Populism In The Wizard Of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum, who favored bimetallism greatly focused on the primary matter, that being the Free Silver movement, which caused a great impact to the nation.The Wizard of Oz is an allegory of the political and economic environment of the Populist era because it resembles a story that can be interpreted to reveal a political movement through the characters,setting, and certain items and main ideas that were displayed in the book. In the Wizard of Oz a character that relates to the Populist Movement is the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow depicts the hardworking farmers in the midwestern region who for years suffered from mistreatment and were looked as lower individuals. Furthermore, another character that portrays a resemblance to the Populist movement would be the Tin man. The Tin man displays the industrial workers as a whole and whom the Populists tried to connect with. The …show more content…
In most fiction tales you always see red sparkly shoes; however, Dorothy’s were silver. The shoes were silver which has to due with the Free Silver movement going on. A character that expressed more of a main idea was Glinda, the Good Witch of the North represents the Northern workers and the midwestern farmers who strongly oppose the very dominating and potent bosses who created many problems with monopolies. Moreover, The wicked monkeys portrayed the Plains Indians. During the 1890s, the Plains Indians were in a constant struggle to find a home because the U.S. government could not find a place to put them.The prohibitionists represented those who favored and followed the Populists with great commitment to them. In the story Dorothy’s dog, Toto depicted the devoted prohibitionists. Oil represented the importance of it and the how without it, it left many without occupations. Oil was a problem for the Tin man because without the oil, the Tin man could barely