Political interpretations of
The Wonderful Wizard of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. It was originally published by the George M...
study the influences of the modern fairy tale written by
L. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker, best known today as the creator, along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of one of the most popular books in American children's literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, first published in 1900. Many scholars have interpreted the book as an
allegoryAllegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than the literal. An allegory is a device that can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, or in visual form, such as in painting or sculpture...
or
metaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. The English metaphor derives from the 16th c...
for the political, economic and social events of America of the 1890s.
Both Baum and Denslow had been actively involved in politics in the 1890s. Baum never said that the original story was an allegory for politics, although he did not have occasion to deny the notion.
Political interpretations of
The Wonderful Wizard of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. It was originally published by the George M...
study the influences of the modern fairy tale written by
L. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker, best known today as the creator, along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of one of the most popular books in American children's literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, first published in 1900. Many scholars have interpreted the book as an
allegoryAllegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than the literal. An allegory is a device that can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, or in visual form, such as in painting or sculpture...
or
metaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. The English metaphor derives from the 16th c...
for the political, economic and social events of America of the 1890s.
Both Baum and Denslow had been actively involved in politics in the 1890s. Baum never said that the original story was an allegory for politics, although he did not have occasion to deny the notion. In fact, Baum himself states in his introduction to the book to have written The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "solely to please children of today":
[T]he old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident. Having this thought in mind, the story of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was written solely to please children of 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. (Emphasis added.)
The question is what Baum meant by "modernized fairy tale." Apart from references to people from Kansas, there is nothing in the book that is "modern" except the political references peppered in every chapter. The European fairy-tales of old often contained political allegory disguised as legend or myth in times of despotism when people were unable, sometimes even forbidden by law, to speak out about harsh, unfair treatment.
The 1901 musical version of "Oz", written by Baum, was for an adult audience and had numerous explicit references to current politics.
Sources
Numerous scholars in history, political science and economics have asserted that the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s. They argue that Baum and Denslow did not invent out of thin air the
LionThe Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is a lion, but he talks and interacts with humans....
,
Tin ManThe Tin Woodman is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and reappeared in many other Oz books...
,
ScarecrowThe Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator William Wallace Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely...
,
Yellow Brick RoadThe road of yellow brick is an element in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, with additional such roads appearing in The Marvelous Land of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz...
, Silver Slippers, cyclone, monkeys,
Emerald CityThe Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.-Fictional description:...
, Munchkins (little people),
Uncle HenryUncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.-Oz Books:...
, passenger balloons, witches and the
wizardThe Wizard of Oz, known during his reign as Oz the Great and Powerful, is the epithet of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs , a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L...
.
These were all common themes in the editorial cartoons of the previous decade. Baum and Denslow built a story around them, added
DorothyDorothy Gale is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of the Oz novels by American author L. Frank Baum and best friend of Oz's ruler, Princess Ozma. Dorothy first appears in Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. She also is the...
, and added a series of lessons to the effect that everyone possesses the resources they need if only they had self-confidence. Positive thinking was a prevalent trend in this period, and was the conduit by which Dorothy ultimately gets herself home. Baum, a leading authority on department store window displays that depicted imaginary worlds may also have been influenced by the elaborate Christmas displays in the department store windows in major cities.
Political sources
Many of the events and characters of the book resemble the actual political personalities, events and ideas of the 1890s. The 1902 stage adaptation mentioned, by name, President
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
, oil magnate
John D. RockefellerJohn Davison Rockefeller was an American industrialist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil began as an Ohio...
, and other political celebrities. (No real people are mentioned by name in the book.) Even the title has been interpreted as alluding to a political reality: "oz." is an abbreviation for
ounceThe ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 30 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
, a unit familiar to those who fought for a 16 to 1 ounce ratio of silver to gold in the name of
bimetallismIn economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent either to a certain quantity of gold or to a certain quantity of silver. Such a system establishes a fixed rate of exchange for the two metals. The merits of the system were the...
, though Baum stated he got the name from a file cabinet labeled A–N and O–Z. It should also be noted, however, that in later books Baum mentions contemporary figures by name and takes blatantly political stances without the benefit of allegory including a condemnation in no uncertain terms of
Standard OilStandard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as an Ohio corporation, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
.
The book opens not in an imaginary place but in real life
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
, which, in the 1890s as well as today, was well known for the hardships of rural life, and for destructive
tornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud...
es. The
Panic of 1893The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. This panic is sometimes considered a part of the Long Depression which began with the Panic of 1873, and like that of earlier crashes, was caused by railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing...
caused widespread distress in the rural United States. Dorothy is swept away to a colorful land of unlimited resources that nevertheless has serious political problems. This utopia is ruled in part by wicked witches. Dorothy and her house are swept up by the tornado and upon landing in Oz, the house falls on the
Wicked Witch of the EastThe Wicked Witch of the East is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum in his classic books. Her name is Sally. Although not verifiably seen , the 1939 film helped to further the popularity of the character. The Witch is the ruler of Munchkin Country...
, destroying the tyrant and freeing the ordinary people—little people or Munchkins. The Witch had previously controlled the all-powerful silver slippers (which were changed to ruby in the
1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
). The slippers will in the end liberate Dorothy but first she must walk in them down the golden yellow brick road, i.e. she must take silver down the path of gold, the path of free coinage. Following the road of gold leads eventually only to the Emerald City, which may symbolize the fraudulent world of greenback paper money that only pretends to have value, or may symbolize the greenback value that is placed on gold (and for silver, possibly).
While the allegorical interpretation referring to Baum's specific politics has come under significant scrutiny based primarily on interpreting the Populist movement and the political atmosphere of the late 19th century largely through a contemporary lens. While it is well known that Baum was a supporter of women's suffrage, there no tangible evidence of his support for minorities. Moreover, while it was claimed that Baum was a supporter of
William Jennings BryanWilliam Jennings Bryan was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1896, 1900 and 1908, a lawyer, and the 41st United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. One of the most popular speakers in American history, he was noted for a deep, commanding voice...
and had marched with him, the evidence suggests quite the opposite. Bradley A. Hansen counter-claims the view of Baum as a Democratic supporter with evidence of his numerous writings in favour of Republican politics (which would have been far more appropriate at that time). In essence, while there is strong reason to believe in a Populist message embedded within Baum's work, most of the original evidence was in fact quite baseless.
Historian approach to the book
The scholarly interpretation of the The Wizard of Oz
began in 1964 with an article in a leading journal by Henry LittlefieldHenry M. Littlefield is an author and historian most notable for his recognition of The Wizard of Oz as a political satire. He wrote The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism which was published in the American Quarterly in 1964. , ,,- Sources :*...
revealed the characters and events of The Wizard of Oz as metaphors for actual historical people and events. Since then the relationship of the book and play to history captured the attention of many cartoonists, editorial writers, scholars, historians, economists, writers and journalists. Several writers expanded upon Littlefield's parallels, and soon the allegory was being analyzed in scholarly articles and textbooks in
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and
historyHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
.
The cartoons shown in this article prove that political cartoonists before 1900 used cyclones, farm wives, witches, scarecrows, dogs, lions and monkeys, etc. as political allegories. Baum and Denslow had recently seen these—Puck
and Judge were the most popular cartoon magazines of the day—and it seems likely they drew their inspiration from them. Editorial cartoonists have made heavy use of Oz imagery in political cartoons, as the Rogers 1906 cartoon of Hearst, and the 1947 Berryman editorial cartoon proves.
While Baum never indicated political allegory in the Oz series, he explicitly referred to the political atmosphere of the day in a more adult-oriented series, Aunt Jane's Nieces. Though Fred Erisman points out the series are miles apart contextually and thematically, they are both arguing in favour of a progressivism based in frontier-idealism. Thus, the characters in Oz exist in a primarily agrarian environment where industry exists primarily at the artisanal level and good are exchanged rather than bartered or sold. It harkens back to the era of American frontier simplicity, and Baum purposely values simple lifestyles, humility and generosity as much in Oz as in the contemporary-era United States. Moreover, Erisman states that a fundamental component demonstrating that a more tangible relationship exists lies primarily in Baum's attention to the role of individualism, which he argues is not mutually exclusive from this concept of American simplicity.
Additional sources
- The most famous farmer in America in 1900 was Henry Wallace; everyone called him "Uncle Henry."
- The Tin Man was a common feature in political cartoons and in advertisements in the 1890s. Indeed, he had been part of European folk art for 300 years.
- The oil needed by the Tin Woodman had a political dimension at the time because Rockefeller's Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as an Ohio corporation, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
Company stood accused of being a monopoly (which was later ruled correct in a lawsuit brought by the federal government, and ultimately affirmed by the US Supreme Court.) In the 1902 stage adaptation the Tin Woodman wonders what he would do if he ran out of oil. "You wouldn't be as badly off as John D. Rockefeller," the Scarecrow responds, "He'd lose six thousand dollars a minute if that happened." (Swartz, Oz p 34).
- Monkeys were used in cartoons to ridicule politicians. The Winged Monkeys
Winged monkeys are characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, of enough impact between the books and the 1939 movie to have taken their own place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear.In the original Oz novels, these were just what...
may play a role similar to the hired PinkertonThe Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton...
agents who worked for the Trusts and hounded labor unions. Alternatively, if the Wicked Witch of the West is thought of as the actual American West, monkeys could represent another western danger: Native Americans. Baum even displayed an early sympathy for native Americans of the plains, symbolized in the story of the Winged monkeys in the West, whose leader tells Dorothy, "Once we were a free people, living happily in the great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master. […] This was many years ago, long before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land." Another interpretation of the monkeys is that they represent the Chinese workers on the cross country railroad project. They came from the west therefore are minions of the wicked Witch of the West, linking the manufacturing East to the raw products in the West.
- Politicians of the era often talked about wizards. For example, one senator debating the gold and silver issue in early 1900 said, “We all know of the performances of the world’s magicians, but it has remained for the Wizard of Missouri [Senator Cockrell] to wave his magic wand or his magic head and double the price of the silver of the world.” Baum may have turned the Wizard of Missouri into the Wizard of Oz, who frightened people with his giant magic head.
- President McKinley was often called a "wizard" for his political skills. The Wizard of Oz seems to be the president of the Land of Oz. The "man behind the curtain" could be a reference to automated store window displays of the sort famous at Christmas season in big city department stores; many people watching the fancy clockwork motions of animals and mannequins thought there must be an operator behind the curtain pulling the levers to make them move. (Baum was the editor of the trade magazine read by window dressers.)
- A 1997 essay in The Washington Post recast the story as an exercise in Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is, according to the OED, "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct", deriving from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe and other works...
, showing how the supposed "Good Witch Glinda" used an innocent, ignorant patsy (Dorothy) to overthrow both her own sister witch (Witch West) and the Wizard of Oz, leaving herself as undisputed master of all four corners of Oz: North, East, West and (presumably Oz being) South. "She even showed her truest Machiavellian genius by allowing the story to be entitled after the weakest of her three opponents."
- Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers...
, the lyricist for the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
, was aware of the political background of the original story. His son discussed the issue in a radio interview on Democracy Now.
Further reading
For an exploration of the allegories in the book see the full-length scholarly book by an economics professor: The Historian's Wizard of Oz — Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory
, edited by Ranjit S. Dighe, Praeger Publishers, Westport, Pennsylvania 2002.
External links
Oz as an allegory
http://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v98y1990i4p739-60.html copy of Hugh Rockoff, "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of Political Economy 98 (1990): 739-60
http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm David B. Parker, “The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a "Parable on Populism’” (1994)