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Why does the Tin Woodman want a heart?

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Illustration by W.W. Denslow showing Dorothy comforting the Cowardly Lion on a yellow brick road, with Toto, the Tin Woodsman, and the Scarecrow nearby in a forest. — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz An illustrated page by W.W. Denslow in L. Frank Baum's *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*.

In the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Tin Woodman desires a heart because he lost his original one after his body was replaced with tin parts.1

His transformation occurred after the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted his axe, causing him to accidentally chop off his own limbs and torso. As each body part was replaced with a tin version, he lost his heart and, consequently, his ability to love the young woman he intended to marry. He joins Dorothy on her journey to the City of Emeralds to ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart to restore his capacity for emotion.12