How Does The Wizard Of Oz Relate To The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a young writer trying to find inspiration. When he read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, his ideas were endless. L. Frank Baum is an inspiration to Fitzgerald as well as many others. A lot of people have read or seen the magnificent Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both of the inventive writers have their own spin on the modern life. In the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum is trying to show the political stand point of everything. He shows the reader that in life there are going to be things that need to be worked for instead of only acknowledged. The Great Gatsby, has the same storyline with a more recent effect. Fitzgerald shows the readers that in life love does not always

have a promising ending; however he states that in life money will always have a separation between classes. Both of these stories show social commentary. The authors show social commentary through their representation of the different social classes in life.
In both The Great Gatsby and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the use of social commentary is represented through the symbolism of wealth.

In Baum’s inventive and creative storyline of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he uses a hidden trait that only some people can pick out. The symbol is using details throughout the story to represent different wealth and the path to a better life. The view of this story can be interpreted completely different between a child and an adult’s mind. In the story Dorothy gets her silver shoes when she successfully kills the Wicked Witch of the East. The two viewpoints are represented through kids believing that Dorothy is rewarded with beautiful shoes on the path to find Oz. In Novels for Students, they express how one person viewed Baum’s

story.
From an adult's point of view, however, the places and characters representing good (a child, the North, the South) and those representing evil (the East, the West) can be fitted into ideological categories. Populists' interpretation, for example, viewed the East as the enemy of the West. They believed that wealthy eastern politicians were destroying the hard-working farmers of the West; so when Dorothy's house comes from Kansas and kills the Wicked Witch of the East, they viewed this as a symbol of retribution and justice. From a political perspective, the wicked witches are powerful leaders who enslave and oppress people.
Baum shows throughout his story that he is against populism.

This shows that social commentary has an effect throughout Baum’s book. In the book Baum shows how when Dorothy gets her magnificent shoes that she does not know how to accept them. After Dorothy finishes everything she needed at her house, “Within a short time she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow roadbed” (Baum 32). The story explains Dorothy’s path from the land of Munchkins to the land of Oz.This shows how on her path she starts with nothing. Then, along the way, she achieves the silver shoes, the yellow - gold - road, then to the Emerald City. Statistics show that out of these three items Emeralds can be more expensive than gold and gold is more expensive than silver. This leads to believe that on her path she reaches higher expectations in

life.
The symbols throughout the story are clearly stated. Going off of what the adult’s view the reader can only assume further that their is further details in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Many readers in 1900 were taken with the silver (the witch's shoes) and the gold (the yellow brick road) in the novel. The gold standard was the subject of much debate at the time, and those who opposed it saw the book as a statement that Dorothy would have to follow the gold to get what she wanted but that ultimately applying silver to gold (walking the road in her silver shoes) would take her home. (Gale).
In the story Baum uses his discreet uses of color and description of items to make them have a value. The way that Baum has shown the world his ideas is through his idea of creating a symbolism for the “material” used throughout his story. The colors of silver, yellow, and emerald are used repeatedly throughout the entire story.
These two very eventful stories are filled with different New World advances. These being in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, because Baum always had an idea of technology advancing through history. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been celebrated as a fairy tale made distinctly American through the incorporation of technology” (Barrett). Baum wanted to show his readers that life will eventually have great technology. In Baum’s story the reader can see that by technology there is social commentary. The way that Baum expresses this throughout his story is by the materials he gives to each of the characters. He supplies the tin woodsman with an axe and an oil can, he gives Dorothy a bright colored dress, her dog, and her basket. Then, he shows Oz with a bunch of glory and he has the City of Emeralds. This shows social commentary due to the idea that Baum has executed the levels of classes. The tin woodsman being the low and poor class, Dorothy the middle class, and Oz being the high class. The Great Gatsby, shows