Political interpretations of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz - wikipedia Political interpretations of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz Cartoonist W.A. Rogers in 1906 sees the political uses of Oz : he depicts William Randolph Hearst as Scarecrow stuck in his own Ooze in Harper 's Weekly Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz include treatments of the modern fairy tale ( written by L. Frank Baum and first published in 1900 ) as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic, and social events of America in the 1890s. Scholars have examined four quite different versions of Oz : the novel of 1900, the Broadway play of 1901, the Hollywood film of 1939, and the numerous follow - up Oz novels written after 1900 by Baum and others. The political interpretations focus on the first three, and emphasize the close relationship between the visual images and the story line to the political interests of the day. Biographers report that Baum had been a political activist in the 1890s with a special interest in the money question of gold and silver, and the illustrator William Wallace Denslow was a full - time editorial cartoonist for a major daily newspaper. For the 1901 Broadway production Baum inserted explicit references to prominent political characters such as President Theodore Roosevelt. Contents 1 Monetary policy 2 Social groups 3 Alternative allegory 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 Further reading Monetary policy In a 1964 article, educator and historian Henry Littlefield outlined an allegory in the book of the late 19th - century debate regarding monetary policy. According to this view, for instance, the Yellow Brick Road represents the gold standard, and the silver slippers ( ruby in the 1939 film version ) represent the Silverite sixteen to one silver ratio ( dancing down the road ). The City of Oz earns its name from the abbreviation of ounces `` Oz '' in which gold and silver are measured. The thesis achieved considerable popular interest and elaboration by many scholars in history, economics and other fields, but that thesis has been challenged. Certainly the 1901 musical version of Oz written by Baum, was for an adult audience and had numerous explicit references to contemporary politics, though in these references Baum seems just to have been `` playing for laughs ''. The 1902 stage adaptation mentioned, by name, President Theodore Roosevelt and other political celebrities. For example, the Tin Woodman wonders what he would do if he ran out of oil. `` You would n't be as badly off as John D. Rockefeller '', the Scarecrow responds, `` He 'd lose six thousand dollars a minute if that happened. '' Littlefield 's knowledge of the 1890s was thin, and he made numerous errors, but since his article was published, scholars in history, political science, and economics have asserted that the images and characters used by Baum closely resemble political images that were well known in the 1890s. Quentin Taylor, for example, claimed that many of the events and characters of the book resemble the actual political personalities, events and ideas of the 1890s. Dorothy -- naïve, young and simple -- represents the American people. She is Everyman, led astray and seeking the way back home. Moreover, following the road of gold leads eventually only to the Emerald City, which may symbolize the fraudulent world of greenback paper money that only pretends to have value. It is ruled by a scheming politician ( the Wizard ) who uses publicity devices and tricks to fool the people ( and even the Good Witches ) into believing he is benevolent, wise, and powerful when really he is a selfish, evil humbug. He sends Dorothy into severe danger hoping she will rid him of his enemy the Wicked Witch of the West. He is powerless and, as he admits to Dorothy, `` I 'm a very bad Wizard ''. Social groups Historian Quentin Taylor sees additional metaphors, including : The Scarecrow as a representation of American farmers and their troubles in the late 19th century The Tin Man representing the industrial workers, especially those of American steel industries The Cowardly Lion as a metaphor for William Jennings Bryan Taylor also claimed a sort of iconography for the cyclone : it was used in the 1890s as a metaphor for a political revolution that would transform the drab country into a land of color and unlimited prosperity. It was also used by editorial cartoonists of the 1890s to represent political upheaval. Other putative allegorical devices of the book include the Wicked Witch of the West as a figure for the actual American West ; if this is true, then the Winged Monkeys could represent another western danger : Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The King of the Winged Monkeys tells Dorothy, `` Once we were a free people, living happily in the great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master... This was many years ago, long before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land. '' In fact, Baum proposed in two editorials he wrote in December 1890 for his newspaper, the Saturday Pioneer, the total genocidal slaughter of all remaining indigenous peoples. `` The Whites, '' Baum wrote, `` by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation ? '' Alternative allegory Other writers have used the same evidence to lead to precisely opposite allegorical interpretations. Apart from intentional symbolism, scholars have speculated on the sources of Baum 's ideas and imagery. The `` man behind the curtain '' could be a reference to automated store window displays of the sort famous at Christmas season in big city department stores ; many people watching the fancy clockwork motions of animals and mannequins thought there must be an operator behind the curtain pulling the levers to make them move ( Baum was the editor of the trade magazine read by window dressers ). Additional allegories have been developed, without claims that they were originally intended by Baum. The text has been treated as a theosophical allegory. In 1993, W. Geoffrey Seeley recast the story as an exercise in treachery, suggesting the supposed `` Good Witch Glinda '' used an innocent, ignorant patsy ( Dorothy ) to overthrow both her own sister witch ( Witch of the West ) and the Wizard of Oz, leaving herself as undisputed master of all four corners of Oz : North, East, West and South ( and presumably the Emerald City ). She even showed her truest `` Machiavellian brilliance '' by allowing the story to be entitled after the weakest of her three opponents. Glinda could have told Dorothy that the `` silver slippers would easily do the job ( of returning Dorothy to her beloved home ) but decided that a destabilizing force such as Dorothy might be just the thing to shake up her other rival ( The Wizard of Oz ). '' Kassinger, in her book Gold : From Greek Myth to Computer Chips, purports that `` The Wizard symbolizes bankers who support the gold standard and oppose adding silver to it... Only Dorothy 's silver slippers can take her home to Kansas, '' meaning that by Dorothy not realizing that she had the silver slippers the whole time, Dorothy, or `` the westerners '', never realized they already had a viable currency of the people. References ^ Jump up to : Ritter, Gretchen ( August 1997 ). `` Silver slippers and a golden cap : L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and historical memory in American politics ''. Journal of American Studies. 31 ( 2 ) : 171 -- 203. doi : 10.1017 / s0021875897005628. JSTOR 27556260. ^ Jump up to : Swartz, Mark Evan ( 2000 ). Oz Before the Rainbow : L. Frank Baum 's `` The Wonderful Wizard of Oz '' on Stage and Screen to 1939. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0 - 8018 - 6477 - 1. Jump up ^ Olson, James ( 2001 ). Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression, 1929 -- 1940. Greenwood. pp. 315 -- 316. ISBN 0 - 313 - 30618 - 4. Jump up ^ Hearn, Michael Patrick, ed. ( 2000 ). The Annotated Wizard of Oz. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0 - 393 - 04992 - 2. Jump up ^ Littlefield, Henry ( 1964 ). `` The Wizard of Oz : Parable on Populism '' ( PDF ). American Quarterly. 16 ( 1 ) : 47 -- 58. doi : 10.2307 / 2710826. Retrieved 2016 - 05 - 20. Jump up ^ Sanders, Mitch ( July 1991 ). `` Setting the Standards on the Road to Oz ''. The Numismatist. American Numismatic Association : 1042 -- 1050. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. ^ Jump up to : Hansen, Bradley A. ( 2002 ). `` The Fable of the Allegory : The Wizard of Oz in Economics '' ( PDF ). Journal of Economic Education. 33 ( 3 ). JSTOR 1183440. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 3 April 2003. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. ^ Jump up to : Parker, David B. ( 1994 ). `` The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ' Parable on Populism ' ''. Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians. 15 : 49 -- 63. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Jump up ^ Gjovaag, Eric ( 2006 ). `` The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Frequently Asked Questions : About The Oz Books ''. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website. Retrieved 29 September 2017. ^ Jump up to : Dighe, Ranjit S., ed. ( 2002 ). The historian 's Wizard of Oz : reading L. Frank Baum 's classic as a political and Monetary Allegory. ISBN 0 - 275 - 97418 - 9. ^ Jump up to : Taylor, Quentin P. ( 2004 - 12 - 02 ). `` Money and Politics in the Land of Oz ''. The Independent Institute. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Jump up ^ Baum, L. Frank ; Denslow, William Wallace ; Hearn, Michael Patrick ( 2000 ), Denslow, William Wallace ; Hearn, Michael Patrick, eds., The Annotated Wizard of Oz : The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, W.W. Norton & Company, p. 271, ISBN 9780393049923 Jump up ^ Byrd, Jodi A. ( Spring 2007 ). `` ' Living My Native Life Deadly ' : Red Lake, Ward Churchill, and the Discourses of Competing Genocides ''. American Indian Quarterly. 31 ( 2 ) : 310 -- 332 ; 319. Jump up ^ Hastings, A. Waller. `` L. Frank Baum 's Editorials on the Sioux Nation ''. Northern.edu. Complete text of Baum 's editorials. Archived from the original on August 13, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2016. Jump up ^ Culver, Stuart ( 1988 ). `` What Manikins Want : The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors ''. Representations. 21 : 97 -- 116. doi : 10.1525 / rep. 1988.21. 1.99 p02045. Jump up ^ Algeo, John ( 1988 ). `` Oz and Kansas : A Theosophical Quest ''. In Gannon, Susan R. ; Thompson, Ruth Anne. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Children 's Literature Association. Kansas City : University of Missouri. pp. 135 -- 39. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Jump up ^ Seeley, W. Geoffrey ( 1993 - 12 - 26 ). `` The Geo - Politics of Oz ; Now It Can Be Told ! Treachery, Tin Men, Hegemony and Toto ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Jump up ^ Kassinger, Ruth ( 2003 ). Gold : From Greek Myth to Computer Chips. 21st Century. ISBN 0 - 7613 - 2110 - 1. Bibliography Barrett, Laura ( March 22, 2006 ). `` From Wonderland to Wasteland : The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Great Gatsby, and the New American Fairy Tale ''. Papers on Language and Literature. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1900 ), online edition with black and white illustrations ; online version from Gutenberg, without illustrations ; online version with color illustrations Blythe, Martin ( 2006 ). `` Oz is China : A Political Fable of Chinese Dragons and White Tigers ''. Sexual Fables. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Bernstein, Robin ( 2011 ). Racial Innocence : Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights,. New York University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8147 - 8708 - 3. Clanton, Gene ( 1991 ). Populism : The Humane Preference in America, 1890 -- 1900. Twayne Pub. ISBN 0 - 8057 - 9744 - 0. Culver, Stuart ( 1992 ). `` Growing Up in Oz ''. American Literary History. 4 ( 4 ). JSTOR 489788. Erisman, Fred L. ( 1968 ). `` L. Frank Baum and the Progressive Dilemma ''. American Quarterly. 20 ( 3 ) : 616 -- 623. doi : 10.2307 / 2711021. JSTOR 2711021. Gessel, Michael ; Koupal, Nancy Tystad ; Erisman, Fred ( 2001 ). `` The Politics of Oz : a Symposium ''. South Dakota History. 31 ( 2 ) : 146 -- 168. ISSN 0361 - 8676. Gilead, Sarah ( March 1991 ). `` Magic Abjured : Closure in Children 's Fantasy Fiction ''. PMLA. 106 ( 2 ). JSTOR 462663. Griswold, Jerry ( 1987 ). `` There 's No Place But Home : The Wizard of Oz ''. The Antioch Review. 45 ( 4 ) : 462 -- 75. doi : 10.2307 / 4611799. Jahangir, Rumeana ( 2009 - 03 - 17 ). `` Secrets of the Wizard of Oz ''. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Jensen, Richard ( 1971 ). The Winning of the Midwest : Social and Political Conflict, 1888 -- 1896. Chicago : University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0 - 226 - 39825 - 0. chapter 10 Karp, Andrew ( 1998 ). `` Utopian Tension in L. Frank Baum 's Oz ''. Utopian Studies. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Kim, Helen M. ( 1996 ). `` Strategic Credulity : Oz as Mass Cultural Parable ''. Cultural Critique ( 33 ) : 213 -- 233. JSTOR 1354392. Leach, William. Land of Desire : Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture ( 1993 ), pp. 248 -- 260. excerpt and text search Leach, William. `` The Clown from Syracuse : The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum. '' introduction to Leach, ed. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 1991. pp 1 -- 34. Nesbet, Anne ( 2001 ). `` In Borrowed Balloons : The Wizard of Oz and the History of Soviet Aviation ''. The Slavic and East European Journal. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. 45 ( 1 ) : 80 -- 95. doi : 10.2307 / 3086411. JSTOR 3086411. Riley, Michael O. ( 1997 ). Oz and Beyond : The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum. University of Kansas Press. ISBN 0 - 7006 - 0832 - X. Ritter, Gretchen ( 1999 ). Goldbugs and Greenbacks : The Anti-Monopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 65392 - 4. Rockoff, Hugh ( August 1990 ). `` The ' Wizard of Oz ' as a Monetary Allegory '' ( PDF ). Journal of Political Economy. 98 ( 4 ). doi : 10.1086 / 261704. JSTOR 2937766. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2011 - 11 - 19. Velde, Francois R. ( 2002 ). `` Following the Yellow Brick Road : How the United States Adopted the Gold Standard ''. Economic Perspectives. 26 ( 2 ). doi : 10.2139 / ssrn. 377760. SSRN 377760. Ziaukas, Tim ( 1998 ). `` 100 Years of Oz : Baum 's ' Wizard of Oz ' as Gilded Age Public Relations ''. Public Relations Quarterly. Retrieved 2011 - 10 - 28. Further reading The Yellow Brick Road to Utopia -- a comparison of the book and film Pros and cons of Oz as an allegory The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Canonical books L. Frank Baum The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1900 ) The Marvelous Land of Oz ( 1904 ) Ozma of Oz ( 1907 ) Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz ( 1908 ) The Road to Oz ( 1909 ) The Emerald City of Oz ( 1910 ) The Patchwork Girl of Oz ( 1913 ) Tik - Tok of Oz ( 1914 ) The Scarecrow of Oz ( 1915 ) Rinkitink in Oz ( 1916 ) The Lost Princess of Oz ( 1917 ) The Tin Woodman of Oz ( 1918 ) The Magic of Oz ( 1919 ) Glinda of Oz ( 1920 ) Ruth Plumly Thompson The Royal Book of Oz ( 1921 ) Kabumpo in Oz ( 1922 ) The Cowardly Lion of Oz ( 1923 ) Grampa in Oz ( 1924 ) The Lost King of Oz ( 1925 ) The Hungry Tiger of Oz ( 1926 ) The Gnome King of Oz ( 1927 ) The Giant Horse of Oz ( 1928 ) Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz ( 1929 ) The Yellow Knight of Oz ( 1930 ) Pirates in Oz ( 1931 ) The Purple Prince of Oz ( 1932 ) Ojo in Oz ( 1933 ) Speedy in Oz ( 1934 ) The Wishing Horse of Oz ( 1935 ) Captain Salt in Oz ( 1936 ) Handy Mandy in Oz ( 1937 ) The Silver Princess in Oz ( 1938 ) Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz ( 1939 ) Others The Wonder City of Oz ( 1940 ) The Scalawagons of Oz ( 1941 ) Lucky Bucky in Oz ( 1942 ) The Magical Mimics in Oz ( 1946 ) The Shaggy Man of Oz ( 1949 ) The Hidden Valley of Oz ( 1951 ) Merry Go Round in Oz ( 1963 ) Yankee in Oz ( 1972 ) The Enchanted Island of Oz ( 1976 ) The Forbidden Fountain of Oz ( 1980 ) The Ozmapolitan of Oz ( 1986 ) The Wicked Witch of Oz ( 1993 ) The Giant Garden of Oz ( 1993 ) The Runaway in Oz ( 1995 ) The Rundelstone of Oz ( 2000 ) The Emerald Wand of Oz ( 2005 ) Trouble Under Oz ( 2006 ) Alternate Dorothy of Oz ( 1989 ) Locations and elements Land of Oz Emerald City Munchkin Country Gillikin Country Winkie Country Quadling Country Yellow brick road Oogaboo Deadly Desert Nonestica Forest of Burzee Land of Ev Merryland Mo Ix Nome Kingdom Noland Ruby slippers Silver Shoes The Oz Film Manufacturing Company Characters Dorothy Gale Toto Princess Ozma The Wizard of Oz Scarecrow Tin Woodman Cowardly Lion Jack Pumpkinhead Tik - Tok Sawhorse Trot Hungry Tiger Good Witch of the North Glinda, the Good Witch of the South Wicked Witch of the West Wicked Witch of the East Aunt Em Uncle Henry Betsy Bobbin Billina Boq Button - Bright Cap'n Bill Eureka Herby Jellia Jamb Jenny Jump Jinjur Jinnicky the Red Jinn John Dough Kabumpo Mombi Munchkins Nome King Ojo the Lucky Pastoria Patchwork Girl Peter Brown Pigasus Polychrome Queen Lurline Shaggy Man Soldier with the Green Whiskers Winged monkeys Woggle - Bug Other writers Authors John R. Neill Jack Snow Rachel Cosgrove Payes Eloise Jarvis McGraw Dick Martin Alexander Volkov Gregory Maguire Sherwood Smith Roger S. Baum Illustrators William Wallace Denslow Frank Kramer Dirk Gringhuis Dick Martin Eric Shanower William Stout Adaptations and other derivative works Films The Fairylogue and Radio - Plays ( 1908 ) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1910 ) Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz ( 1910 ) The Land of Oz ( 1910 ) John Dough and the Cherub ( 1910 ) The Patchwork Girl of Oz ( 1914 ) The Magic Cloak of Oz ( 1914 ) His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz ( 1914 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1925 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1933 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1939 ) Return to Oz ( 1964 ) The Wonderful Land of Oz ( 1969 ) Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde ( 1971 ) Journey Back to Oz ( 1974 ) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1975 ) The Wiz ( 1978 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1982 ) Return to Oz ( 1985 ) Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz ( 1987 ) The Dreamer of Oz : The L. Frank Baum Story ( 1990 ) Lion of Oz ( 2000 ) The Muppets ' Wizard of Oz ( 2005 ) Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz ( 2011 ) Dorothy and the Witches of Oz ( 2011 ) After the Wizard ( 2011 ) Oz the Great and Powerful ( 2013 ) Legends of Oz : Dorothy 's Return ( 2014 ) Ozland ( 2014 ) Guardians of Oz ( 2015 ) Tom and Jerry : Back to Oz ( 2016 ) Stage The Wizard of Oz ( 1902 ) The Woggle - Bug ( 1905 ) The Tik - Tok Man of Oz ( 1913 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1942 ) The Wiz ( 1974 ) The Marvelous Land of Oz ( 1981 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1987 ) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 2000 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 2011 ) The Woodsman ( 2012 ) Television Tales of the Wizard of Oz ( 1961 ) Off to See the Wizard ( 1967 ) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1986 ) The Wizard of Oz ( 1990 ) The Oz Kids ( 1996 ) Lost in Oz ( 2002 ) Once Upon a Time ( since 2011 ) The Wiz Live ! ( 2015 ) Lost In Oz ( 2015 ) Emerald City ( 2017 ) Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz ( 2017 ) Comics Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz ( 1904 -- 05 ) Adventures in Oz ( 1986 -- 92 ) The Enchanted Apples of Oz ( 1986 ) Oz Squad ( 1991 ) Lost Girls ( 1991 -- 92 ) Oz ( 1994 ) Dorothy of Oz ( 2006 ) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 2009 ) Video games The Wizard of Oz ( 1993 ) The Wizard of Oz : Beyond the Yellow Brick Road ( 2008 ) Emerald City Confidential ( 2009 ) Parodies The Wozard of Iz Os Trapalhões eo Mágico de Oróz The Wonderful Wizard of Ha 's Wizard of Odd Reimagining The Wizard of Mars ( 1965 ) Hunter ( 1973 ) Zardoz ( 1974 ) Oz ( 1976 ) The Number of the Beast ( 1980 ) A Barnstormer in Oz ( 1982 ) The Wizard of A.I.D.S. ( 1987 ) The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz ( 1990 ) Twister ( 1994 ) The Dark Tower IV : Wizard and Glass ( 1997 ) Tin Man ( 2007 ) Dorothy Must Die ( 2014 ) The Wicked Will Rise ( 2015 ) The Wicked Years Wicked Son of a Witch A Lion Among Men Out of Oz Wicked ( musical ) Characters Others Rainbow Road to Oz MÄR The Wizard of Oz ( pinball ) The Wizard of Oz ( arcade game ) Related The International Wizard of Oz Club The Baum Bugle Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz&oldid=832703285 '' Categories : Literary criticism Metallism Oz studies Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 27 March 2018, at 14 : 54. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 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Question: who did dorothy represent in the wizard of oz
Answer: the American people