Dorothy Must Die

“I don’t know if I was exactly interested in Dustin, either, but we did have one thing in common: we both wanted out of Flat Hill, Kansas.

For a while, it had almost looked like Dustin was going to make it, too. All you need is a little push sometimes. Sometimes it’s a tornado; sometimes it’s the kind of right arm that gets you a football scholarship. He had been set to go. Until eight and a half months ago, that is.

I didn’t know what was worse: to have your shot and screw it up, or to never have had a shot in the first place.”

Madison accuses Amy of spending time with Dustin, Madison’s boyfriend, claiming Amy is jealous. Though Amy isn’t jealous of Madison’s relationship with Dustin, she is jealous of the escape from Kansas that Dustin almost had. Madison’s unexpected pregnancy caused Dustin to lose his football scholarship and his escape, and Amy helps him with math because she feels bad that he had a chance but lost it. The final paragraph is Amy comparing herself to Dustin while wishing for her own escape chance. She also realizes that however badly she feels about her prospects, Dustin likely feels worse because he had a chance that was taken away. Amy never got her hopes up and so couldn’t have them shattered.

“Well, I had wanted to be gone. I’d wanted it for as long as I’d known there was anywhere to go. I wanted other places, other people. Another me. I wanted to leave everything and everyone behind.

But not like this.”

Here, Amy hunkers in her airborne trailer as she watches objects fly past the window and wonders if her mom is all right. She expresses regret, though she doesn’t realize it. Whether she likes her life in Kansas or not, it’s the only life she knows, and leaving behind everything we know, even for something better, is scary. The final sentence supports the old adage of “be careful what you wish for.” Amy wished to get out of Kansas, but her wishes never included a tornado, her home flying through the air, or the arrival in Oz that comes in Chapter 3.