Wizard+of+Oz

 __The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)__ __by Finola Goudy__ Did you know that characters and events in L. Frank Baum's book: // The Wonderful Wizard of Oz // represented political figures and events from the late 19th and early 20th century?

L. Frank Baum decided to write a book about his views and experiences about current political events at the time. This book was significant because many events and characters symbolized real life people and events.

__About the L. Frank Baum:__  -He sometimes published his books under false names. -He married Maud Gage; a leading suffragist. -He lived in Dakota for a long time. -He wrote children's books other than // The Wizard of Oz. - // He was influenced in his writing by political views at the time. -He heard many debates over US coinage when he spent a lot of time at the Chicago Press.

= A Short Summary of the Book: = == A girl from Kansas named Dorothy's house gets picked up in a cyclone and carried to a magical land of Oz where her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East. Glinda the good witch and the Munchkins rejoice that the witch is dead and Glinda gives Dorothy the dead witch's silver shoes. Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas so Glinda tells her to follow the yellow brick road to find The Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City. On the path, she meets the tin woodsman, the scarecrow and the cowardly lion who follow her to the Emerald City. They face many challenges like the lion falling asleep in a magical field of poppies. They reach the Emerald City and meet the Wizard. He tells them they must get rid of the Wicked Witch of the West. They go to the West and face The Witch's enslaved flying Monkeys and yellow Winkies. When they find the witch, she imprisons the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow and makes Dorothy her servant. Dorothy drops a bucket of water on her head and the Witch melts. The Wizard says he will take Dorothy home in a hot air balloon but he leaves without her. Glinda tells Dorothy to tap her shoes together and wish that she was home. Dorothy goes home to Kansas. ==

 Dorothy was a girl with typical views for a young girl in America. Her lifestyle was like many other people at the time. The scarecrow represented farmers and the tin woodsman represented industrial workers both of which became involved in political causes and concerns. There were many farmers at the time so politicians were paying a lot of attention to them. In fact, over-farming the land caused the @Dust Bowl  The cowardly lion represented William Jennings Bryan who was a popular politician who was very involved with the issue of American currency/ new coinage. Glinda the good witch represented the South. Her favorite color is red just like southern soil. The wicked witch of the East represents Grover Cleveland who was a commanding politician who was over-powering. The house falling on the witch represents how he was finally voted against at the convention in 1896, making it possible for Bryan to gain popularity. The Wizard represents Marcus Alonzo Hanna who was a politician. They both had strongly Republican views. Finally, the Wicked Witch of the West represents president McKinley. They were both overpowering political figures.

__Symbolism:__ Many events and characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Many items and events had to do with the political issue of a new coinage and what it would be made out of. (The item on the left is represented by the item on the right.)

The Yellow Brick Road- The Gold Standard (Just like many other gold pieces in the book like the Witch's golden cap.) The gold standard was one of the things that caused the stock market crash. A Link to the Page: @Stock Market Crash http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2929163/2/istockphoto_2929163-yellow-brick-road.jpg  Flying Monkeys- Plains Indians http://www.entertainmentearth.com/images/%5CAUTOIMAGES%5CGE10724lg.jpg  The Emerald City-Washington DC http://www.pentaclerecords.net/darien3/oz_emerald_city_1.jpg **Munchkins- Citizens of the East http://vanessaleighsblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/munchkins.jpg Dorothy's Silver Shoes (Ruby Slippers) - Coinage of Silver **  http://images.esellerpro.com/2196/I/159/53/silver%20(2).jpg <span style="color: #bd8a00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 205%;">"Oz"- the abbreviation for an ounce of gold <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 65%;">http://www.atggems.com/img/gold_aussie_victoria_14grams.jpg <span style="color: #169400; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 179%;">The Emerald Palace- The White House <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 135%;"> In the book, Dorothy goes to her room in the emerald palace through seven hallways and three flights of stairs. It was the year of 1873 that the silver dollar was eliminated from American coinage. <span style="color: #d1d100; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 172%;">Yellow Winkies- People of the Philippine <span style="color: #dbd300; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 182%;">s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 135%;"> The way that the Wicked Witch enslaves the yellow Winkies represents president McKinley not giving the people of the Philippines independence. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 64%;">http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bygosh.com/wizardofoz/images/oz12-02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bygosh.com/wizardofoz/oz12.htm&usg=___LgKJSQQ0g3hlmpGkcnxr7uVTo0=&h=404&w=300&sz=28&hl=en&start=34&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=wekVy1EYX-Db2M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=92&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyellow%2Bwinkies%26start%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dstrict%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 119.04%;">** The Cyclone that takes Dorothy to the land of Oz represents how the free silver movement totally disrupted the economy and political parties of America. ** The Cowardly Lion falls asleep in a field of magical poppies. This represents the populist fear that Byran (the politician that is represented by the cowardly lion) wasn't paying enough attention to the issue of coinage when he was focusing on other issues more <span style="color: #a80000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 93.44%;">. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 64%;"> http://www.teddington.richmond.sch.uk/archive/thought/TFTD/Rememberance%20pictures/PoppyClose.jpg The People in the Emerald city see the world through green (money colored) glasses. This is another reference to the issue over the US coinage. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 64%;"> http://www.wickedthemusicalstore.com/images/products/Emerald%20City%20Collection/Souvenirs/33-glasses-thumb.jpg

The Wizard of Oz and the World:
<span style="color: #400080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 137.6%; font-weight: normal;">-Today, the Wizard of Oz is used as a teaching tool in the subject of currencies. - Industry was becoming more and more common in the US in 1900. In the Wizard of Oz, the people of Oz work half the day and play half the day. This has been interpreted that the author wanted people to get the idea that work teaches you effort and happiness through achievement. -Money was becoming an extremely important value of people's everyday lives. In the land of Oz, Baum Frank chose to have no currency. People were instead generous and traded with each other.

<span style="color: #028dbb; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 180%;">__Resources:__
Works Cited Erisman, Fred. //American Quarterly Vol. 20//. //JSTOR//. N.p., 1 Sept. 1968. Web. 20 May 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/‌sici?sici=0003-0678%28196823%2920%3A3%3C616%3ALFBATP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E>. Hanson, Bradley A. //The Fable of Allegory: The Wizard of Oz in Economics//. N.p.: Heldref Publications, 2002. 254-264. //JSTOR//. Web. 23 May 2010. <www.jstor.org>. P., Jill. “Baum, L. Frank.” //World Book Student//. N.p., 18 May 2010. Web. 18 May 2010. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/‌student/‌article?id=ar050120&st=wizard+of+oz>. //Puck Magazine// 1896: n. pag. Web. 24 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌File:96SILVER.JPG>. Rockoff, Hugh. //The Wizard of Oz as a Monetary Allegory//. Vol. 98. N.p.: University of Chicago Press, 1990. 739-760. //JSTOR//. Web. 23 May 2010. <http://www.jstor.org>.