The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was the first fairytale written in United States. Baum wrote TheWonderful Wizard of Oz during a time in history that was

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was the first fairytale written in

United States. Baum wrote TheWonderful Wizard of Oz during a time in history that was

not known for its social justices. The story focused on the many similarties between

Baum's characters and the United States during the 1800's. It is suggested that Baum

concentrated on the episodes of the Populist movement and their representation, as well

as the financial motives of the Silverites which were important to this era. Using allegory methods this story has depicted every type of rural life, gold-silver

issues and political corruption to form the opinions of its main characters. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became a powerful parable as Baum made a stand for the powerless

majority.

The use of allegory is to represent ideas or principles in a story, and the Wizard

of Oz used a fairytale to depict many major problems that challenged America, in the late

1900's. When the story talked of the gray colors of Kansas it represented the drought

observed by the author of the story in South Dakota. This deadly environment had no

effect on Dorothy and Toto which represented the nation full of innocence, life, and un-

able to recognize power. The yellow brick road symbolized the gold standard which

after a few hours begun to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the scarecrow

begins to stumble over the bricks that were not even. In the late 1890's, the major issue

was the currency of the United States. The gold standard was perceived as not sufficient

and was cornered by Fist a...

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...ief or moral lesson and using

this definition The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a parable. How effective of a parable is

questionable but it does use examples of simple everyday life to depict different eras in

the late 1800's. It is written as a fairytale so that Baum would not intentionly step on thetoes of those in authority and it has representation of moral lessons although it is not clear what the United States learned from this parable.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz attempted to relate its main characters to prominate figures, as well as historical and working class figures during the 1890's. The theme through out this story has been about taking a stand for what a person believes and it clear that Baum's stand was for the powerless majority. Just as history has repeated time and time agian if the middleclass is not represented a majority vote has not been cast.

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