Theme
The book "develops a favorite theme of Baum's, the emptiness and artificiality of fashionable life." Throughout Baum's literary canon, but most notably in the Oz books and the Aunt Jane's Nieces series, Baum stresses the fundamental values of simplicity and naturalness as opposed to "sophistication."
Characters in the book express pronounced skepticism about the pretensions of high society. Patsy argues that "all decent folks" are members of society — and when another character calls this "communism," Patsy agrees, "Perhaps so." She continues,
- "...certain classes have leagued together and excluded themselves from their fellows, admitting only those of their own ilk. The people didn't put them on their pedestals — they put themselves there. Yet the people bow down and worship these social gods and seem glad to have them."
Beth's initial attitude is so negative that her cousin Louise calls her a "rank socialist."
Read more about this topic: Aunt Jane's Nieces In Society
Famous quotes containing the word theme:
“And God-appointed Berkeley that proved all things a dream,
That this pragmatical, preposterous pig of a world, its farrow that so solid seem,
Must vanish on the instant if the mind but change its theme ...”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“... passion for survival is the great theme of women’s poetry.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)