Wizard of Oz as an Allegory.

2. Allegory
A story in which characters,
settings, and events stand in for
other people, events, or abstract
ideas, or qualities. An allegory can
be read on one level for its
LITERAL meaning, and on another
level for its ALLEGORICAL, or
SYMBOLIC meaning.

3. Populism and The Wizard of
Oz

4. What is Populism?
Populists in late nineteenth
century wanted to help the
common people.
They advocated measures
that would help farmers and
laborers.
They supported the free
coinage of silver.

5. L. Frank Baum
The Author of The Wizard of
Oz
Wrote The Wizard of Oz in 1900.
Activist in American Populist
movement
Political views may have influenced
writing
Had a special interest in the gold and
silver monetary standards debate of the
time.

6. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
 In 1964 high
school teacher
Henry
Littlefield
wrote that the
Wizard of Oz
was an allegory
about Populism

7. What Did Give a Dollar
Value?
 Specie-That which backs
the value of money.
Prior To 1890s?
Gold
What did Populists Want?
Bimetallism-Gold/Silver
What is the “Specie” of Today’s
Money? Trust
Fiat Money

8. 19th Century Monetary
Fight
East Coast
Bankers (Rich)
Creditors (They have
provided loans to
farmers for land,
seed, machinery, etc.)
Back the Gold
Standard
Want the amount of
currency in U.S. to
stay fixed or low
growth.
 Plains Farmers (Poor)
Debtors (They
have taken out
loans that they
must pay back)
Back the Free
Coinage of Silver
Want the amount
of currency in the
U.S. to expand

9. “The Cross of Gold”
 William
Jennings Bryan
(1896
Democratic
Candidate for
President)
 “You Shall Not
Crucify Mankind
Upon a Cross of
Gold!”

10. Hidden Meaning and
Characters

11. The Yellow Brick Road?
 How is gold measuresed?
 By the once!
 What’s the abbreviation for
once?
OZ!

12. Yellow Brick Road

13. Hidden Representations:
The Yellow Brick Road, with all its
dangers, represented the gold
standard.

14. Yellow Brick Road

15. Dorothy
Naïve, young, and
simple.
Represents the
American people, led
astray and seeking her
way back home.
Dorothy wants out—
“Somewhere Over the
Rainbow”

16. Dorothy Also Represents
The American People at
their best.
"Dorothy is Baum's Miss
Everyperson. She is one of
us, levelheaded and human,
and she has a real
problem."

17. “Ruby” Slippers
In the book they
were Silver.
Bimetallism!

18. Toto
 May represent
the Teetotalers
or
Prohibitionists
who supported
the Populist
movement

19. The Twister
 The Populist
movement or
political upheaval
 Sweeping people
from the B&W
Kansas to the
colorful Oz and
Emerald City

20. The Wicked Witch of the
East Continued…
Represents
the
industrialists
and bankers
of the East
Harasses and
enslaves the
Munchkins

21. WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST
Stands for wealthy people of
the East favoring gold currency
Symbolic of big businesses
and corporations who also
wanted gold standard
Dorothy kills her—defeats
people who wanted gold
currency

22. Wicked Witch of the
East

23. Wicked Witch of the
East
Represents the Bankers of East
and the Industrialists who
wanted to stay on the Gold only
Standard.
Some also say the Wicked Witch
of the East represented Grover
Cleveland. As President he
resisted the Silver Standard.

24. Munchkins

25. Munchkins
Represent the common people. In particular
the Lollipop Guild represents Child Labor

26. The Wicked Witch of the
West
 Represents the
railroad and oil
companies in
the West
 Enslaved the
Winged
Monkeys and
the Winkies

29. Wicked Witch of the
West

30. Only Fire Scene!

31. WICKED WITCH OF THE
WEST
•Personification of the harsh forces of the west,
such as the drought, powerful RxR’s and mine
owners.

32. She is killed by water, just like the
drought.

33. The Winged Monkeys
 Represents
Native-Americans
in the frontier and
West and who
have become
subjugated by the
corporations and
government.

34. Winged Monkeys "Once we were a
free people, living
happily in the forest,
flying from tree to
tree, eating nuts and
fruit and doing just
as we pleased
without calling
anybody
master...This was
many ears ago
before Oz came out
of the clouds to rule
over this land.”

35. Yellow Winkies: Chinese
immigrant Workers

36. Good Witch of The
North (South?)

38. The Good Witch of the So
North(South?)
 Represents the
Southeast region
and its
predominant
agricultural sector
 Populists saw the
region as a
sympathizer and
support bloc

39. Scare Crow

40. THE SCARECROW
Represents farmers.
Farmers thought to be ignorant.
Shows common sense throughout the
story— always had a brain.
Shows belief that farmers were not as
ignorant as wealthy people thought.

41. Tin Man

42. THE TIN MAN
•Industrial workers
•Wants a heart—dehumanized
•Physically strong, hollow inside
•Stuck when they found him—
workers felt trapped in an economic
rut
•Needs oil to operate, shuts down
when oil production shuts down.

43. THE COWARDLY LION
•Represents William Jennings Bryan—Populist leader
•Looking for courage—Bryan thought to be a coward by some
•Possessed courage all along

44. Hidden Representations:
The Cowardly Lion was William
Jennings Bryan, Populist presidential
candidate in 1896.

45. There Off to See the
Wizzard…

46. The Wizard

47. THE WIZARD
•Represents the scheming
politician who pretends to have
all the answers.
• Tricks the people into
believing he’s wise and
benevolent, when he’s actually
selfish and cruel.
•Send others into danger for his
own personal gain.

49. Green Glasses?

50. THE EMERALD CITY
•Symbolizes the national capital, as well as
greenback paper money

51. There’s No Place Like
Home…