Transcription
The Wizard of Oz:A Parable for Populism?Based on the analysis by Henry M. Littlefield
The storyIn 1900, L. Frank Baum published a children’s story called TheWizard of Oz. You’re probably familiar with the 1939 movie of thisstory in which a girl named Dorothy finds herself in a fantasticalworld where she must follow a yellow brick road to speak to theWizard of Oz. On the way she befriends a brainless scarecrow, aheartless tin man and a cowardly lion. Together they find the wizard,defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and each finds what he waslooking for.In 1964, Henry Littlefield published a thesis asserting that the storywas an allegory for the politics of the 1890s, especially the debateover gold and silver coinage. His ideas have led to muchspeculation.
The Wizard of Oz could havebeen used as populistpropaganda. While Baumwas a populist, neither henor his family ever claimedthat the Oz stories wereanything but fantasy. Heclaimed he got the name“Oz” by merely glancing ata file cabinet drawer.
The life of a farmerIn the book, Dorothy’slife on the farm is darkand dreary, a lot like thehard life on the Plains atthis time, subject todrought, depression,falling prices, mountingdebts, foreclosures, thefeeling of being abusedby railroads, etc. In themovie, Kansas is sepiatoned, washed out.
Evil Rules the East and the West Dorothy is taken toOz on a tornado, acommon symbol inthe 1890s for politicalupheaval andrevolutionary change. Her house lands onand kills the WickedWitch of the East,who represents theevil bankers and thewealthy Easternestablishment.
The Munchkins The Munchkin peoplewere under the power ofthe Wicked Witch of theEast. The Munchkins representthe eastern industriallaborers under the controlof rich leaders of industry,beaten down andshrunken. May also becomment on child labor(Lollipop Guild)
The Land of Oz A magical and beautiful place,of illusion. In the North and South,people are ruled by goodwitches A yellow brick road (the goldstandard) leads to theEmerald City (WashingtonD.C.) In the book, the city is blandwhite, and all who enter mustput on Emerald coloredglasses. Green is also the color ofmoney “Greenbacks” – printedto increase the amount ofmoney in circulation
OZ
Demand for Silver Coinage Populists demandedsilver coinage insteadof gold because itwould create a largermoney supply andloosen credit Populist presidentialcandidate, WilliamJennings Bryan, madethe famous “Cross ofGold” speech in 1896
Dorothy Dorothy represents thecommon man From Kansas, center ofPopulist movement May be inspired by MaryEllen Lease, prominentPopulist leader She is good andlevelheaded She has problem anddoesn’t know how tosolve it
Silver, not Ruby Red Slippers Dorothy is sent to see thewizard In the book, she is givensilver slippers to protect her;they’re red in the book totake advantage of new colorfilm technology. And, she must take theYellow Brick Road She doesn’t realize until theend that the power to gethome was with her allalong—all she had to do wasclick her shoes 3 times andwish herself home
Likewise, farmers andlaborers didn’tunderstand the power ofsilver. They couldn’torganize well enough todefeat the goldstandard.
TotoToto represents theProhibition &Temperance parties“Teetotaler” – onewho abstains fromalcoholProhibitionists werepolitical allies of thePopulists
Yellow Brick Road The GoldStandard. The Populistsbelieved that thegold standard, likethe yellow brickroad, had manypitfalls for ordinarypeople.
Dorothy is accompaniedby three companions: The Tin Woodman The Scarecrow The Cowardly lion
The Tin Woodman Once he was an independentand hard working humanbeing Under the spell of the WickedWitch of the East, theWoodman found that everytime he swung his axe hechopped off a different part ofhis wooden body. (dangers ofworkplace?) Eventually, he was patched upwith tin
Tin Woodman “In this way Easternwitchcraft dehumanized asimple laborer so that thefaster and better heworked, the more quicklyhe became a kind ofmachine.”—Henry Littlefield The Tinman rusted stiffand couldn’t move justlike the eastern laborerhad no way out of histerrible condition. His rusty joints had to belubricated. (importanceof Standard Oil?)
The Scarecrow Shows the stupidity offarmers who were onceenlightened, shrewd, andcapable; but, now stoodpowerless in the face ofindustrialization. Prejudiced notion thatfarmers were ignorant andnot smart enough torecognize their own interestsand felt too intimidated toenter the realm of politics. Not respected, not even bythe crows. Dorothy tells himto wake up!
The Cowardly Lion Roared loudly, but noone was scared ofhim Believed he neededcourage Bryan may have beena great orator, butdespite his roar, hehad no REAL power.“All bark & no bite.” He didn’t have thepower to get it done.
The Good Witches Glinda is the Good Witch ofthe North in the movie,South in the bookRepresents Northern &Southern Farmers Alliances:(The Farmers Alliancescreated the Populist Party)Political power is likewitchcraft some use thepower for good, some forevil purposes.
The Wicked Witch of theWest Dorothy ends up fightingthe Wicked Witch of theWest The Wicked Witch canrepresent the railroads ormother nature The flying monkeys arethe Native Americans;savage, inferior andchildlike they can be bothgood and bad, easilyswayed; once free in theforests till Oz came torule The witch is defeated bywater, the most valuablewestern commodity,ender of droughts
We’re off to see the Wizard Inspired byCoxey’s Army ofunemployed whomarched toWashington in1893-4, demandingrelief from thegovernment
The Wizard of Oz The Wizard lives inthe Emerald City andis powerless; hispowers are an illusion He represents anypresident from Grantto McKinley. These presidentswere fairlyunimpressive and didthe bidding of the rich
The Wizard Gilded Age Politicians: In the book, the Wizard appears to be a gianthead to Dorothy, to the scarecrow, a gossamerfairy, to the Tin Man as a beast and to theCowardly Lion as a ball of fire just aspoliticians try to be all things to all people. Fake, hidden behind a curtain. Like every good politician, he gives the peoplewhat they want. The Wizard manages toprovide everyone with something to satisfy theirdesire.
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard did not want to see the people (No one eversaw him) which made everyone fearful, even though heis just a regular person (Just like the President). With the presentation of the broom, the Wizard isexposed as a fraud and becomes nothing more than acommon man. The Wizard was no real help, and the group took careof the Witch themselves. He had no power the groupdid. In the end, it is Dorothy and her silver shoes that gether home.
“You had the power all along” Dorothy doesn’t understand the power shepossesses. 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 allalong that is what America is all about.
The Wizard of Oz 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
