Wonderful Wizard of Oz as Allegory
Donovan Conner
Mrs. Collins
College Prep American Literature
February 9 2009 In Lyman Frank Baum’s, more commonly known as Frank L. Baum, novel The Wonderful wizard of Oz Baum describes a story in which a young girl Dorothy and her dog, Toto go on a magical journey from the dull, gray land of Kansas to the colorful, magical land of Oz. This girl and her dog meet three companions, a Cowardly Lion, a Brainless Scarecrow, and a Heartless Tin Man and have adventure in the Land of Oz and untimely help Dorothy get home. In Baum’s allegorical The Wonderful Wizard of Oz he uses satire and symbols, such as the regions of Oz, the characters of Oz and the Witches of Oz as to represent the Populist movement. Baum himself was fit to write a novel that was an allegory for the populist movement. As a young man he had shared a passion for the stage (Applebaum 1). It was also said that he was “born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth” and that the “one occupation in which Baum seemed to excel at was story telling” (Discovering Authors 1). These traits that Baum had would have made him a great satirist, and he was familiar with the utopian issues because he worked at a newspaper (Karp 1) and commented on many political and social affairs (Discovering Authors 1). So with the knowledge Baum made a classic allegorical novel that even starts with a satire “The old-time fairy tale, having served for generation ,may now be classified…Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure the children of today” (Westfaul 1). In the interdiction to his novel he sets in the mind that there is more to his book, because if not why else state something as obvious as that, unless trying to give a clue that his introduction is not all true but has a hidden meaning all its own.
When Dorothy came to Oz trough a cyclone in which her house falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the West and gets the Witch’s silver slippers. She comes from a
Mrs. Collins
College Prep American Literature
February 9 2009 In Lyman Frank Baum’s, more commonly known as Frank L. Baum, novel The Wonderful wizard of Oz Baum describes a story in which a young girl Dorothy and her dog, Toto go on a magical journey from the dull, gray land of Kansas to the colorful, magical land of Oz. This girl and her dog meet three companions, a Cowardly Lion, a Brainless Scarecrow, and a Heartless Tin Man and have adventure in the Land of Oz and untimely help Dorothy get home. In Baum’s allegorical The Wonderful Wizard of Oz he uses satire and symbols, such as the regions of Oz, the characters of Oz and the Witches of Oz as to represent the Populist movement. Baum himself was fit to write a novel that was an allegory for the populist movement. As a young man he had shared a passion for the stage (Applebaum 1). It was also said that he was “born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth” and that the “one occupation in which Baum seemed to excel at was story telling” (Discovering Authors 1). These traits that Baum had would have made him a great satirist, and he was familiar with the utopian issues because he worked at a newspaper (Karp 1) and commented on many political and social affairs (Discovering Authors 1). So with the knowledge Baum made a classic allegorical novel that even starts with a satire “The old-time fairy tale, having served for generation ,may now be classified…Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure the children of today” (Westfaul 1). In the interdiction to his novel he sets in the mind that there is more to his book, because if not why else state something as obvious as that, unless trying to give a clue that his introduction is not all true but has a hidden meaning all its own.
When Dorothy came to Oz trough a cyclone in which her house falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the West and gets the Witch’s silver slippers. She comes from a
Cited: Baum, F. Lyman. The Annotated Wizard of Oz. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 1973. Bellman, Samuel Irving. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Overview.". 2003. Discovering Collection. 18 Dec. 2008. . Karp, Andrew. “Utopian Tension in L. Frank Baum’s Oz (*)”. 2007. Student Resource Center. 18 Dec. 2008. . "Plot Summary: ;". 2003. Discovering Collection. 18 Dec. 2008. . "Review of The Wizard of Oz, by L(yman) Frank Baum.". 2007. Discovering Collection. 18 Dec. 2008. . Taylor, P. Quentin “Money and Politics in the Land of Oz”. 2007. Discovering Collections. 18 Dec. 2008. . Westfahl, Gary. "L. Frank Baum: Overview.”. 2003. Discovering Collection.18 Dec. 2008. .