Finding Dorothy

Maud Gage Baum is the protagonist of Finding Dorothy. The reader experiences the novel’s events, both past and present, from her close third-person point of view. Maud is the vehicle through which readers understand everyone and everything else.

Elizabeth Letts characterizes Maud through her relationship with others—she is Frank’s wife, Julia’s sister, and Matilda’s daughter. This demonstrates how she values her family and loved ones. Her primary motivation in the present timeline is to protect the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and keep the MGM movie true to Frank’s vision for the novel and the wider world of Oz.

Maud grows—making her a round, dynamic character—when she meets Judy Garland. Her motivation shifts from protecting Frank’s vision to protecting Judy. She sees a younger version of herself in Judy, and recognizes the struggles of a woman in a man’s world. In protecting Judy, she strives to protect the memory of Dorothy, who existed only for herself and Frank. Though she keeps the same level of intensity in her beliefs from beginning to end, she learns that her focus was misplaced and works to do better by her husband’s memory and by Judy.