The document summarizes the political and social symbolism within L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Published in 1902, the story of Dorothy's journey to return home to Kansas represents the struggles of farmers and workers during the 1890s Populist movement. Dorothy symbolizes the common person, while the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion represent farmers, industrial workers, and the American military. Most notably, the Wizard is portrayed as a powerful figure behind a curtain who has no real abilities - a representation of corrupt politicians and bankers during the Gilded Age. Overall, the novel uses repetitive symbolism to represent the difficulties average Americans faced against the powerful minority of wealthy elites.
The document summarizes the political and social symbolism within L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Published in 1902, the story of Dorothy's journey to return home to Kansas represents the struggles of farmers and workers during the 1890s Populist movement. Dorothy symbolizes the common person, while the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion represent farmers, industrial workers, and the American military. Most notably, the Wizard is portrayed as a powerful figure behind a curtain who has no real abilities - a representation of corrupt politicians and bankers during the Gilded Age. Overall, the novel uses repetitive symbolism to represent the difficulties average Americans faced against the powerful minority of wealthy elites.
The document summarizes the political and social symbolism within L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Published in 1902, the story of Dorothy's journey to return home to Kansas represents the struggles of farmers and workers during the 1890s Populist movement. Dorothy symbolizes the common person, while the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion represent farmers, industrial workers, and the American military. Most notably, the Wizard is portrayed as a powerful figure behind a curtain who has no real abilities - a representation of corrupt politicians and bankers during the Gilded Age. Overall, the novel uses repetitive symbolism to represent the difficulties average Americans faced against the powerful minority of wealthy elites.
The document summarizes the political and social symbolism within L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Published in 1902, the story of Dorothy's journey to return home to Kansas represents the struggles of farmers and workers during the 1890s Populist movement. Dorothy symbolizes the common person, while the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion represent farmers, industrial workers, and the American military. Most notably, the Wizard is portrayed as a powerful figure behind a curtain who has no real abilities - a representation of corrupt politicians and bankers during the Gilded Age. Overall, the novel uses repetitive symbolism to represent the difficulties average Americans faced against the powerful minority of wealthy elites.
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Michael Mangal
10/27/14
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a fictional adventure novel that was written by L. Frank Baum in 1902. This novel is about a young girl named Dorothy who was trying to find her way back home to Kansas after ending up in the World of Oz. However this girls journey was much more than a fantastical adventure, but symbolism for the Populist Party of this time period. The story is said to represents political and social issues during the 1890s. Dorothy was meant to represent the majority. She was a symbol of the everyday man or woman. Her home was in Kansas, which during the time was a populist state due to the high population of farmers. The yellow brick road represented the gold that the United States currency was based on. Dorothys shoes were originally silver in the original story. The silver shoes represent the opportunity the country had to use silver as the currency also. Populists and agricultural workers believed that printing more money and basing it on silver would save the economic problems. There would be more money in circulation without decreasing the value of the dollar. It is interesting to see that Baum ended the story by having Dorothy click her shoes three times in order to go home. This brings some insight into the authors point of view on whether or not he believes that the silver will solve the United States economic problems. Dorothy meets a party of people on her journey including a scarecrow, lion, and tin man. The scarecrow represented the farmers, the tin man represented industrial workers and the cowardly lion was said to represent the American military. The most interesting symbolism to me was the Wizard of Oz himself. In the story the wizard was only a man who tricked people into believing he was a powerful man who could grant them their wishes. In reality he was simply a man behind the curtain who had no power at all. The wizard represented powerful politicians and
bankers. In my opinion, I believe that the wizard in the story represented the Gilded Age as a whole. The wizard was a sign of hope for Dorothy. Dorothy travels on the golden road to meet the wizard and finds out he is not powerful at all. Dorothy realizes that there is no such thing as a wizard who can grant her wishes but rather she must get home on her own. I believe the wizard represents the Gilded Age because on the outside the wizard was a powerful man who can lead Dorothy home when he really was nothing more than a trickster. Overall, the story of the Wizard of Oz has a lot to do with populism. The story is full of symbolism that represents the difficult economic, social and political struggle for the farmers and industrial workers during the 1890s. I believe the author wanted to tell a story of the struggles that the people of the United States were going through because of the powerful minority of rich powerful men. The repetitive symbolism in the story makes me agree with the belief that the story was meant to symbolize populist struggles of the 1890s.
Works Cited "The Money Masters." THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ A Monetary Reformers Brief Symbol Glossary Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. "The Story Behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [a Parable about Populism, Money Reform, and the 1890s Midwestern Political Movement Led by William Jennings Bryan ]."The Story Behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [a Parable about Populism, Money Reform, and the 1890s Midwestern Political Movement Led by William Jennings Bryan ]. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. "The Wizard of Oz as a Satirical Allegory of Money and Politics in 1900." The Wizard of Oz as a Satirical Allegory of Money and Politics in 1900. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
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