Dorothy is a simple country girl who lives on an
impoverished farm with her aunt and uncle. Dorothy
represents America: honest and kindhearted. A
second suggestion is she is Mary Elizabeth Lease,
known as the Kansas Tornado, was an American
lecturer, writer, and political activist. She was an
advocate of the suffrage movement as well as
temperance but she was best known for her work
with the Populist party. She had the slogan, "Raise
More Hell and Less Corn".
The dog, Toto, is probably a
reference to the Prohibition
Party, Toto being short for
teetotaler. The Prohibition
Party generally supported the
free silver movement
Dorothy gets caught up in the cyclone
of the free-silver movement that
came roaring out of the west in 1896.
Dorothy's house falls on the wicked
witch of the East, leaving only the
witch's silver shoes.
This is the one important difference
between the book and the film: In the
film the shoes are ruby, but in the
book they are silver.
The shoes are the free-silver
movement itself, which have a
magical power that the munchkins,
the citizens of the East, did not quite
understand.
THE GOOD WITCH
OF THE NORTH
WICKED WITCH
OF THE WEST
The Wicked Witch of the
East is clearly Grover
Cleveland in Washington
D.C., whose pro-gold forces
were defeated at the 1896
Democratic Convention.
Cleveland led the fight for
the repeal of the Sherman
Silver Purchase Act, which
had provided for the
limited coinage of silver.
 The Wicked Witch of
the West represents the
maligned forces
present in the west.
And the wingedmonkeys? Possibly the
Plains Indians or the
Chinese laborers
common in the west at
that time.
The Scarecrow represents the western farmers
(Populists)
 Populists were not folk heroes
 The were coming up with new
ideas to return America to its
agrarian past (negative
reform)
 Populism represented a class
movement that was based on
racism, anti-Semitism and
sectionalism, but not
nationalism
 They turned to the city only
for labor support
The Tin Woodsman represents the eastern workers, victims of
mechanization. The suggestion is that the Eastern Industrialists
have taken the heart out of the working man. Recall also that when
Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet up with the Tin Man he can't
move and is unable to work, and has thus joined the ranks of the
unemployed.
The Cowardly Lion represents
William Jennings Bryan (1860 –
1925): Bryan, a Democrat, ran for
the presidency in 1896 and lost to
William McKinley; thus Bryan
had a loud roar, but no power.
Populists were afraid that Bryan
would abandon the silver issue
and, in an effort to broaden his
(and the party's) appeal, focus
more on imperialism and the
business trusts which
dominated many industries.
“If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard
as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us
the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us
the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling
masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to
them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of
thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
Bryan favored bimetallism
 The poppy field and its
soporific power
symbolized the foreign
policy distractions
brought on by the
Opium Wars and the
international grab for
China in the late 1890s.
The Populists feared that
domestic policy would be
ignored and their
concerns not addressed.
WASHINGTON
D.C.?
Dorothy is told
that the answer to
her problems are
in the Emerald
City in the land of
OZ (ounce?)
The Emerald City
is at the end of
the yellow brick
road; this is
clearly the gold
standard.
In the palace, Dorothy is
led to her room via seven
passages and three
flights of stairs. This is a
reference to what is
called the "Crime of '73."
In 1873, the coinage of
the silver dollar was
eliminated and this was
later seen to be
responsible for many of
the difficulties.
or
William McKinley (1843 – 1901)
25th President of the United States
(1897 – 1901)
Marcus A. Hanna (1837 – 1904)
 McKinley’s campaign of
1896 was traditional in that
he never left the front
porch of his house in Ohio.
Those seeking his favor
would come visit him and
he chose not to chase
William Jennings Bryan
around the country. The
request by the Wizard to
bring the broom of the
Wicked Witch may
symbolize the “spoils
system” of that era.
He transformed himself
from a behind the
scenes player into the
sinister politician the
populists hated. The
populists believed his
transformation and
promises were full of
hot air.
 It’s significant that the
Wicked Witch of the
West is killed by water.
Many Populist farmers
who longed for the
simpler times, felt that
big irrigation projects
and new water rights
were another exploitative
measure wrestling
control out of local
hands.