By Charity Davenport
The Wizard of Oz is popularly known as America’s first fairy tale, and as such there are very important themes unique to America that Baum might have wanted to pass to future generations. At the time of the book’s publication, America was a tumultuous time, especially economically, with issues that America has confronted in the past few years—bankers in the evil East held farmers and factory workers in slavery, with low wages, taking advantage of farmers’ lack of education, and running humans into the ground with cold, heartless machines during the Industrial Revolution. Even nature was not friendly—in the West there were farms where water was needed to defeat evil droughts. Are you starting to make the connection now?
Then there’s little Dorothy, a little girl standing strong in a man’s world, at a time when women fought feverishly for equal rights and the right to vote—which would not be won until 1920, one year after Baum’s death.
With all these events happening at the turn of the century, after several failures in his own life, Baum may have put his last effort into showing children the struggle of everyday life in America, and the message that no matter how much you fail, you just have to stand up and try again. At some point, you will find success, just as Baum did with his world famous fairy tale.
- The Wizard of Oz and the American Dream
At the moment, the American Dream is shallow. For many it means getting married, having a family, buying a nice, expensive car, and having a white house with a picket fence. This means the dream is related to having money and material goods. However, this idea of the dream has been sullied. At the turn of the century, at the time of the Wizard of Oz’s writing, the American Dream had a much more powerful meaning, especially to the millions of immigrants flocking to the country via Ellis Island in New York, staring at the beauty of the Statue of Liberty as they approached American soil.
The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, states that the new nation of America, now free from British rule, and its people, have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This sentence is a short but sweet representation of the American Dream—the freedom to succeed. With hard work, you are free to succeed, to go from rags to riches, to climb the social ladder no matter how hard times may seem. The life of Chris Gardner depicted in the film The Pursuit of Happyness, is about how a man struggling to find a job to provide for his wife and son and fighting against becoming homeless manages to become a stockbroker in the New York stock exchange against all odds—with 99% hard work, and just a little luck. He used his brain to study to pass a test to become a stockbroker. He had the heart, the passion to work hard and gain work experience, and he had the courage and the confidence to never give up, even when it looked like all was lost. He even had the courage to still go to a job interview when the only clothes he had were a t-shirt and jeans, dirty and covered in paint. Here we can see three characteristics from the Wizard of Oz that can help one down the path of success, towards their golden shining goal at the end of the yellow brick road.
The Wizard of Oz characters and events represent what is needed to succeed as an individual as well as showing how obstacles can pop up but be overcome. Dorothy, even though she cries for home often, is brave and confident through all obstacles. “If we walk far enough, we shall sometime come to some place, I am sure,” Dorothy says as the group is lost, trying to find the way back to Emerald City. Without knowing it, each character has exactly what they want. Scarecrow has the brightest ideas, Tin Woodman gets emotional anytime something is harmed (although does a bit of harming himself), and the Cowardly Lion ferociously roars and pounces when he is needed the most. Yet they never believe in the power of themselves. Dorothy is a mere mortal, walking around the entire book with a potent item, the silver shoes, and luckily seizes the opportunity to take with her the golden cap that will help her later. She seems very resourceful without even knowing it. We may want to choke dear Glinda when she tells Dorothy that she had the power all along in her glistening shoes, but that wouldn’t have made for a good story. As frustrated as we may be by the good witch of the South’s words, the truth is that, as the proverb goes, “It’s not the destination that matters; it’s the journey.” It’s not the culmination of your actions, but it’s the process of how you got to be who you are. In fact, going back to our theme of the American Dream, Glinda herself may represent the United States—with her red hair, white dress, and blue eyes—the great “red, white, and blue” that represent the colors of the American flag. Maybe the immigrants coming from Europe to Ellis Island didn’t realize their potential until they set foot in the land of the free and the home of the brave, until the red, white and blue told them they had the power to achieve their goals all this time.
Individualism is another key American ideal, which involves independence and self-reliance. Again, this is shown by how the characters solve problems on their own accord, using their own skills. They yearn for the help of the great wizard, which of course we learn is not of much help. There is no magic that can automatically give them what they want. If there is a problem, we can’t ignore it, and we can’t hope that someone else will fix it. We have to do something ourselves. Glinda was much like a parent giving a child the chance to discover their own power by themselves. Experience is the best teacher, even if the experience is harsh and arduous one.
- The Wizard of Oz and the importance of collaboration
Sometimes people from other countries look upon Americans’ individualistic personalities with scorn. They think it’s cold that each person is so alone and facing life’s difficulties by themselves. However, the important thing to note is that with individualism comes teamwork, the ability to collaborate, and critical thinking skills—other important Western and American ideals. Once again, the characters in Wizard of Oz show the importance of taking people’s individual strengths and creating a “dream team” that can accomplish anything. Scarecrow has the brains, and Tin Woodman has the brawn, using his axe at Scarecrow’s every request. Tin Woodman also has the passion to get things done and is motivated. Cowardly Lion has the courage and confidence that he can get the job done right. In research teams, in a company’s boardroom, in a lab, in any situation where people need to work together, these characteristics help achieve a team’s goals. As far as critical thinking skills go, it’s the ability to think “outside the box”—to solve problems efficiently, just as Dorothy and her dream team do every time there is an obstacle. There’s no denying that this is why there are numerous published popular books about personal success and improving a business, such as The Oz Principle, with principles based on the Wizard of Oz books.[1]
- “A Friend of Dorothy”: Dorothy and diversity
After accidentally vanquishing the Wicked Witch of the East with her house, Dorothy notices a group of “the queerest people she had even seen.” Because of her deed, the Munchkins celebrate and quickly accept her, and even offer her food and a place to stay, even though she is a “foreigner”. Even the thought of the new, “queer people”, is quickly forgotten, and instead Dorothy accepts and helps all manners of life she meets—from a strange Scarecrow stuck on a pole, to Tin Woodman in dire need of oiling, and even the Cowardly Lion—accepting him even after having to slap him on the nose for daring to harm Toto. Along the way the group meet more strangers—“green” people, flying monkeys, the Winkies, and the little China girl that Dorothy wanted to take home. They all accept Dorothy, and in this strange new land, Dorothy accepts them, too.
It has been noted by several Oz analysts, such as Quentin P. Taylor, that some “races” of people in Oz could represent races in America, both in positive and negative ways. The “yellow” Winkies in the West could have represented the Chinese, who had arrived to work on the Transcontinental Railroad in California in the 1860’s.[2] The Winged Monkeys, also in the west, were forced there, and cannot cross the desert. Once again it reflects the times, as Native Americans too were pushed West by the decree of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. To the east, Ellis Island welcomed millions of immigrants when it opened in 1892. By the time The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written in 1900, America was very quickly becoming a more diverse country.
Although there are claims that Baum was racist,[3] the opposite seems to be reflected in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is possible that despite Baum’s own disposition, Dorothy and the variety of people she meets are accepting and tolerant of each other as long as everyone treats each other with respect—with the Wicked Witches being exceptions—not by race, but by actions.
Dorothy’s kindness is more easily seen in the 1939 movie adaptation of the book, which after showing yearly in the 1960’s on TV, gained popularity. For the first time, gay men found their muse in Dorothy, played by Judy Garland. One theory for the attraction to the movie for them is “Despite intense fear, confusion and a series of trials, Judy as Dorothy finally made it ‘home’ by realizing that she possessed all of the heart, strength and courage needed to find the true happiness that lived within. Gay men of the past and today also embarked on adventures of self-discover that led full circle to self-acceptance.”[4] However, another idea is that “In the film, Dorothy immediately accepts those who are different, including the Cowardly Lion… [who] identifies himself through song as a “sissy” and exhibits stereotypically “gay” (or at least effeminate) mannerisms. The Lion is seen as a coded example of Garland meeting and accepting a gay man without question. [5] Judy Garland’s influence may even be the reason for the rainbow flag, after singing the now world famous theme of the Wizard of Oz movie, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Because of this movie, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” became code words gay men could use to safely identify each other.[6]
- The Wizard of Oz and the importance of demonstration
Lastly, the story of the Wizard of Oz represents one of America’s most cherished rights—the right to assembly. The US Constitution of 1776, America’s list of federal laws and basic rights, has as the first and probably most important right, the first Amendment: the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the freedom of assembly. Freedom of assembly means the right for people to protest when something is going wrong, when the people feel they are being wronged by the government. As mentioned before, the early 1900s was a rough time where the economy was bad; factory workers and farmers were getting low wages while bankers in the East were stuffing their pockets full of money. Five years after the Civil War ended, blacks got the right to vote, yet women still could not, and they were in the streets protesting for their rights. Baum shows the power of women probably never mentioned in a children’s story before, with brave Dorothy as the main character, surrounded by men who felt like they were always lacking something, to the good and bad witches, the only people with power in the book, with the wizard standing behind a curtain shivering in fear that the powerful witches would learn that he has none, when he was caught and exposed as a fraud. With a cyclone of economic woes sweeping the country and taking everyone (including Dorothy) out of their comfort zones, the commoners, the farmers (Scarecrow), the poor, machine-like factory workers (Tin Woodman), whose jobs might soon be taken by robots, lose their hearts, and lastly, the politicians and leaders who mean well (Cowardly Lion), but don’t have much power, who are all “bark but no bite”. With a myriad of problems preventing them from the freedoms of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as promised them in our most sacred document, they remember that they do have the freedom of assembly. One by one, they meet each other, all seeking something, and the only place to go is Emerald City, the great city of green, like money—Washington D.C, the house of all power in the country. “Maybe the president can give me a brain! I can get a scholarship to go to a great university! Maybe the government can help me buy a house for my family, even if it’s in the barren land of Kansas!” Whenever the people are unhappy, they have every right to band together, hand in hand, fighting whatever and whoever wants to stop them, on the yellow brick road toward the home of the government (or anywhere really—the street! Take to the streets!)
Sadly, when they finally get to Washington, they may have the same realization as our prized dream team, that the people who represent them are frauds, cowering in fear of rich bankers in the East, and even the power of Hollywood in the West. Of course, why would you fight against those who have all the money?
Nonetheless, no matter how hopeless the situation might seem, nothing will change until people join together to change their situation, to regain a normal life, whether it be in Kansas, Nebraska, or any other US state. No one would know the president…I mean the wizard was a fraud if Dorothy and friends hadn’t stormed the palace demanding change. If a situation must be changed, when the few oppress the masses, it is the power of the people, like the power of the tiny field mice carrying the lion out of the poppy field, that will make true change happen. You can’t dream and hope that magically the government and policies will change for the better. It is historically proven that governments increasingly become corrupt until revolutions happen.[7] Governments have power over people who don’t believe in themselves and who don’t fight. The power comes from within to make great changes.
- Conclusion
The popularity of Baum’s books, his interesting life and his dodgy answer to the question, “Why did you write this book?” has caused a flurry of theories of the purpose of his writings. Baum himself said that his story was just to entertain, but that response has seemed to mystify readers since the original book’s inception. Since he was involved with politics, the most famous speculation created in 1964 by high school teacher Henry M. Littlefield is that the book is related to economic woes and the call for silver money in a time when only the rich had access to the gold standard, and when people had no confidence in the powerless green paper money. Some people say it is religious, like the road to Emerald City is coming to God. Some people say it is anti-religious, since the characters find the power within themselves to solve problems and never rely on prayer, especially when the wizard, which they interpret to represent God, is found to be a fraud. A variety of Christians have banned the reading of the book for these reasons as well as the use of magic. With Baum’s mother-in-law being a powerful figure in the women’s rights movement, many believe it was an opportunity for Baum to show the power of women, especially the special ones in his life.
No matter what theories might be flying about concerning the message of the book, it’s very clear that Baum was not quite truthful in saying his writings were merely for entertainment. He had a special message to give every young, impressionable soul in America—that if you want change, don’t be discouraged. You have the power to achieve your goals, no matter what they are. Just make sure you bring a couple of good friends with you along the way.
[1] http://www.ozprinciple.com/self/book/
[2] http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/oz.html
[3] http://hsmt.history.ox.ac.uk//courses_reading/undergraduate/authority_of_nature/week_7/baum.pdf
[4] http://gaylife.about.com/od/moviestheatre/a/judygarlandgay.htm
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland_as_gay_icon
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_of_Dorothy
[7] http://www.examiner.com/article/the-tyranny-liberty-cycle-of-government
Mrs. D's Blog 