Allegory In The Wizard Of Oz

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Since the 1870s in America, paper money has always been based off gold in the treasury. Since the money supply growed more slowly than the population this cause deflation. Many people especially people in the mid west wanted to use silver instead of gold. Gold was much more expensive and hard to get then silver. Silver was more readily available in the Mid-West where it was particularly mined. In Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum which many know as a childhood classic, but what people don’t know is that the movie was actually a political statement. Baum was the editor of the South Dakota newspaper and a supporter of William Jennings Bryan who unsuccessfully ran for presidency three times. Baum thought that the money should be based on silver as well, and he put this secret message into the movie. In the movie, many of the characters, places, and things represent something. He used representations like Scarecrow, the silver slippers, The Yellow Brick Road, and The Wizard. The Wizard of Oz is an allegory of Baum's belief that money supply should be based of silver.…show more content…
The slippers were turned ruby red in the film, but were originally silver. Silver is related to the political issues of wanting to have the dollar’s value to have fixed ratios for both silver and gold. In the movie, Glinda said, “And remember, never let those ruby slippers off your feet for a moment, or you will be at the mercy of the Wicked Witch of the West.” Glinda says that Dorothy will remain safe as long as she has the silver slippers on the yellow brick road, which is representing the bankers’ gold standard, as she heads toward Emerald City, representing Washington DC. The silver will keep her ‘safe’ from the manipulative
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