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Who does Dorothy represent in the Wizard of Oz?
Everyman, or an individualist American
What is the significance of Kansas?
Kansas was a stronghold for populism following droughts and natural disasters stripping the land and bankers and railroads taking advantage of the farmers.
What does the tornado symbolize?
Populist sweep in Kansas in the early 1890s
What does Toto’s name represent?
Teetotalers and prohibitionists who followed closely with populists.
What does the Witch of the East represent?
Eastern financial industrialists and gold-standard politicians.
Bimetallism
A monetary standard in which money is equivalent to certain quantities of gold and silver, creating a uniform exchange rate.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
A measure that prohibited the free and unlimited coinage of silver that would’ve created a cheaper paper money system allowing for farmers to pay their debts more easily.
What does the Witch of the North represent
the electorate of the upper Midwest
The Munchkins represent
Common farmers who did not fully understand the potential monetary power of silver who were “enslaved” by big railroads and bankers
The Witch of the West represents
The malign natural disasters in the Midwest and the powerful brokers in the region
The use of gold and silver by the Wicked Witch
Shows politicians manipulation of the free silver movement to bolster their platform and switch to gold-standard, most commonly McKinley
Glinda of the South represents
The southern platform for populists that understands the power of silver.
The scarecrow represents
“Brainless” midwestern farmers who were called simpletons despite knowing their financial situations well
The Tin Man represents
Industrial workers who Populists tried to lead towards their cause
The roaring lion represents
William Jennings Bryan who was the populist party’s pick for presidency, but could not win because of his lack of support from industrial union workers and his stance on imperialism.
The Winged Monkeys represent
The Natives forced to labor under Eastern industrialists
The Winkies represent
Asian immigrants subjugated by industrialists and discriminated against
The Wizard of Oz represents
A manipulative politician who works in personas to achieve his true ends, somewhat representing Bryan’s desire for presidency
The story serves to
Entertain and satirize the monetary politics of the Gilded Age
