Avatars in Oz

By Hilary McLellan

Some great examples of avatars that embody ideas comes from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This fairy tale is an allegory of the silver movement at the end of the nineteenth century. Dorothyís magical slippers were silver, not ruby, in the original story! After 1887 a series of droughts struck Kansas and as many as three out of four farms were mortgaged in some Kansas counties.

Ruby slipper

Thousands of settlers like Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry gave up and retraced their steps East; others trusted in the Farmer's Alliance and pinned their hopes on the free coinage of silver. While gold as a standard of currency symbolized the idle rich of the industrial Northeast, silver stood for the common folk. Added to the currency in the form of silver dollars, it meant more money, higher crop prices, and a return of prosperity. Or so the supporters of silver coinage, lead by William Jennings Bryan, believed.

Each character and object in the story represents something in connection with the battle of the standards, even the storyís title. "Oz" (ounces) referred to the fight over the ratio of silver to gold. Dorothy wears magical slippers and follows the yellow brick road, thus achieving a proper relationship between the precious metals, silver and gold. Like many of her countrymen, she does not at first recognize the power of the silver slippers, but a kiss from the Good Witch of the North (Northern voters) protects her on the road. Dorothy meets the scarecrow (the farmer) who has been told he has no brain but actually possesses great common sense, the Tin Woodman (the industrial worker) who fears he has become heartless but discovers the spirit of love and cooperation, and the Cowardly Lion (reformers, particularly William Jennings Bryan) who turns out not to be very cowardly at all.

Dorothy disposes of the Wicked Witch of the West (the eastern money power and those favoring gold) and frees the Munchkins (the common people).

When the four companions reach the Emerald City (the national capital, green-back colored), they meet the "Great and Terrible" Wizard who tells them that, to gain his help, they must destroy the Wicked Witch of the West (morgage companies, heartless nature, and other things opposing progress there). Courageously, they set forth. Dorothy dissolves the witch with a bucket of water (what else for drought-ridden farmers?, but when they return to the Emerald City, they find that the Wizard (the money power) is only a charlatan, a manipulator, whose power rests on myth and illusion.

Dorothy unmasks the wizard, and with the help of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (support for silver was strong in the South), uses the silver slippers to return home to Kansas.