How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"When I return I shall be as other men are."
"I have always liked you as you were," said Dorothy, simply. …
"But surely you will think more of me when you hear the splendid thoughts my new brain is going to turn out." (16.1-16.3)
The Scarecrow doesn't quite get that his reputation isn't as a fool. In fact, his friends recognize that he often has good ideas.
Quote #8
"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…." (16.49)
Imagination is a powerful thing. Oz capitalized on his reputation as a wizard to trick the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Woodman into thinking he solved their problems—even after they had discovered that he was a fraud! The solution to Dorothy's problem isn't going to be quite so easy to fake, which makes the wizard more than a little nervous. He knows he's going to have to come through for her for real if he wants maintain some level of respectability.
Quote #9
"I am tired of being such a humbug. If I should go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not a Wizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them. So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome. I'd much rather go back to Kansas…." (17.14)
The wizard has his people fooled, and he definitely benefitted from that deception. But it also seems like it's made him live in constant fear of being found out—and that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Does it?