After class today, I began thinking more about the juxtaposition between external and internal states in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy’s house gets lifted by the tornado, the external world seems terrifying when the narrator states, “It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily” (12). Despite the threatening circumstance, Dorothy’s interpretation (the internal) presents a more calming image; indeed, she even compares the ride to being “rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle” (12). Although the world of Oz can be considered the primary form of virtual reality in this book, could Dorothy’s mind also be considered a form of virtual reality, and if so, what function does construing reality in her mind provide? In “The Allegory of the Cave,” fleeing back to our ignorance was presented as the hallmark of an uneducated mind; however, tricking our minds into seeing a scary world as more calming may actually protect us from fear. Of course, there are consequences for when our own misunderstandings or strange interpretations of events misconstrue reality. As some of you have pointed out in your blog posts already, the ironic element of this book is that the characters already possess the traits they deeply covet. Could their erroneous interpretations of their own merit also be a form of virtual reality, and does their misunderstanding damage them in some way, or does it ironically help them to hone the traits they wish to obtain?