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Wizard Of Oz Literary Analysis

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This article written by Hugh Rockoff explains how the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz doubles as a notorious children’s story but also explains the political and economic debates of the Populist Era. The characters in the tale have very symbolic meanings and are based off of real people which will be talked about later in the article. The secret encryptions of monetary debates occurs all throughout the tale as well as the ongoing battle over free silver during the 1890s. Frank Baum who actually wrote the Wizard of Oz, based the tale off the preparations that had occurred earlier in his life. Being born to a wealthy family in New York and moving to Chicago during in 1890 allowed him to hear the troubling battle over free silver. With the gross …show more content…

Dorothy, the main character, is from Kansas and lives with her Aunt Em and small dog Toto. She represents America by being honest, kindhearted and plucky. The second character would be the Scarecrow, he represents that the people, including farmers were capable of understanding complex theories that differ from the standard. This was portrayed through the Scarecrow because at first he thought he had no brain, as the story goes on he turns out to be creative and shrewd. Next on the path they meet Tim Woodman, who symbolizes the workingman. He has worked his entire life and needs oil to keep going, but he has no heart. This symbolized that the industrialization had turned an independent artisan into a mere cog in a giant machine. The last character was the Cowardly Lion, who represented William Jennings Bryan. He was a politician during that time who played a key role in the background of the Wizard of Oz. Next were the shoes throughout the tale, the shoes were silver in the book to represent the free silver and troubles with the high power money. In the movie they were red probably due to new improvements in color films and to make a bold statement. The shoes are left behind when the Wicked Witch of the East is killed. From here Dorothy proceeds to wear

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