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Symbolism in The wonderful WIZARD of OZ
The wizard of oz essay
Symbolism in The wonderful WIZARD of OZ
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Allegory in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ with Contrast between ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Wizard of Oz’
Tom Kim
Us History Block 1
Dr. Friedman
Numerous stories that target children as their readers contain their authors' ideas or analysis, buried in symbolism, satire, and allegory. Despite the fact that books following such type of literacy had flourished in Europe, one of the most famous allegorical stories had been written in 1900 by an American writer, L. Frank Baum: 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. Since the book gained fame dramatically, it was created into a screenplay as soon as technology allowed to deliver the beauty of the realm of Oz, in visual formation. However, the movie lacked the allegorical message
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The most distinctive protagonists should be Dorothy and her three companions: the scarecrow, the tin-man, and the lion. Dorothy represents a common citizen that is willing to support the Free-Silver Act. At the beginning of her journey to the center of politics and economy, the scarecrow and the tin-man joins her, symbolizing the individual farmers and the industrial workers, who mostly supported the Populist Party. On their way, they meet the cowardice lion, who represents William Jennings Bryan, a candidate for presidency who made the famous Cross of Gold speech. However, he was often considered as a cowardice among people, since he was a better orator than an executioner. Chronologically accurate, the groups had joined the Populists and aimed for the presidency. There are other characters that represents certain groups during the Gilded Age. For instance, by reading what the winged monkeys say after they were freed, the reader can infer that those monkeys controlled by the golden cap represent the Native Americans, that were heavily influenced by the flow of economy. On the other hand, the film did not include any unnecessary dialogs that let the readers to finding the
The narrative begins with Dorothy, who lives on a farm in a black and white setting presuming the absence of vitality and the insufficiency of a place that was in poverty at the time. However, when Dorothy is picked up by a twister and wakes up in the Land of Oz, she finds herself in a completely opposite environment full of life, beauty, and color filled with new found opportunities. On her quest to Emerald City, Dorothy is presented with a few characters who are The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and The Scarecrow who all feel like they need something more to complete them and they all seek out the “all powerful” wizard to obtain the things they want. The items they yearn for were a brain, a heart, and courage. Three things that we learn to utilize with experiences we go through. The characters eventually realize that they have always had what they have been longing for after the many obstacles they came through on their journey. In the end, Dorothy says, “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't
After the witch’s threats, the Scarecrow and Tin Man vow to stay with Dorothy. This is when Dorothy feels a familiarity with the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. They are not afraid of the wicket witch. They continue to walk, with the sound of the forest in the back ground, but Dorothy is afraid of meeting wild animals in the forest. Suddenly a lion appears, noisy and acting ferocious; he wants to fight them all. Initially, they are afraid, but Dorothy hits the lion and chastises him; the lion begins to cry and thinks his nose is bleeding. Dorothy calls him a big coward, he agrees and says he even scare himself. They suggest the Wizard of Oz could give the lion courage. He calls himself a dandelion. They head to the wizard to get a heart, a home, a brain, and coverage. The wicked witch of the west is behind the scene making a poison and puts it in the beautiful land scape of miles and mile of flowers. This is an area Dorothy must cross to get to the emerald city. Dorothy and company can now see The Emerald City in the distance. They began to walk across the colorful flowers towards the Emerald City and they can again see the yellow brick road. Dorothy suddenly becomes dizzy and sleepy, her and mentors and allies offers to pull her alone, but Dorothy and Toto and the lion falls asleep. The Tin Man and Scarecrow wants to carry Dorothy when realizing that
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the characters all turn out to have what they have been searching for all along (the lion was brave, the scarecrow could think, the tin man could feel, and Dorothy could have returned home at any time.
The first major connection in The Wizard of Oz was the Scarecrow. The scarecrow was used to symbolize the farmers and their struggles in America in the 18th century (Foner, Eric 636-640). The scarecrow made of straw was vulnerable with no brain. The scarecrow had little control over the circumstances he was facing just as the farmers did in the 18th century. The western farmers had issues with overproduction and when prices fell farmers suffered ended up losing their farms (Foner, Eric
To conclude, The Wizard of Oz is a lively story. L. Frank Baum was a success in bringing this story to life through the use of color. The many descriptions of the gray Kansas, yellow brick road, and Emerald City aid the readers to imagine the tale through a very unique way. Color overall is a huge contribute to the way readers feel and think. Color plays the role of imagination and creativity in this piece of
In relation to occult symbolism, the above quotes have illustrated these features. Toto, the inner voice, led Dorothy along her trek . Glinda, the guide, gave Dorothy the resources to lead her in the direction to what she ultimately desires, a way to return to Kansas. Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion searched for a want or need, while supporting Dorothy. In whole, each of these characters displayed good behavior in assisting the young girl in her exploration to illumination and enlightenment. “Like Dorothy’s journey, ours lead to a better self-understanding and, hopefully, to wisdom. But what does “wisdom” mean? I suspect it consists precisely in having discovered the brightness, the enchantment inside everything we have encountered all our lives.”
Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re a part of a team; everything is awesome, when you’re living in a dream. The lyrics from the theme song in The Lego Movie (McKay, Lord and Miller) captures what it is like to be in a bubble, doing life in our comfort zone. I will examine the correlation between the movie and Plato’s cave allegory by describing the allegory, giving an explanation of the movie and finally making connections between the movie and the cave allegory.
Frank Baum accurately presented ideas of occult symbolism in The Wizard of Oz, through aspects of illumination, enlightenment, and self-realization. This was accomplished by depicting multiple characters’ desires and needs, and others as guides to enlightenment. Baum would agree with the quote above, saying that The Wizard of Oz does focus on occult symbolism, and a journey to self-understanding. Everything one has experienced in life leads to self-realization and further, wisdom. Furthermore, the quote “Real power, for good or ill, lies with the women” (DATABASE) states that women have power as much as men do. The young heroine displays this by saving her male companions along her journey and completing her
In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take away from the meaning of L. Frank Baum’s depiction in his novel to a certain level and extent.
...lf-confidence. The Scarecrow was the one who believed that he had no brain even with him coming up with brilliant and clever solutions to the many problems that they faced on their journey. The tin man believed that he didn’t have a heart, but cries when bad things are brought upon the creatures they come to encounter. The lion believed that he had no courage even though he was the one brave enough to continue the journey, he always stated how brave he was and pushed forward even when the others did not want to. A famous quote from Carl L. Bankston III of Salem Press stated that "These three characters embody the classical human virtues of intelligence, caring, and courage, but their self-doubts keep them from being reduced to mere symbols of these qualities” (). This is an important quote because it highlights the self-confidence that Baum explored in his story.
...s. The Scarecrow represents farmers, agricultural workers, ignorant of many city things but honest and able to understand things with a little education. The Tin Man, He represents the industrial worker whose heart has been torn out by the evils of factory work and industrialism. W.J. Bryan embodied the role of the cowardly lion. Bryan was a very loud and booming public speaker but was viewed as a coward because he did not support the Spanish-American war. OZ is the US. The emerald city is Washington D.C. filled with greenbacks and the wizard is the president. Dorothy and her “party” follow the yellow brick way, or gold standard, to find the wizard and fix her problem. When all along they way to fix her problem of how to get back home was to tap her ruby red shoes which were silver thus in the original book thus representing the Populists push for a silver standard.
When L. Frank Baum was first writing this novel, America was going through a major political movement. Populists were fighting against proponents of the gold standard over whether or not to incorporate silver, along with gold, as a monetary standard in the United States. There is a theory that several historians have formulated over the years, claiming that Baum intended The Wizard of Oz to be an elaborate allegory for U.S. monetary policy and other related politics of the 1890s. Some such
The symbols of the scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather, the knitting, and the Gorgon’s head help with the theme because they demonstrate how man can be cruel and unfeeling toward his fellow citizen. The symbols help in understanding the theme that both the aristocrats and the peasants are capable of being apathetic and cruel. The symbols also aid in reading and understanding the plot. Both the symbols and the theme enhance the plot and help in comprehending the characters. In short, evil is present everywhere, and terrible things happen to bad and good people.
The Wizard of Oz is a fiction story written by L. Frank Baum. The story has two main settings. The first setting is, Dorothy’s home, the Kansas prairies. The prairies are described as dry and gray. The second setting is the land of Oz. Oz is opposed from Kansas, it is colorful, bright, and full of joy. The Wizard of Oz has a grate theme or message behind the story. The message is that we all have good qualities in us, but it is up to us to use them.
Most of the characters that fill the fantasy land have counterparts in the heroes’ real lives. The Wicked Witch of the West who threatens Dorothy “and her little dog Toto too” is a reflection of Miss Gulch in Kansas, who obtains an order to have Toto destroyed. In Kansas, the farmhands on the Gale’s farm take turns instructing Dorothy to handle her problems with Miss Gulch by having a brain, a heart, and courage; these are the same qualities that Dorothy’s companions in Oz are seeking from the Wizard. The Wizard himself is a double of the fortune teller Dorothy consults as she tries to run away from home. To make the parallels more apparent, the movie makes did not just create similar characterizations for their doubled characters, but had them portrayed by the same actors so that the audience could physically see that they were the same