Symbolism In The Wizard Of Oz

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, nor whether that was the right choice for her, is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?” Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West tells the story of the green girl named Elphaba who grew up to become one of the most iconic evil characters in history. While telling her story, Maguire incorporates symbolism and similar senses of style, genre, and theme to give his words deeper meaning and to capture the essence of his characters.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic known by all. The plot is fairly simple. Poor bored Dorothy is sick of her normal boring life on her Aunt and Uncles farm in Kansas and decides to run away to a more exciting life. Her plans are changed when she meets a fortune teller who convinces her to go back home. Unfortunately, as she is headed back home a horrible storm starts and she and her dog Toto are blown away, along with her house. When she lands, she comes outside to see that she has landed on a person with red shoes. She is met by tiny people and a witch called Glinda who tells her that she has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy tells Glinda she wants to go home, and Glinda tells her if she follows the yellow brick road she will end up in the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz can help get her home.

The movie and book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is based on Populism. Many of the characters and places set in the book have been said to represent different properties of Populism. For example, the author was a Republican activist that had a very strong opinion on Populists and Democrats. One of those Democrats being William Jennings Bryan, a politician that was a part of the populist movement of the Democratic Party. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz had plenty of populist related ideas throughout the entire plot.

During the late 1800’s, a pervasive sense of melancholy permeated throughout the forgotten, dreary Midwestern United States. While the industrial revolution boosted the economy on the coasts, Midwestern farmers were victims of deflationary debt increases, exorbitant shipping and railroad rates, a high protective tariff, and a government that for the most part ignored them.1 Desperate circumstances moved the everyday American farmers to join together and voice their grievances. Instead of seeking federal aid or economic relief, they attempted to use the power of the ballot to achieve their goals.1 The united group of farmers used the Populist Party as a springboard to launch their complaints and eventually got their candidate, William Jennings Bryan, nominated for the presidential election of 1896 by the Democratic Party. L. Frank Baum, a newspaper writer who lived in a small prairie town in South Dakota, experienced the populist wave firsthand, attending Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech in Chicago, and subtly incorporated many aspects of Bryan’s campaign into his children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.2 Despite his own claim that “this novel was written solely for the entertainment of the children of today”, several historians have discovered that the book clearly reflects the culture of the time period in which it was written.3 By symbolically representing the struggles of the everyday working man, Bryan’s political enemies, and the campaign for free silver, Baum

In the 1896 election, democratic and Populist Parties nominated William Jennings Bryan. The Republican candidate was William McKinley of Ohio, who was nominated on a platform that endorsed the gold standard. The Democrats, however, nominated William J. Bryan of Nebraska, who ran on a platform that emphasized stricter federal regulation of railroads and trusts and supported Free Silver. (Tanenhaus 78) When the Populists met in St. Louis, some believed that if they supported Bryan they risked losing their party identity, while others felt that if the party nominated its own candidate, they would ensure a McKinley victory in November. With McKinley’s election, Populism collapsed, burying the hopes of the farmers.

“The Wizard of Oz” was written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum. In America, a heavy presence of populism was upon the land. Dana Moore stated, “Populism has many characteristics similar to Socialism.” The Populists’ goals were to free the coinage of silver and other reforms, such as a progressed income tax on the American citizens and the election of senators in the government. In addition, the Populist Party was formed mostly of lower class farmers. One of their main goals was to regulate railroads due to the high price to pay to transfer their crops. (Moore) Ranjit Dighe states in his article, “New research about L. Frank Baum indicated that he had little sympathy for the Populists or Bryan”.

Frank Baums, The Wizard of Oz is arguably one of the most popular films made. Even though it was released in 1939, nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the film continues to entertain audiences and speak to them in a personal way. The question that comes to the mind when analyzing this film is: What is it about this film that gives it such timelessness? When reflecting on the film’s timeless qualities, it seems clear the plot is one of the things that enable it to maintain its relevance. Primarily, the plot of The Wizard of Oz is timeless because it is such an excellent example of the heroic journey, both in literally and cinematically. This journey of self-awareness is a metaphor for growth, which is something we all search to discover

What most individuals can 't seem to decipher is that The Wizard of Oz referenced several late 1800’s political issues and ideas. Whether these references are true or not is difficult to say.

The Wizard of Oz uses film form by using similarity and repetition. With Dorothy being the main character, she is always reappearing in the film. As well as all of the characters, The Tin Man, The Lion, and The Scarecrow, have similarities to Dorothy. Each of them need something, Dorothy needs to go back home, The Tin Man needs a brain, The Scarecrow needs a heart, and The Lion needs courage. The film also progresses from the beginning to the end, as well as the characters. Dorothy starts at one spot, follows the yellow brick road and eventually makes it to her destination to see The Wizard of Oz, gets what

Many of the farmers from the West blamed their problems on the wealthy and industry. Later on in the text, Dorothy meets the Good Witch of the North. The Good Witch represents a Northern electorate who had supported populism. The Good Witch sends Dorothy to go to the Wizard of Oz, down the yellow brick road to Emerald City, who has the power to send her back to Kansas. The Good Witch also gives Dorothy the silver shoes, which also serves as protection. This can relate to the Bimetalism vs. Gold Standard. I say this because Dorothy shoes are silver and she is sent to go down the yellow brick road, which can be seen as gold bricks. This can be known as gold money. In this time, it was clear that silver vs. gold was important to the farmers involving the economy. The silver was supposed to be available for the working class, and would increase the amount of money for the working class. In the text, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion. The Scarecrow represents the western farmers, and how their hardships and troubles from inflation caused them to have doubts and problems with their money. The Tinman represents the American worker who mostly has populist views. He also represents how the worker felt dehumanized and was helpless. In addition to this, the Wicked Witch of the East put a spell on him that every time he swung his axe, he would chop a piece of him off. This would make his body smaller, in relation to his work being minimized by the

Dorothy’s last name Gale, is metaphor that is used to show Dorothy’s journey to the Land of Oz, because of the differences from her home, her expectation of paradise, and her realization of her true home. A gale can knock a person off course into somewhere they do not recognize. Dorothy journeys to the Land of Oz through a strong wind, and when she reaches she finds it to be very different from her home. The metaphor of a gale wind is used to imply that drastic change of course Dorothy took when she reach Oz. Dorothy believes Oz to be a paradise soon after she reaches there. The metaphor of a gale wind is shown here, because when caught in such a strong wind and near death, we might imagine our resting place, a paradise; heaven. Although just

Dorothy and her friends finally got to Emerald City. They finally got to see the Wiz and he told them that he would not grant any of their wishes unless she killed the wicked witch of the West. Dorothy and all of her friends were really disappointed. Eventually, Dorothy and her friends went to see the wicked witch of the West and the witch was very mean to them. The witch really wanted Dorothy’s slippers but she refused to give them to her. Dorothy is starting to get discouraged because the witch seemed to be more powerful than she was.

The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy book where a girl named Dorothy experiences an unexpected adventure in her life. This book takes place in Kansas and the Land Of Oz where all the adventure starts. As a tornado strikes Kansas (the place where Dorothy lives along with her aunt and uncle), Dorothy, her dog, and their house blows away and lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East in Munchkin Country. Not knowing in what world she is, Dorothy only has one wish: to go back to her house. Later, Dorothy meets Glinda, the Good Witch of the South who gives Dorothy a pair of silver slippers and tells her to go to the Land of Oz by the way of the Yellow Bridge to see the Wizard of Oz to have her wish come true. On her journey, she meets Scarecrow who

The upper class used laws, battles, and force to control and prevent the lower class from gaining power which created a schism between the peasants (plebeians) and the upper class (bourgeois). The feudal system gave all the power to the nobles and aristocracy, leaving the serfs to struggle to make a living. Zipes notes the historical meaning behind Hansel and Gretel, “The witch symbolizes the entire feudal system or the greed and brutality of the aristocracy. The killing of the witch is symbolically the realization of the hatred the peasantry felt for the aristocracy as hoarder and oppressors.” (Zipes, Jack) Through children fairy tales writers were able to criticize the elites in society in their time and state the grievances the lower class had towards the upper class. A typical practice during the Napoleonic Wars was for the state to recruit soldiers and treat them poorly until they were no longer needed, Zipes sees this in How Six Travelled through the World which shows that common men can act nobler than kings. (Zipes, Jack). As time passed and the lower class began to gain status in society, fairy tales, too, began to change. Rather than directly stating the grievances of the lower class, fairy tales emphasized the writers view towards historical events. The late 19th century in the United States was focused on one major debate: the monetary policy. Frank Baum in The Wizard of Oz criticizes supporters of the gold

She summon band of winged monkey, they tear the scarecrow, and place his clothe to the top of tree. Throw tin woodman to the rocky hill. And make the Lion become her pet. The wicked witch makes Dorothy became her personal slave, she also made a scheme to steal the silver shoe from Dorothy. One day she place a block of iron that invisible to the normal eyes, Dorothy tripped and one of her proudly shoe came off and snatched away by wicked witch.