The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank BaumMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a political allegory disguised as a children's novel. The whole thing is about the "free silver" platform popular in the nineteenth century. The shoes Dorothy gets from the Wicked Witch of the East are not ruby slippers in the book. They are silver.
Dorothy follows the yellow brick rode, aka the gold standard, to find her way to the wizard that will hopefully get her home (to economic prosperity). Along the way she meets the scarecrow (the American farmer) and the tin man (the American factory worker) and the cowardly lion (William Jennings Bryan, a populist politician). The gold standard leads only to a crock of a wizard, and it is the silver shoes that really take Dorothy home.
Anyway, this is how I interpret the story, although I'm sure not everyone agrees. It's fun to read, if you haven't read the book, it's worth reading in addition to the movie.
Click Here for a review of The Marvelous Land of Oz
Click Here for a short biography of L. Frank Baum
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I am embaressed to say I have never read the book- only seen the movie. I read Wicked and loved it- so after reading this post I see that I need to read the book, not just rely on the movie. The book sounds fascinating!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting!
~Jess