Sunday, July 15, 2007

Final Research Paper

The Political Allegory of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Do you know what your children are reading? Do you ever wonder if there are messages behind a certain children’s literature? Are there really political messages in children’s literature? We learn history through textbooks, but can we learn history through children’s literature? The answer is yes. The famous children’s story and literature, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum, has been made out of a novel, play, and movie. Everyone knows the story of the Wizard of Oz. The character Dorothy goes on a journey in the fantasy Land of Oz where she finds Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. They are off to see the Wizard, so Dorothy can go back home. The story is known for the Silver Shoes but in the movies they are ruby color as well as the Wicked Witch of West. What’s the connection to United States’ history? Throughout the novel, many can see that the Wizard of Oz has a deeper message that deals with politics and the Populism in United States’ history. The Populist Party is dated back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is a time when farmers were unhappy and issues with US currency. Also at that time, there are many problems in the South with finances. The children’s famous story, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, can be depicted as a political allegory of the Populism during United State’s history through its characters and symbolism from the story.

During the 1890s, there was a political party known as the People’s Party. They are known as the Populist Party. This party was originated in Kansas. How did the Populist form their Party? The Populist became a national organization when they “won numerous political offices at the state and local levels, but Weaver finished a distant third to Grover Cleveland in the presidential election” (www.ohiohistorycentral.org).

Their party consist the combination of a “general program for the political control of the industrialization with the concrete demands of a significant social force” (Rogin, 186). Their platform was that they wanted “…the direct election of United States Senators, a graduated income tax, woman’s suffrage, government ownership of the railroads, improved working conditions in factories, and easier access to credit” (www.ohiohistorycentral.org). They wanted to gain some political power in office, which they fought for women suffrage and proposed a direct election of senators. It was a way to get votes and expand their party. For the railroads, they thought that the government should control it to make the farmers happy with their financial problems. In addition to helping their financial problems, the Populist thought they would have accessible credit for farmers. “The populist believed that the federal government needed to play a more active role in the American economy by regulating various businesses, especially the railroads” (www.ohiohistorycentral.org). They also wanted to have “regulation of telephone and insurance companies, sumptuary legislation, alterations in the civil codes regarding family relationships, measures bearing upon personal morality and amendments to the criminal codes” (Bicha, 627). These were what their reform proposals, which they did not make it a central part of their concerns. The Populist tried to push for the introduction of a secret ballot as well (Rogin, 180).

Members of the Populist came from the plains and the mountains. The Populist controlled sevens states, which are Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Washington (Bicha, 627). Many members of the Populist Party came from farmers that were unsatisfied with the Democratic and Republican parties. The Populist’s members were members from Farmers' Alliances, the Grange, and the Knights of Labor. The Farmers’ Alliance members were framers that couldn’t come to terms with industrial capitalism (Rogin, 184). The Alliance helped aid farmers with “cotton mills, fertilizer companies, bagging plants, warehouses, and even banks” (Hackney, 8). In August 1889, the Farmers’ Alliance had their convention because farmers were unhappy and they decided to look to politics for help. “The convention failed to unite the Northern and the Southern Alliance, but the Southern Alliance adopted a set of ‘demands’ which were endorsed by the Knights of Labor” (Hackney, 9) This is how the Knights of Labor joined the Populist Party.

In addition, the Populist gained support because many men voted for the Populist Party, since they themselves were “plagued by social ostracism, loss of financial credit, and sometimes physical intimidation” (Hackney, 3). They felt that the Populist Party could help them with their problems. Besides gaining the Southern votes, Populism was most successful in newly settled states (Hackney, 4). This was because many states hadn’t established their political party.

The Populist aimed their votes to the African Americans during the rise of Populism. The platform was to appeal to the African Americans. White Southern Populist tried to have the African Americans vote for them creating this biracial movement (Winsboro and Musoke, 1354). The Populist platform was design in three parts: finance, transportation and land. In addition, it appealed to the African Americans because it “[denounces] disfranchisement, Ku Kluxism, terrorism, the convict lease system and lynching” (Winsboro and Musoke, 1359). Also, many African Americans voted for the Populist Party because the Populist, “attempting to overcome past tradition, harped on their willingness to secure blacks their civil rights…” (Winsboro and Musoke, 1367).

By the election of 1896, the Democratic Party had absorbed many of the Populist ideals, causing the People's Party to cease to exist as a national organization” (www.ohiohistorycentral.org). So, this puts the end of the Populist Party because they joined forces with Democrats. As of right now, we have the widely known Democratic Party.

In the 1900’s, Lyman Frank Baum had written the novel, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This novel is about a story of a young girl named Dorothy who lives on a small farm in Kansas. Dorothy lives with her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry. The story takes the reader on a journey to a place called Oz, when a cyclone hits and takes Dorothy and her dog Toto away. They both arrive in a strange place where the good witch and tiny people called Munchkins. Her house kills the Wicked Witch of the East because of the cyclone caused it to fall on her. The Good Witch of the North goes with the Munchkins to greet Dorothy, which she gives her the Silver Slipper (in the film it was red). She is also given a kiss by the Good Witch of the North, so nobody can harm Dorothy with that kiss. Dorothy goes down the Yellow Brick Road and along the way she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and Cowardly Lion. They all join her to ahead towards the Emerald City to see the Wizard to help them. They all wanted something; Dorothy wanted to go home back to Kansas. The Scarecrow wanted a brain. The Cowardly Lion wanted courage and the Tin Woodman wanted a heart. They reached Emerald City and the Wizard agrees to help each of them on one exception: someone have to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, who rules the Winkie Country. So they all start their journey to the Winkie Country, but never did expect to be attacked by wolves, crows, bees, and the Winkie soliders that the Wicked Witch sent over to harm Dorothy and the gang. Then, the Witch used the power of the Golden Cap to summons Winged Monkeys to destroy all them except for the Cowardly Lion. Also, Dorothy and Toto because of that kiss the Good Witch of the North gave Dorothy. Dorothy, Toto, and Cowardly Lion are then taken by the Winged Moneys to the castle of the Wicked Witch. As for capturing them, the Wicked Witch forced Dorothy to be her maid and the Cowardly Lion is to pull her chariot. The lion refuses and Dorothy got mad and threw the bucket of water on the Wicked Witch. The Witch starts to melt and the Winkies are freed from her tyranny. The Winkies also help assembled the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, which the Tin Woodman later becomes the ruler. Then Dorothy goes back to Emerald City, which alleviated the city because she used the Golden Cap. They all meet the Wizard again and Toto tips over the screen in a corner of the throne room. It reveals the old man who had traveled there himself long age and ruled the Land of Oz. Then, the Wizard grants each of them what they wanted. For Dorothy, the Wizard sends her home with the balloon, but the rope breaks and he flies away. So, the Winged Monkeys carry her home, but cannot make it across the desert surrounding Oz. They journeyed to the Glinda’s palace, the Good Witch of the South to help them home. When they reached to Glinda’s palace, Glinda told Dorothy she already had the power to go home with her Silver Shoes. And all her has to do is click her slippers and say where she wanted to go. Her friends are taken back to their places with the Golden Cap. Dorothy returns the Cap to the king of the Winged Monkeys, which they can no longer be under its spell. Dorothy and Toto return to Kansas and a joyful family reunion. (www.answers.com).

The connection between the Populist and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz are through the characters and symbol. The character Dorothy is a girl that is innocent and naïve. In the story, Dorothy is a representation of the Everyman. She represents the Everyman because she is real and human in the story the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Unlike Dorothy, the other characters in the Land of Oz are fantasy characters and not real. She has problems like every man during this time had. In the story, Dorothy thinks about others and is a good person (Littlefield, 52).

As for the Tin Woodman, he represents in the story of urban industrial workers during the Populism. They are independent and hard working people. In the story, Tin Woodman is put under a spell by the Witch of the East. The spell is every time he swung his axe it chopped off a different part of his body, which turns him into a tin. “In this way, Eastern witchcraft dehumanized a simple laborer so that the faster and better he worked the more quickly he became a kind of machine. Here is a populist view of evil Eastern influences on honest labor … (Littlefield, 52). Later in the story, Dorothy comes along and oils his joints since he is left there in the same position over a year. The Tin Woodman is rusty because of the rain. This is clearly a parallelism to the conditions of many Eastern workers after the depression of 1893 and during the Populism (Littlefield, 52).

The Scarecrow represents the Midwestern farmers during the Populist time. The Scarecrow is described to have self doubt and terrible sense of inferiority (Littlefield, 53). This is because many Midwestern farmers felt the same way because of financial problems with these big companies like the railroads. Many didn’t know the meaning of silver. Silver was meant so much too many in the Midwest (Littlefield, 53-54). Also in the story, the Scarecrow portrayed a lack of intelligence and asks for a brain. This is saying that many Midwest farmers didn’t have the intelligence to see what silver really meant for them.

The Cowardly Lion represents William Jennings Bryan, the running candidate for the presidential election in 1894 for the Populist- Democratic Party. Bryan is known for his roar because he went through each states campaigning hard for the election. He changed the political campaign during that time because he traveled to throughout the country (www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/elcerrito/history/oz.htm). Bryan maintained Midwestern control over the Democratic Party (Littlefield, 49). But Bryan unfortunately lost votes from the Eastern labors. Many workers were pressured to vote for McKinley, another presidential candidate running for the Republican Party, and gold by their employers (www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/elcerrito/history/oz.htm).

The symbolisms that connect with the story of the Wizard of Oz are Kansas, Emerald City, Oz, Silver Slippers and the Yellow Brick Road. In the story, Baum creates the setting in Kansas. Kansas is where the Populist originated. It makes perfect sense to use the Kansas as the setting for Baum’s novel, since he is representing Populism in his novel. Also with the setting of the story, Baum uses the prairie lands and the character, Dorothy, who lives with her uncle Henry and Aunt Emily, which owns a farm land. They represent the typical farmers in the South during the time of Populism, since their house was small and old with little furniture. Emerald City in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz represents the Coxey’s Army of tramps and indigents (Littlefield, 54). This is parallel to the Coxey’s Army because the four of them (Dorothy, Tin Wooodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion) goes to see the Wizard of Oz like the group of tramps and indigents that went to ask President Cleveland for work in 1894 (Littlefield, 54). The Coxey’s Army was formed by “Jacob S. Coxey, a lumber dealer from Massillon, Ohio, and a Populist, led a mass march of unemployed workers to Washington to demand a federal public works program” (http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/elcerrito/history/oz.htm). Also, Emerald City symbolizes the national Capitol because it seems to rule the Land of Oz just like the White House in the United States is where the President rules our nation. Oz is the abbreviation to the standard measurement of gold, the ounce (www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/elcerrito/history/oz.htm). For the Silver Slippers, Baum creates this symbolism of the Silver Slippers as to describe the silver issue during the Populist time. According to Littlefield, “Dorothy sets out on the Yellow Brick Road wearing the Witch of the East’s magic silver shoes. Silver shoes walking on a golden road; henceforth Dorothy becomes the innocent agent of Baum’s ironic view of the Silver issue” (53). In the Wonderful of Wizard of Oz, nobody realizes the power of the shoes that Dorothy can go home to Kansas if she clicks her shoes and says she wants to go home. They were capable of using the silver standard but nobody realized that during the Populism. During the campaign, Bryan never really used the silver standard more effectively. Bryan felt he didn’t need to make silver as his primary concern but he did try to push for it (Littlefield, 49). The Yellow Brick Road is depicted as the gold standard that leads nowhere (www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/elcerrito/history/oz.htm). The irony is the fact that silver and gold was the issue during that time and that silver had a power over gold. The Yellow Brick Road is depicted as a dangerous road to take in the story. It seemed like the Silver Slippers was many people ways out on that golden road, but they never used it until later on in US history.

The author himself plays a role in this parallelism between the Populist and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. According to Littlefield, “Baum’s allegiance to the cause of Democratic Populism must be balanced against the fact that he was not a political activist” (50). The irony that he wrote a book that depicts the Populist time in US history and yet wasn’t not a person that was a political activist.

Why is this so controversial? It’s controversial because many don’t see that there is a political allegory to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz that Baum wrote. Since he isn’t a political activist, many should wonder why he wrote it in the first place. It is a creative and interesting writing that he had published. It is a different kind of story with a lot of imagination. But many miss the part that his story represents a political allegory. According to Littlefield, “Baum never allowed the consistency of the allegory to take precedence over the theme of youthful entertainment” (58). This is true that he didn’t force the political allegory into the story. It is very subtle and many would see that you really had to analysis the story in order to understand that political allegory. The message that Baum is trying to conceive is “ [l]ed by naïve innocence and protected by good will, the farmer, the laborer and the politician approach the mystic holder of national power to ask for personal fulfillment” (Littlefield, 57). This is saying that many farmers wanted many things to help them out and that is why Populist was formed. But they themselves had to gain political power to have their needs be heard and have someone do something for many farmers that suffered in the South. Another message Baum is trying to conceive is “[he] poses a central thought; the American desire for symbols of fulfillment is illusory. Real needs lie elsewhere” (57). With the Land of Oz, it is a place for many farmers who dreamed to have that help they needed during that time. It’s like trying to see what reality from fantasy is and the farmers dreamed for big changes for them but failed to realize it might not happen.

Overall, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a political allegory of the Populist era. This teaches us how children’s literature can be helpful to learn the past and our history. These messages in children’s literature are a way for many of us to learn to read behind the lines. It is a way for a new type of writing of history and to create interesting story lines. Having political messages in children’s literature is a form of expression and a way to communicate thoughts and concerns. So when you pick up a children’s literature, stop to wonder what the message in the story is. Try to read behind the lines and see what you can find. We always have political messages behind music and movies. It is a way for many to listen to our problems we have in our society that needs to be addressed. So try to listen and open your eyes and mind of what goes on in history. Or you might miss the big picture.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great job! I like the organization, thorough explanations, parallels with Populism, and the solid citations.