The Wizard of Oz as a populist parable

Life for farmers and populists in the late 19^th century Midwestern United States, was difficult at best. Farmers faced drought, crippling loan payments, a political system that did no justice to their plight and a nationwide depression that left many families in a terrible disposition. Frank Baum has paralleled many of the adversities faced by these settlers in the novel, The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz begins its story on a small farm in Kansas. The heroin of the story, Dorthy Gale, is knocked unconscious and swept away by a tornado. The house containing Dorthy and her dog Toto, lands in the strange world of Oz. Soon after her arrival, the good witch of the North and the Munchkins greet her. The community is very happy for Dorothy’s impromptu arrival because her house has landed on the wicked witch of the East, killing her and thereby freeing them from her oppression.

The Munchkins seem to represent the populist population of the early 19^th century in the United States. They were a group oppressed by the tyranny of the eastern bankers, which was represented in the book as the wicked witch of the East. The bankers of the time made life for the farmers virtually unbearable.

Shortly after the death of the wicked witch of the East, the good witch of the North gives Dorthy the dead witch’s silver shoes. The “silver shoes” seem to be a metaphor for silver dollars. In what the populists called the “crime of 1873.” Eastern bankers of the time stopped issuing silver dollars and replaced them with gold currency. Populists carried a “free silver” campaign in the 1890’s vigilantly, but to no avail. The objective was to convince the bankers to exchange 16 ounces of silver for 1 ounce of gold.

Bankers put a major dent in the pocket books of the farmers because their decisions severely limited the money supply in the United States. With money in short supply, farmers saw the price of their crops begin to plummet. The price of agricultural goods continued to sink starting in 1871 until 1896.

The wicked witch of the West has some unique parallels to reality as well. She represented many things such as the depression during the years of 1893 and 1894, drought conditions, the erosion of rich soil and the plagues of crop destroying insects.

Characterizations of the lives of the American people during this time, are also very apparent in the story.

For example, the first character Dorthy meets on her path down the yellow brick road is a scarecrow with no brains. In reality the yellow brick road is the gold road of the bankers symbolizing wealth, and the scarecrow is the common populist being mocked as mentally inferior. Next you have a tin man that represents the mechanized life of industrialists. Then there is the cowardly lion. The Lion could easily be construed as William Jennings Bryan whose pacifistic ways could be misunderstood as cowardly. Lastly, the “Wizard” of Oz could be the Presidents of the time. They tended to be somewhat deceptive, aloof and indecisive when it came to making important decisions.

Frank Baum claimed that his novel, The Wizard of Oz, was a children’s story. The author grew up in the times of which the story parallels. Baum observed first hand the horrors of the farmers of this time period and also wrote about them in the defunct newspaper of which he was employed. Perhaps he did not write a parable of the populist intentionally, but that is what it seems.