The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Although on the surface the tale operates as a children’s story, many postulate that the main characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are allegorical, representing different classes of Americans who vied for power in the late 1800s. Baum worked as a journalist and had an interest in the political shifts that were occurring at this time in the United States, particular in the Midwest.

Baum was known for his democratic ideals and was sympathetic toward the struggling working class. He spent time in Chicago, where he witnessed the devastation suffered by thousands of workers during an economic downturn that affected manufacturing in the late 1800s. The Tin Woodman is thought to represent disenfranchised factory workers. The heartlessness of unsympathetic politicians from the East Coast may be represented in the Wicked Witch of the East cursing the Woodman to cut all his limbs off. He is reduced to a rusted and frozen statue, symbolizing the soulless and dehumanizing factory industries, as well as the faltering state of industries in the nation’s heartland.

The Scarecrow is thought to represent American farmers. Baum’s depiction of the Scarecrow as intelligent but lacking in confidence reveals his opinion that American farmers are creative and innovative lateral thinkers who struggle to achieve legitimate representation in the political sphere. The Scarecrow’s eventual role as the ruler of the Emerald City suggests that agricultural issues, namely the devastating droughts and locust storms that were ravaging parts of the country, did eventually receive national and political attention.

The West of the Land of Oz is depicted as a harsh and unfriendly land: “[T]he ground became rougher and hillier, for there were no farms nor houses in this country of the West, and the ground was untilled” (99). The travelers must withstand attacks from wolves, crows, bees, and armed Winkies. Baum uses his allegorical story to elucidate the stress and struggle of those trying to subsist in these inhospitable lands. He lived in nearby South Dakota during a drought-affected time of unsuccessful political agitation when many farmers demanded economic support from the government. The West of Oz symbolizes the American Midwest. It is also symbolic that the Wicked Witch of the West is killed with water; like the witch, drought is a malevolent force for struggling farmers that can only be defeated with water or rain.

During this time, Baum supported the ultimately unsuccessful bid of William Jennings Bryan for the presidency. The Cowardly Lion represents Bryan, who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900. Bryan advocated for populist democracy; he was determined to represent the concerns of the everyday American rather than the elite. Like the Lion, who becomes King of the Forest in the South of the Land of Oz, Bryan is relegated to relative obscurity and does not achieve a national platform.