Aunt Em
| Aunt Em | |
|---|---|
| Oz character | |
| First appearance | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| Portrayed by | Clara Blandick |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Housewife, farmer |
| Title | Royal Mender of the Stockings of the Ruler of Oz |
| Family |
Dorothy Gale (niece) Unnamed sister |
| Spouse(s) | Uncle Henry |
| Children | None |
| Relatives | Uncle Bill Hugson (brother-in-law) Unnamed Australians (in-laws) |
| Nationality | United States |
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a farm in Kansas. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she is described as having been a "young, pretty wife" when she arrived at Uncle Henry's farm, but having been "grayed" by her life there, implying that she appears older than one might expect from her chronological age. Baum tells us that when Dorothy first came to live with her, Em would "scream and press her hand upon her heart" when startled by Dorothy's laughter, and she appears emotionally distant to her at the beginning of the story. However, after Dorothy is restored to her at the end of the book, we see her true nature: she cries out, "My darling child!" and covers her with kisses.
There is no question about Dorothy's love for her aunt: indeed, her request to the magic Silver Shoes is "Take me home to Aunt Em!".
Em spends most of her life working on farms. In The Emerald City of Oz, she states that she has raised chickens for "nearly forty years." After confessing to Dorothy that their farm was facing imminent foreclosure, they all move to the Land of Oz to live for good in the Emerald City. Princess Ozma appoints Em "Royal Mender of the Stockings of the Ruler of Oz" in order to keep her busy.
Her sister is married to Bill Hugson. It is never clarified in the books whether it is she or Uncle Henry who is Dorothy's blood relative. (It is also possible that "Aunt" and "Uncle" are affectionate terms of a foster family and that Dorothy is not related to either of them.)
She is featured slightly less than Uncle Henry in the Oz books, despite having a bigger role in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Ruth Plumly Thompson gave her only two brief mentions in The Royal Book of Oz and Grampa in Oz. She had somewhat larger roles in John R. Neill's The Wonder City of Oz and The Scalawagons of Oz and Jack Snow's The Magical Mimics in Oz.
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Wikipedia