Baum’s story remains a classic because it continues to entertain and surprise a wide audience of readers whatever was intended when it was originally penned.ĭighe (Economics, State University of New York at Oswego) has put together a very useful and engaging book that introduces and explains the context under which Baum’s book was written and provides some of the basis for the economic and political interpretations that have emerged over the years. Any writer who succeeds in not only entertaining his or her audience but then gets them to imagine things they hadn’t imagined before or even surprises them with questions of how one thing might be related to another thing has accomplished something wonderful indeed.

Although these interpretations, as well as assorted pro and anti-feminist interpretations that others have attributed to the characters and their adventures, help to make this fable much richer and thus much more interesting than being merely a simple, albeit fantastic child’s fairy-tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz succeeds as a work of fiction not simply because it is entertaining but rather because it engages its readers. On the other hand, others have interpreted it as an anti-populist metaphor, or as a parable about Progressivism, or as an allegory of the perils of imperialism and the direction of American foreign policy in the late nineteenth century. Reading it as a pro-populist metaphor for the economic effect of bimetallism and the expansion of the nation’s money supply along with the empowerment of western farmers and industrial laborers seems apparent enough.

The interesting thing of course, and what makes this such an enduring story, is that there are plausible and contrary interpretations of the fable’s characters and their adventures. It can, and has, also been interpreted as an allegory of the political, economic and social adventures of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. It can be read purely as a delightfully entertaining fairy tale, full of whimsical characters and an enchanted adventure. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published more than a century ago is a celebrated and much-loved classic of children’s literature but as is the case with many fables it appeals to a wide audience and the precise meaning and intent of the story depends on how it is interpreted.

Sullivan, Department of Economics, Towson University. Frank Baum’s Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory. Dighe, editor, The Historian’s Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum’s Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory Author(s):

The wizard of oz l frank baum