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Recommended: Populist movement political changes

Starting in the 1870’s - 1880’s the United States experienced a depression that cut the prices of agricultural related good and led to the eviction of many farmers. Since farmers were at the bottom of the totem pole socioeconomically they were faced with high railroad fees and unsurmountable debt due to the fact that they had to take out loans to be pay for their crop harvesting and planting. This was partially due to the sharecropping system which would ignite a system of perpetual debt for poor farmers. Ultimately, the farmers would rise up and unite to what would be known as a populist movement; in retribution to what they claimed was the source of their problems. These events and time period heavily influenced Lyman Frank Baum in regards to the production and underlying political message in the Wizard of Oz. Author Henry Littlefield of “The Wizard of Oz: Parable of Populism” makes a compelling argument that indeed The Wizard of Oz was a political work, this can be linked to the many different life experiences of Baum that are mentioned throughout the article. Littlefield introduces the reader to whom Baum was during the first two pages, it becomes apparent that Baum views start to change as the Populist movement grows in strength and becomes accustomed to South Dakota frontier, once he moved there. It is stated in the article “The stark reality of the dry, open plains the acceptance of man’s Darwinian subservience to his environment served to crush Romantic idealism.”(Culmsee) Baum romantic view of benign nature had disappeared. The way Baum described where he lived and nature would serve as an allegory for the where Dorothy lived in The Wizard of Oz. “When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing ...

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...ected by good will, the farmer, the laborer and the politician approach the mystic holder of national power to ask for personal fulfillment are all self delusional.” Basically their need for a solution is not real need such as the case of Dorothy who a selfless and wants to be home with her family the only true fulfillment that can’t be met due to its legitimacy. In the end of the article Littlefield explains essentially how the good guys win. The Scarecrow is the leader of Emarld city the Tin Woodsman rules the west and the Lion protects smaller beasts. The Wizard of OZ is time tested to fit the imagination of adults and children alike, with the political nature of this book being understandable to adults and True American character Dorothy Littlefield displays a correct and analytical argument for the political allegory’s that are riddled within the Wizard of OZ.

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