Sarah Walker - January 19, 2020
Courageous Living
The Cowardly Lion makes his first appearance in the book 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. He is the last of the companions Dorothy befriends on her way to the Emerald City where he ambushes her, Toto, Scarecrow, and the Tinman. When he tries to bite Toto, Dorothy slaps him. She calls the Lion a coward and the Lion admits that he is. The Cowardly Lion joins her so that he can ask The Wizard for courage, ashamed that he is not brave enough to play his cultural role of the King of the Beasts. Since all lions, in general, are stereotypically known to be fierce, ferocious and expected to be ‘The Kings of all Beasts,’ by nature, the Cowardly Lion believes that his insecurities make him inferior to other lions and beasts. He simply does not understand that courage means acting in the face of fear and facing one's fears head on, which he does frequently throughout the Oz stories. Only during the aftereffects of the Wizard's gift, when he is under the influence of an unknown green liquid substance that the Wizard orders him to drink out of a small bowl, is he not filled with fear anymore.
