Equality In The Wizard Of Oz

Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a modern children novel, written in 1900. It educates young readers for the political (but not only) events in America in the 1890s. It metaphorically reflects on the collapse of the Populist movement. The novel teaches teenagers progressive and regressive political lessons. Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, cowardly Lion - are four companions on the road to their dreams. Every character has his specific dream, relying on his own needs. However, their needs are different, because each of them came from different social levels. Baum combined in one group lower, middle and high class. Scarecrow represents a typical farmer. Tin Woodman is an industrial worker. Dorothy is a common U.S. citizen. Cowardly Lion is a collective image of politicians. Being “comrades” on one road, being equal, despite the different social backgrounds – this is the main idea of social equality. Baum relies on the socialistic ideologies; social equality meant equality of opportunity. He magnificently disguised this idea in his book. Because of this political concept, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz might be viewed as a creation of progressivism. Those beliefs were certainly common at the end of the nineteenth century.

The idea of equality involved only selected characters of the novel. The book contains a large number of different nations, such as Yellow Winkies, Quadlings, Munchkins, and Gillikins. And people of those nations are not equal to the main characters. By the end of the book, these four nations are still ruled, and they MUST be controlled forever. As Scarecrow confirms, “I should like nothing better than to rule over them forever” (349). This is an example of how one progressive idea might be regressive for less fortunate