Conspiracy of Populism and the Wizard of Oz

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The Wizard Of Oz Populist Essay The Wizard of Oz, written by Frank Baum was said to be a simple children’s story. Although Baum proclaimed this, there were many signs in the book for it to be a parable on populism. Although this proclaim may be true, the story is very consistent in it’s underlying details of populist ideas. In the story Dorothy represents the innocent American People; she gains the silver shoes, which represents the Silver Movement where the US could coin an unlimited amount of silver, an inflationary measure to help debt-ridden farmers. This went hand in hand with the Gold Standard, an insufficient way for upper class citizens to maintain economic power. The Gold Standard was represented by the Yellow Brick Road, described as rough, uneven, and cracked. Dorothy walks on this road in the silver shoes, showing how the Gold Standard and Silver Movement go hand in hand. When the Wicked Witch of the West first encountered Dorothy she saw the shoes she was fearful as she knew the power of them until she saw in Dorothy’s eyes the innocence and unknowingness of the shoes power. The American people had the power of the Silver Movement yet were unknowing of it’s power as banker bosses and business men, who is represented by the Wicked Witch of the East, fed off of them. The Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, who out of running for president four times, never won an election. Bryan had strong words but far less powerful actions, as he was for the common people he never endorsed the Populist platform. As the lion was scared of everything he met, he discovered if he roared they were frightened and would run away. The Tin Man, who was formally a human who chopped wood, had a spell placed on him by the Wicked Witch of the East that as he had chopped wood, he would lose a body part replaced with tin. This continued until he was all

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