Hayden, Kaden, Hayley, Lekseee

THE WIZARD OF OZ AND POPULISM

POPULISM• “The movement of the people”

• Founded in 1892

• A base of political power

• Demanded reforms to lift the burden of debt from farmers and other workers to give people a greater voice in their government.

DOROTHY• Dorothy is thought to represent the american people and their values.

• Another belief is that she represented president theodore roosevelt, because of the similarities in their names. Think: Dor-o-thy, The-o-dore.

THE TIN MAN• Represents the nations industry workers.

• How their heart isn’t really in their work, and his rusty condition represents how bad the working conditions were for the workers.

• He represents the workers that felt like they were being dehumanized, and the government was forcing them to work.

THE COWARDLY LION• Represented a politician named William Jennings Bryan who supported the free silver

movement.

• Bryan was seen as having all bark but no bite, hence “The Cowardly Lion”

THE SCARECROW

• The scarecrow represents the farmers of the United States.

• His lack of a brain is supposed to represent the lack of education that most of the farmers had in that time period.

• They had many troubles late in the 19 th century, but were very honest people just like the scarecrow, who didn’t have a brain but was one of the best problem solvers in the movie.

THE WINGED MONKEYS• Compared to the Native Americans

• When immigrants migrated from the east they basically forced the Natives to do what they say.

WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST

• Compared to William McKinley who assassinated William Bryant. (West Coast Banker)

• She was destroyed by water, the water represents the rain that relieves the mid-west drought and saves farmers.

• Prevents repossession by the banks

THE WIZARD OF OZ • He’s a little man with no power that people assume he possesses.

• He represents the President of the United States.

• When people realize he doesn’t have the power he seems to they think the Scarecrow (farmers) could make a better president.

GLINDA THE GOOD WITCH

• She wants peace and issues to be fixed in Emerald City.

• She represents the Southern citizens.

YELLOW BRICK ROAD• Represents the Gold Standard with the gold leading to power

SILVER SLIPPERS• Represents Bimetallism

• This would have the monetary system fixed so the dollar would have both parts gold, and silver.

• It also may represent the power to vote.

EMERALD PALACE AND EMERALD CITY• Represents the White House and Washington D.C.

• http://voices.yahoo.com/political-symbolism-the-wizard-oz-book-movie-561662.html