The Symbolism Hidden Within “The Wizard of Oz” written by L. Frank Baum, is not a mere child’s story.
What is “Oz” a symbol for? Ounces.
What is measured in ounces? Gold.
What is the yellow brick road? Bricks or ingot bars of gold.
The character known as the Straw Man represents that fictitious, ALL CAPS, legal fiction – a PERSON, the Federal U.S. Government created with the same spelling as your birth name.
Remember what the Straw Man wanted from the Wizard of Oz? A Brain!
No juristic person – legal fiction – paper corporation has a brain because he/she has no breath of life. What did he get in place of a brain?
A certificate: a Birth Certificate for a new legal creation.
He was proud of his new legal status, plus all the other legalisms he was granted. Now he becomes the epitome of the brainless sack of straw who was given a certificate in place of a grain of common sense.
Now, what about the Tin Man? Does Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) recall anything to mind? The poor TIN Man just stood there mindlessly doing his work until his body literally froze up and stopped functioning.
He worked himself to death because he had no heart nor soul.
He’s the heartless and emotionless creature robotically carrying out his daily task as though he were already dead.
He’s the ox pulling the plow and the mule toiling under the yoke.
These days, his task masters just oil him nightly with beer and place him in front of a hypnotic television until his very existence no longer has any meaning or value.
His masters keep him cold on the outside and heartless on the inside in order to control any emotion or feeling that might arise.
The Cowardly Lion was always too frightened to stand up for himself. Of course, he was a bully and a big mouth when it came to picking on those smaller than he.
(Have you ever noticed how bullies are really the biggest cowards? They act as though they have great courage, but, in reality, have none at all. They roar, but with no teeth of authority to back them up.)
When push came to shove, the Cowardly Lion always buckled under and whimpered when anyone of any size or stature challenged him.
He wanted courage from the Grand Wizard, so he was awarded a medal of “official” recognition. Now, although remaining a coward, his official status allowed him to be a bully, but with officially recognized authority. (He’s not unlike the Attorneys who hide behind the Middle Courts of the Temple Bar.) et al ad infinitum.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170302134043/http://decryptedmatrix.com/the-symbolism-hidden-within-the-wizard-of-oz-2/
To a twisted mind, evil lurks in every shadow.
#ParanoiaWillDestroia
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That’s a good dig, and quite relevant to where we are today. The Wizard of Oz was a polemic against the gold standard which, due to the limited amount of gold in the world necessarily limited the amount of money that could be in existence. The Populists (us) wanted a silver standard as silver is much less precious and available in larger quantities to back more money supply. The Populists movement culminated in the presidential campaign of William Jennings Bryan who ALMOST won the presidency in 1896, if I remember correctly. Mr. Trump IS OUR William Jennings Bryan and he broke through the progressive barrier and is our best hope yet for freedom.
By the way - this about the ruby slippers:
“In the book and the play the shoes are silver, not ruby as they were famously depicted in the 1939 film. In his reading of The Wizard of Oz, Littlefield believed that Dorothy was a stand-in for the average American, and that the magic silver shoes represented the late 1890s free silver movement.”
Actually Baum specifically refused to state if there was a hidden meaning in his stories, but was a newspaperman during the 1890s.
Henry Littlefield and several others later explained the symbolism in the original story based on political movements in the 1890s which Baum would have been very well acquainted with - specifically populist movements, womens suffrage and the push for a silver standard. I’ll see if I can find the original article I read - it’s been a dozen years or so.
Scarecrow: represents the American Farmer
Tin Man: represents the American Factory workers
Cowardly Lion: represents a politican from the 1890s who was for converting from only Gold to a Gold/Silver standard for the dollar and then backed out. I’ll have to look up the guy’s name as I don’t recall off the top of my head.
Wicked witch of the east was Eastern Bankers
Wicked witch of the west were gold mine owners
Originally Dorothy’s shoes in the book were Silver - they were changed for the movie to highlight the use of Technicolor and “pop” more for the audience. Silver shoes in the book represented the use of silver on top of the gold standard (yellow brick road).
Book was written (1900) prior to the income tax amendment (1917?).
William Jennings Bryan was the politician. Here’s a wiki article that summarizes things very well so I don’t have to look for it elsewhere when I get home:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz
Re: Wizard of Oz
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That certainly explains my lifelong dislike of that story/book/movie.
#The AnswersAreAllAroundUs