The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In the last few classes, we learned much about the Western Movement, and all other affiliations. What sparked my interest was about how the move, “The Wizard of Oz” connected to the Western Movement. At first, I was skeptical about it, but after some explaining, it all made sense to me. The movie related to the real life event a lot. Not even did the characters have a relation, but the whole plot. There was also correlation of the different witches and the real North, West, and East in the US.

Dorothy was a young girl in the farmland who face problems staying in the farmland, deciding to try to run away. She decides to come back, but during rough weather, she is put to sleep, appearing in a different place. When she shows up, she gets ruby slippers, and is told to venture to emerald city to get all her answers solved. When getting there, she really doesn’t get any help, and in the end uses the slippers to get back home. She represented young women at farms venturing to the East for better jobs. In reality, there is much competition and low wages, showing that the East isn’t what it’s turned out to be. The slippers represented the silver, when the US switched to only a gold standard; people thought that adding a bimetallic standard would solve the economic process.

In the beginning of the movie, where Dorothy was stuck in what would seem a world of struggles, it related to the heavy stress farmers had to endure during the time they had to farm for five years to be able to own the land. Also when she tries to escape for a better life; that much related to the farmers moving to the urban society searching for a better life.

The Wicked Witch of the East symbolized industrialization corporations and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, making it somewhat superior to the people. She ended up being killed by Dorothy while harassing the munchkins. The Wicked Witch of the West represented the harshness of the West to people living there. She is killed by water, which in reality helped farmers keep their crops alive during that time. The Wicked Witch of the North represented liberalism and all the good ideas of the northern society; shown by helping Dorothy on her voyage home.
The relation between the movie and the Western Movement were huge, all the way from Dorothy herself, to the Wicked Witches. This is an example of how people criticized the way of society at the time, as there were actually many problems.