The Wizard of Oz:
The Wizard of Oz:
A Parable About the Populist
Party
L. Frank Baum
 A member of the “PEOPLE’S Party.”
Dorothy
 Dorothy is Baum’s “Miss Everyman.” She
represents the American people at their best:
Independent, resourceful, kindhearted, honest.
She is the all-American girl from the heartland.
 Mary Lease, a farmer and head of the National
Farmer’s Alliance.
 Lease was from Kansas, a Populist Party
stronghold.
Toto
Temperance and Prohibition Party
“Teetotalers”-Pledge to drink tea rather than
alcohol.
 Important allies of the Populists in the Free
Silver Coalition.
Miss Gulch
 Banks/Farmer’s Mortgages.
 Miss Gulch threatens to take away
Dorothy’s family farm.
Cyclone: Populism
 Populist Party came in like a tornado and
lifted the farmers out of their mindset
(Paradigms).
Munchkinland: A foreign, new
world for Dorothy…
 “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas
anymore…”
 World of the East Coast: Banking,
industrial/commercial and political
establishments.
The Good Witches from the
North and the South
Northern & Southern Farmers Alliances:
(The Farmers Alliances created the Populist
Party)
Political power is like witchcraft…
-some use the power for good, some for evil
purposes.
Death of the Wicked Witch of the
East
 The Wicked Witch of the East represents
the Eastern banking/industrial establishment.
-The Witch dies when when a farmhouse falls on her…ironically,
she is killed by the the very thing the banks take away from
from farmers when they cannot pay their bills.
-With President Cleveland (the Great Obstructionist) dead, there
was a chance for the silver standard.
Munchkins
 “Little people” enslaved by the Wicked Witch
of the East, who takes regular people and
makes them small. Dorothy freed them from
the Wicked Witch of the East.
 Muchkins also represent child labor.
 The Lollipop Guild
Yellow Brick Road
 The Gold Standard.
 The Populists believed that the gold
standard, like the yellow brick road, had
many pitfalls for ordinary people.
Silver
 Bimetalism: Easing the money supply and giving
Americans greater access to credit.
 Salvation for farmers. Bryan used the imagery in his
famous “Cross of Gold” speech.
 Dorothy does not understand the power of her silver shoes
so she heads down the treacherous yellow brick road
(Silver and gold)
OZ
 Bimetalism- 16:1 ounces (oz.)
 16 oz. of silver would = 1 oz. of gold
Scarecrow
 Shows the stupidity of farmers who were once
enlightened, shrewd, and capable; but, now stood
powerless in the face of industrialization.
 Prejudicial notion that farmers were not smart enough to
recognize their own interests and felt too intimidated to
enter the realm of politics.
 Not respected, not even by the crows. Dorothy tells him
to wake up!
Tin Man
 Industrial workers: He had once been human; but, the
Wicked Witch of the East put a curse on his axe. With
every swing of his axe, he had chopped off a part of his
body (Industrial accidents).
 Dehumanized by factory labor, he had rusted solid,
symbolizing the closing of factories during the depression
of 1893.
 He also represents the hardened worker.
Cowardly Lion
 William Jennings Bryan: Democratic nominee for president in
1896 and endorsed by the Populist Party.
 When the Cowardly Lion first meets Dorothy and her
companions, he strikes the Tin Man but does not make a dent
in his metal body (Bryan failed to win the vote of industrial
labor).
 Baum revealed his skepticism about politicians through the
Lion.
 Bryan may have been a great orator, but despite his roar, he
had no REAL power. “All bark by no bite.”
 He didn’t have the power to get it done.
We’re off to see the Wizard…
 The group journeys to Oz, representing Washington DC,
remniscent of the march on Washington DC that
occurred in winter of 1893-94.
 Jacob Coxey organized a small group of unemployed
workers to march on the capital in an effort to convince
the government to put more money into circulation and
use those funds for public works programs, to put people
back to work.
 Coxey’s army was modest and easily put down. It was a
unique event because they looked to the federal
government to sponsor this program.
Emerald City
 Washington D.C.
 In the book, the Emerald City it is bland white. People are
required to wear green glasses upon entry to give the city
the illusion of being emerald colored.
 Represents disillusionment of the government.
 Greenbacks (Increasing the amount of money in circulation
as done during the Civil War).
The Wicked Witch of the West
 Malignant nature and the factors farmers in the West
dealt with while trying to make a living:
 Infertile soil & drought.
 Railroad companies (Rates/renatl siloh rates)
 She wanted Dorothy to give up her silver slippers
(Bimetalism)
Monkeys
 Native Americans
 Were once free in the forests until Oz ruled
the land.
 Another difficult factor for farmers who
wanted their land out West (Associated with
the Wicked Witch of the West)
Wicked Witch of the West’s
Guards
 Federal Troops: Sent by the government to
help the Railroads.
Death of the Wicked Witch in the
West
 In order to get what they want, the Wizard tells them to
kill the Wicked Witch of the West who represents the
destructive forces of nature.
 Dorothy kills by dousing her with a bucket of water,
symbolizing the drought that had been plaguing the
West in the 1890’s.
The Wizard of Oz
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President McKinley (Or any Gilded Age President)
The Wizard’s power is an illusion/Like the President.
Therefore, it is misguided to look to the Wizard/President for solutions.
The Wizard did not want to see the people (No one ever saw him) which made
everyone fearful, even though he is just a regular person (Just like the
President).
With the presentation of the broom, the Wizard is exposed as a fraud and
becomes nothing more than a common man.
The Wizard was lazzaie fare with the group and they took care of the Witch
themselves. He had no power…the group did.
Reminder: We are the government.
The Wizard of Oz cont.
 Gilded Age Politicians:
 In the book, the Wizard appears to be a giant head to
Dorothy, to the scarecrow, a gossamer fairy, to the Tin Man
as a beast and to the Cowardly Lion as a ball of fire…just as
politicians try to be all things to all people.
 Fake, hidden behind a curtain.
 Like every good politician, he gives the people what they
want. The Wizard manages to provide everyone with
something to satisfy their desire.
“You Had the Power All Along”
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Dorothy doesn’t understand the power she possesses.
She learns of her power in the end of the story.
Look to yourselves for the solution.
The characters pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Every character possesses the virtues they doubt.
Scarecrow left in charge of Oz.
There was no Wizard…the people had the power all
along…that is what America is all about.
“There’s No Place Like Home”
 Dorothy, like all farmers, always had the
power to “return home” and to gain power.
 By simply clicking her silver heels together
(Swtitching to the 16:1 oz standard) and
returning home to her all-American,
Midwestern values.
There’s No Place Like Home
Cont.
 A return to the pre-industrial America
 Backward-looking/conservative.
 Simple, small town America before
immigrants and freedman.
 Anti-modernity. Xenophobic.
 Honoring Farmers and bringing respect to
the Republican Farmer.
Conclusion
 Ideally, the Populist Party were victorious because
the people had the power all along and they were
courageous enough to prove it. The fake
“Wizard”(President) leaves Oz in the hands of the
Scarecrow (Jeffersonian farmer).
 As a result of the Populist victory, Dorothy is able
to return “home” to pre-industrial America.
A Dream????
 When Dorothy wakes up, she realizes that it
was just a dream…nothing has changed.
 Or has it? We are more enlightened.
 What do you think Baum was trying to do by
writing this story?
Populist Successes:
 Never gain the Presidency…
 However they influence the passage of the
following Democratic Reforms:
 1) Secret Ballot
 2) Senators selected by popular votes.