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Appendix C - An antimonopolist reading of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2011

Gretchen Ritter
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Summary

Dorothy – An all-American girl from the heartland, Kansas.

Toto – Her faithful dog.

The Tin Woodman – Under a spell by the Wicked Witch of the East (Eastern capitalism), this worker is turned from a man into a heartless machine.

The Scarecrow – A farmer who has lost faith in his own common sense.

The Cowardly Lion – Commonly identified as William Jennings Bryan: someone meant to be a leader who lacks sufficient courage and gets by with his loud roars (or oratory).

The Wicked Witch of the West – The land of the West appears to be a desert, and perhaps a mining region (there are goldsmiths – Baum lived for a time in South Dakota). This witch may be an evil mine owner, who rules through her gold cap.

The Wicked Witch of the East – Eastern capitalism. She ruled over the good people of the East, Munchkins, who were dressed in blue (the color of the Union).

The Wizard of Oz – Evidently the President. Stays invisible in his palace and rules through fear and illusion. Started in the West, indeed in Omaha, Nebraska, which may also suggest an association with Bryan.

The Emerald City – Washington, DC, where the people are less than friendly, the world is colored green (for money), and is at the center of the kingdom. All the people wear green glasses held on by gold bands (the rule of money is held together by the power of gold).

Type
Chapter
Information
Goldbugs and Greenbacks
The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America, 1865–1896
, pp. 288 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

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