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An Exploration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Dana Bailey
AECO 311, Fall 1997
USC Beaufort
Running head: WIZARD
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Abstract
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum. He wrote it
to be a children’s fairy tale. However, many speculate that Baum wrote The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz to be a commentary of the political happenings around
the turn of the century. Whether Baum wrote it with this in mind or not, The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz certainly has a lot of analogies that lend credence to the
theory.
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An Exploration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum in 1900.
Born in Chittenago, New York, in 1856, Baum was the seventh of nine children.
During his lifetime, Baum tried running a theater, a newspaper, and a store, all of
which went broke. No matter what Baum was currently failing at, stories
continuously filled his head. When Baum would return home from work he
would gather his children and their friends together and tell them stories. Baum’s
mother-in-law heard these stories and urged him to publish them. Baum
published two relatively successful books for children before The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz was published (Rylant, 1996). Baum was a prolific writer. In all
there are 14 stories written by Baum about Oz. Baum’s Oz stories were so well
liked that at one time he promised his readers he would write one new Oz story a
year. Today, many more sequels to Oz have been written by others who so
enjoyed the story. However, Baum did not want to be known solely for writing
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, so he wrote under many pen names as well. Using
pen names such as Captain High Fitzgerald, Floyd Akers, Laura Bancroft, Edith
Van Dyne, Suzanne Metcalf, and Schuyler Staunton, Baum published adventure
books, picture books, girls’ detective stories, and three adult novels (Griffith and
Frey, 829).
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In the introduction to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Baum (4) said, “...the
story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written to pleasure children today. It
aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are
retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.” Many people have tried
to read hidden meanings into this novel. Paul Nathanson wrote Over the
Rainbow, in which he discussed his theory of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a
secular myth of America. In the preface to his book, Nathanson (xvii) pointed out
that people have attempted to interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from
Marxist, Freudian, and theological points of view. The most inventive
interpretation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was started in 1964 by Henry M.
Littlefield. Littlefield wrote an essay entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A
Parable on Populism,” which was published in the American Quarterly. Since
then, many people have continued to expound on this theme. To fully appreciate
the allegorical references, it has been necessary to research the history of America
in the 1890s through the turn of the century.
The 1890s were an interesting time in America. The Populist movement,
the issue of bimetallism, the election of 1896, and the key players of this time are
all very important to establishing the allegorical references in The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz.
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Populism, formally named in 1892, was a new kind of politics that stuck
up for the masses and materialized in Texas in 1886 (Goodwyn, 88). This time in
America was called the Gilded Age because of the monetary gold standard and the
problems which surrounded the plea for bimetallism. Most Populists were prosilver. Congress and the bankers were anti-silver. With the gold standard, the
bankers stood to make a huge profit at the detriment of the industrial workers and
farmers. With bimetallism, gold coins would be priced according to gold prices
and silver would be priced according to silver prices. With the gold standard, all
coinage was set equal to the price of gold.
The election of 1896 was a controversial election for the times. The
prevailing issue was the monetary standard. William McKinley, a Republican,
was for the gold standard. William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat, was for the free
and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold. Despite support from both the
Democrats and the Populists, Bryan lost the election, but the basis of his fight,
“...the people versus the power of wealth...,” continued (Johnson, 192).
Henry M. Littlefield was a high school teacher at the time he formed the
theory that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a parable on populism. He
stumbled upon the idea as a means of teaching his bored students about the
Populist movement at the turn of the century and the 1896 election (“The Rise and
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Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism’”). Littlefield (1)
acknowledges that Baum’s first theme was the children’s fairy tale and that the
political allegory remains a minor aspect; however, he concluded by saying,
“...the relationships and analogies outlined...are far too consistent to be
coincidental.”
Littlefield said the Wicked Witch of the East represented eastern
industrialists and bankers. Just like the Wicked Witch of the East imprisoned the
Munchkins, the eastern industrialists and bankers imprisoned the common people
by controlling the monetary system. The Scarecrow, whom Dorothy first
stumbles upon and who is in search of a brain, was representative of the wise but
naive western farmers. The Tin Woodman, who needed a heart, depicted the
dehumanized industrial worker. The industrial workers had it so bad for so long
that they no longer cared about what was happening to them and they felt
powerless to stop it. William Jennings Bryan, the 1896 presidential candidate in
favor of the silver movement, was represented by the Cowardly Lion, who needed
courage. Like the Cowardly Lion, Bryan needed courage to stand up for the little
people against Congress and the bankers. The Yellow Brick Road, Littlefield
claimed, stood for the gold standard. The silver slippers, which came off the feet
of the Wicked Witch of the East and were presented to Dorothy by the
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Munchkins, were symbolic of the silver movement. Silver was the answer the
Populists held to solve the nation’s economic troubles. The Emerald City was
Washington, DC, with the Wizard as any one of the Gilded Age presidents (“The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory”).
There was support for Littlefield and his thesis. Hugh Rockoff wrote an
article in the Journal of Political Economy in 1990 wherein he added more
analogies. Rockoff (“The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory”) thought the
Deadly Poppy Field, where the Cowardly Lion (a.k.a. William Jennings Bryan)
fell, stood for “...the anti-imperialism that threatened to make Bryan forget the
main issue of silver. Also, in the Emerald Palace, Dorothy must walk through
seven passages and up three flights of stairs. Rockoff said this alluded to the
Crime of ‘73, in which silver dollars were dropped from the currency
surreptitiously. Populists felt this proved the collusion between Congress and the
bankers (“The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on
Populism’”).
Two passages of particular interest depict the perceptions of the gold
standard and the silver coinage issue. First is a passage on the Yellow Brick
Road, which Littlefield claimed stood for the Gold Standard:
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After a few hours the road began to be rough, and the walking grew
so difficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow
brick, which were here very uneven. Sometimes indeed, they were
broken or missing altogether, leaving holes that Toto jumped
across and Dorothy walked around. As for the Scarecrow, having
no brains he walked straight ahead, and so stepped into the holes
and fell full length on the hard bricks.
This is symbolic in that, even though the road had holes, it still served its purpose,
because in the long run it still worked as a road. The gold standard is similar, in
that it had its problems, but many felt it would still work in the long run.
Another passage presented the opinion of the silver movement:
At that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that
had belonged to the wicked Witch of the East. “I wonder if they
will fit me,” she said to Toto. “They would be just the thing to
take a long walk in, for they could not wear out.”
Silver was thought to have elasticity and abundance to last for a long time (“The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory”).
Also mentioned in the novel are the Winged Monkeys. Some say the
Winged Monkeys represented the Plains Indians, who in the 1890s could not find
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a home anywhere in America. In the novel the leader of the Winged Monkeys
told Dorothy how they were once a free people who lived happily before Oz came
to rule over their land ((“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the
Underlying Political Allegory”). The Winged Monkeys were much like the Plains
Indians who had their run of the land before the white man settled in and kicked
them out.
With all these allusions, it is only natural to wonder if “Oz” itself stands
for anything. It has been reported that Baum got the idea for the name of “Oz”
from a filing cabinet near to where he was at the time. There were three drawers
labeled A-G, H-N, and O-Z. Baum decided arbitrarily that Oz was the best
choice. However, those that support Littlefield say this is another allegorical
reference since ounces can be abbreviated oz. The Populist slogan at the time was
16 to1, which is the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold.
It has been said that one would be hard pressed to find any character,
setting, or event in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that does not have a “populist
parable” analogy (“The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable
on Populism’”). Not mentioned in any of the reference material reviewed was the
fact that the Emerald City was not really emerald in color. In reality, it was the
same color as the rest of the world, but in the Emerald City green glasses were
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worn to make everything appear emerald. Oz told Dorothy that the people of the
Emerald City had been wearing green spectacles so long that they really believed
that everything was green. This is an allegory to Washington, DC, and its
politics. The general population believes what the president tells them, not
because they know it themselves to be true but because he told them it was true,
just like those in the Emerald City believe that everything is green because Oz told
them so. Another point is that Oz is not really a wizard; he is but a mortal,
nothing more than a regular person. In this way Oz can be compared to any
president of any time. The people of the Emerald City bestowed upon Oz such
great power and trust that they made him to be superhuman, and Oz spent much of
his time trying to live up to their expectations. Oz granted the Scarecrow, the Tin
Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion their wishes, without truly having granted
them a brain, a heart, or courage, respectively. Oz makes something up and
convinces them that they have those things they desire. They believed him
because of who he was and because Oz told them what they wanted to hear. This
is much like the reality in America where citizens tend to forget that the president
is human like everyone else and not capable of miracles, and where presidents
are successfully elected because they told the voting majority what they wanted to
hear.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a stimulating novel, with new allegories
appearing each time it is read. Whether Baum intended this to be the case or not
is unclear. Many contend that, because Baum was not very active in politics, he
probably did not write the novel as a political tract. However, just because one
does not express his opinions publicly does not mean he does not have opinions.
Littlefield, the first one to make the allegorical references, makes it clear that his
observations are not theoretical, but allegorical. The story is delightful in itself,
with or without the allegorical intent. Baum set out to write a children’s fairy tale
and he certainly did just that. However, there are more allegorical references to be
found still, and this take on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will be discussed for
years to come.
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References
Baum, L. Frank. 1997. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Baum, L. Frank. 1900. Introduction. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Benton, William, pub. 1968. “William Jennings Bryan: The Cross of Gold.” The
Annals of America. Volume 12, 1895-1904. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc.
Carpenter, Angelica Shirley, and Jean Shirley. 1992. L. Frank Baum: Royal
Historian of Oz. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co.
Goodwyn, Lawrence. 1976. Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in
America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Griffith, John W. and Charles H. Frey, eds. 1987. Classics of Children’s
Literature. Second edition. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing
Company.
Johnson, Allen, ed. 1929. “William Jennings Bryan.” Dictionary of American
Biography. Volume 3. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Littlefield, Henry M. “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism.” American
Quarterly. Vol 16, #1, Spring 1964, 47-58.
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Mayer, George H. 1964. The Republican Party: 1854-1964. New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Nathanson, Paul. 1991. Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth
of America. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
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.
Vol 15. Retrieved October 3, 1997 and printed with permission from
ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/t/tiktok/oz/parab.
Rockoff, Hugh. 1990. “The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory.” Journal of
Political Economy. Vol. 98, No. 4, August 1990. 739-760.
Rylant, Cynthia. 1996. Margaret, Frank and Andy: Three Writers’ Stories. San
Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace & Company.
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political
Allegory.” 1997. Retrieved October 5, 1997, from
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/dbj5/oz.
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz List of Frequently Asked Questions: 4. L. Frank
Baum, The Royal Historian of Oz.” 1997. Retrieved October 5, 1997,
from http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/faq04.