Queen of Hearts. The only other people seen living there are doormen, the most important of whom is named Slammer. And there's not much more to say about this kingdom, other than that Notta and Bob meet a half-lion after leaving, and he says he came through the right door but can't remember which one it was. So this remains a mystery.
While I'm speaking of doors, I also think I should mention Trickolas Om, a villain mentioned in Lucky Bucky, who turns people into lost keys and doorknobs. In the same book, Bucky first finds the Gabooches in the form of doorknobs, but it's never actually indicated whether Trickolas was responsible for this. According to Jack Snow's Shaggy Man, the wizard Conjo has a book that tells how to turn people into doorknobs.
No, not THOSE Doors! They never went to Oz, except possibly on an acid trip. I mean ACTUAL doors. One of the most prominent is the Ambassa-Door in the tower workshop of the Wizard of Oz, as introduced in Neill's books. This door can magically transport someone entering it, and Number Nine uses it a few times within these stories, taking it anywhere from the great hall of the palace to the Nome Kingdom. The Wizard also has a portable version, Ambassa-Door Junior, which he carries in his black bag.
Doors also feature in one of Thompson's books, The Cowardly Lion of Oz, which includes a visit to the bizarre Kingdom of Doorways. This place appears from outside to be an enormous gray building located on a high hill in the southeastern Munchkin Country, but I kind of get the impression that there was a bit of multidimensional architecture involved in its design. There are seven doors in the front, and a sign warns newcomers to use the right door, but gives no indication as to which one it is. Each door has a plaque on it, giving some indication as to where it might lead.
1. Keep out! - As Notta Bit More and Bob Up obey this advice, we don't learn what's behind it.
2. Don't waken the baby - While this sounds innocuous, the baby in question is actually a dragon.
3. This way to the Dorms. No admittance till February - Later, we find out from the King of Doorways that a "dorm" is the kingdom's term for a hibernating animal, so perhaps the room behind this door is used as shelter for such animals in the winter.
4. King Theodore the Third
5. The Queen, Adora the First. No one without a title need apply - Notta and Bob use this one, which they enter by means of the doorknob somehow pulling them through the keyhole, and end up in the throne room. The king is also there, so perhaps both the fourth and fifth doors lead to the same place. While the clown and the boy do manage to escape from this room through a back door marked "Out," they have to fake out the monarchs to do so, so I'm assuming it isn't the right door.
Push! - Unfortunately, the door pushes back.
This door answers itself - Yes, it talks, and it turns out to be quite argumentative.
King Theodore is a mild-mannered bald man who enjoys rhyming, while Queen Adora has a terrible temper and bosses her husband and everyone else around. I'm inclined to think Thompson, whether consciously or not, based their characters on Lewis Carroll's King and Queen of Hearts. The only other people seen living there are doormen, the most important of whom is named Slammer. And there's not much more to say about this kingdom, other than that Notta and Bob meet a half-lion after leaving, and he says he came through the right door but can't remember which one it was. So this remains a mystery.
While I'm speaking of doors, I also think I should mention Trickolas Om, a villain mentioned in Lucky Bucky, who turns people into lost keys and doorknobs. In the same book, Bucky first finds the Gabooches in the form of doorknobs, but it's never actually indicated whether Trickolas was responsible for this. According to Jack Snow's Shaggy Man, the wizard Conjo has a book that tells how to turn people into doorknobs.
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