According to author and Oz series originator Lyman Frank Baum [May 15, 1856-May 5, 1919], The Wizard of Oz is an American fairy tale for the enjoyment of children. But there are those who see within Baum's work representations and symbols that aren't acknowledged in his writings as among his overt intentions.
One interpretation is the political representation of Baum's royal history of the beautiful, enchanted, magical lands and peoples of Oz. That interpretation is couched in the Populist terms of the 1890s, when Baum already may have been working out characters and plots in the decade before publishing the first of 14 books in his Oz series.
According to the interpretation, Dorothy Gale represents the level-headed, everyday American.
In Toto, some see the Teetotalers against losing hard-earned money to alcoholic drink.
The Scarecrow is the American farmer, who has much more common sense than educated brains.
The Tin Woodman is the American worker, who is driven by the money and power holders to work ever harder, ever faster, ever better until he's nothing more than their machine.
The Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan [March 19, 1860-July 26, 1925], who fought for the rights of common people, and for free coinage of silver, to release them from the deathly grip of the bankers and industrialists. In fact, the symbol of that money standard is the pair of Silver Slippers, that have the secret power to allay the scary, rough, bumpy trek down the gold standard route of the Yellow Brick Road.
The book ends with the Slippers being lost in the desert, in the transition from the magical world of Oz to the real world of Kansas. Likewise, in the transition from political economic theory to political economic realities, arguments for free coinage of silver ended in 1900, which was the year in which The Wizard of Oz was published.
The journey of the five friends down the Road represents the walk of Jacob Sechler Coxey, Sr. [April 16, 1854-May 18, 1951], with unemployed farmers, disaster-struck farmers, and Populist politicians, to petition the President to provide for their needs. The Emerald City therefore is Washington, D.C.
The Wizard is the President of the United States, and therefore tries to make people think that he can give them what they want and need.
The Winged Monkeys are the aborigines, who belong to the land, and don't want to leave it. For they consider themselves the originally free residents of the land until the Wizard drops out of the skies, and into national government, be it Oz of the book or the United States of the real world. The winged monkeys can also represent Eastern bankers who, along with the harsh environment, make the lives of farmers difficult.
And the Wicked Witch of the West represents the cruel natural forces that so plague the farmers with cyclone, droughts, and other environmental stresss. Drought is a major environmental stressor, what with its aiding and abetting role in wildfires. Is it no wonder that the Witch's life, and the slings and arrows of outrageous nature, can be ended with a bucket of lifesaving water?
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