For the last century, Americans have been enthralled by the fantasy novel The Wizard of Oz. What many of the fans fail to notice is that historians and economists believe The Wizard of Oz is an allegory for the happenings and events of America during the turn of the 20th century. In order to most effectively understand the novel of Frank L. Baum, one must understand the world in which he wrote.
During the turn of the twentieth century, Americans had to choose who would lead the nation, and that depended heavily upon an economic issue: the gold standard. The gold standard is a term applied to a currency that is backed by material gold, like America’s currency was in the 1900’s. New movements wanted to take the US dollar bill off of a gold standard and instead back the US currency with an equal amount of silver. This was due to the fact that silver was more plentiful, and contemporary economists believed this might help boost the economy of the early 1900’s.
This time was known as the “Gilded Age”, a term coined by author Mark Twain because society presented itself as rich when it really was not (thus gilded applies because it means only covered in gold not made of the substance). These few decades brought rise to the first real titans of industry such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
Baum answers these questions through the protagonist Dorothy Gale, who throughout the Allegory represents the average American voter. A stark contrast from the hit film starring Judy Garland and the novel was that in the novel, the slippers were made silver instead of ruby. This means that in an era when people would question the value of gold or silver, Dorothy Gale sought her happiness by walking down a yellow (Golden/Gilded) brick road while wearing silver slippers.
Baum uses this plot-line to reveal what he believes America should use as its monetary backer. The characters and places Dorothy Gale visits along her journey only add to the allegory of The Wizard of Oz.
American Cultural Icons 