In the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's shoes are red. But in Frank's 1900 novella, her shoes are silver. And they are silver, economic historians have suggested, because they represent half of the bimetal standard, and that when they walk on the road, The Yellow Brick Road, to Oz, they unify silver and gold.

What do the silver shoes symbolize in?

The silver slippers (also known as the Silver Shoes) represent the untapped potential that Dorothy and her friends carry with them during their adventure. Dorothy receives these enchanted shoes shortly after a cyclone whisks her away to the Land of Oz.

What does the Golden Brick Road symbolize?

The Yellow Brick Road represents strategy—how you will get there; the path you identify as the best, smartest way to accomplish your goal. And each of the shiny yellow bricks in the road represents an action step—the smaller tactics that go into executing your strategy.

What represents gold in Wizard of Oz?

According to an article written in 1964 by Henry Littlefield, The Wizard of Oz was a commentary about the 'ongoing debates over the gold-standard monetary policy of the times'. The yellow brick road serves as a direct metaphor to the creation of the gold standard.

What is the gold and silver standard in The Wizard of Oz?

Thus, according to this interpretation, Dorothy (representing America and her honest values) wearing silver shoes (representing the free silver coinage) recruits the Scarecrow (representing the American farmer), the Tin Man (representing the American worker), and the Cowardly Lion (William Jennings Bryan), to accompany ...

SPIRITUAL MEANING OF SHOE DREAM - Evangelist Joshua TV

What was the importance of gold and silver in the story of the Wizard of Oz?

Hugh Rockoff suggested in 1990 that the novel was an allegory about the demonetization of silver in 1873, whereby "the cyclone that carried Dorothy to the Land of Oz represents the economic and political upheaval, the yellow brick road stands for the gold standard, and the silver shoes Dorothy inherits from the Wicked ...

Is there a secret message in The Wizard of Oz?

But in both cases, Dorothy is instantly hailed as a conquering heroine, just as the Wizard was when he touched down in Oz. The message is that people will march behind any authority figure who makes a splash, however undeserving they may be.

What is the hidden meaning of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a Metaphor

The story is an allegory for the rise of Populism that was occurring in the 1890s, as well as for the debate over whether to hold on to the gold standard for currency or to begin using silver.

What is Wizard of Oz a metaphor for?

As conceived and written by Lyman Frank Baum in 1900, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was a political allegory of turn-of-the-century America. Written in the waning days of the Populist movement of the late 1800s, it was the story of the sad collapse of Populism and the issues upon which the movement was based.

What is the message behind The Wizard of Oz?

Religious Allegory

Consider: The Yellow Brick Road is the path to enlightenment, with the characters encountering a variety of emblems of sin and temptation along the way toward the Emerald City, which is a kind of a heaven. (In another reading, Oz itself can be heaven.)

What does the Yellow Brick Road and silver slippers represent?

Littlefield interpreted the yellow brick road as representing gold and Dorothy's silver slippers (which were changed in the movie to ruby slippers) as representing the Populist call for backing the dollar with silver. Oz was the abbreviation for ounces, a reference to the Populist call for the government to coin.

Is the Yellow Brick Road a metaphor?

The most famous road in movie history has been analyzed to death and is probably one of the most famous metaphors in the English language.

Why did Dorothy follow the Yellow Brick Road?

Dorothy lands in the strange world of Oz after her house is carried away from Kansas by a cyclone. She seeks to find the way home by following the Yellow Brick Road. Her intent is to find the Wizard who would bestow on her the knowledge to achieve her goal, only to find that she had the answer within her all along.

What is the power of the Silver Shoes in Wizard of Oz?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

She finally gets one by tricking Dorothy into tripping over an invisible iron bar. Dorothy then melts the Witch with a bucket of water and recovers the shoe. In the final chapters of the book, Glinda explains that the shoes can transport the wearer anywhere they wish.

What might the shoes symbolize?

Shoes thus extend our social and emotional capacities, as well as our physical capacity. Navigating the ground and one “edge” of the body i.e. the foot, footwear acquires different meanings related to sex, attractiveness, group membership and power.

Why did Glinda give Dorothy the shoes?

In the movie, Dorothy is gifted the slippers from Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, to keep them safe from the Wicked Witch of the West and to help her return home to Kansas. Over the years, they have become one of the most iconic parts of the film and of American culture.

What lesson is The Wizard of Oz trying to teach?

In order to go home, 16-year-old Dorothy has to see the Wizard, for which she has to travel across a strange land. Though she is not in the safe environment of her home, Dorothy sets off, facing her fear head-on. This shows that to achieve a target, it is very important to accept and face your fears.

What is the irony in The Wizard of Oz?

Situational Irony

The Scarecrow longs for intelligence, only to discover he is already a genius. Tin Man longs to be capable of love, only to discover he already has a heart. The Lion, who at first appears to be a whimpering coward, turns out to be bold and fearless.

What does the Wicked Witch of the East represent?

Dorothy is taken to Oz on a tornado, a common symbol in the 1890s for political upheaval and revolutionary change. Her house lands on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East, who represents the evil bankers and the wealthy Eastern establishment.

What does the tornado symbolize in The Wizard of Oz?

Tornadoes were often used to illustrate political revolution. In the story, a tornado takes Dorothy from the dreary, barren land of Kansas to the beautiful and abundant Oz. This symbolizes the wealth possible with the addition of silver to the gold standard. The Scarecrow represents the foolish farmer.

What does the lion symbolize in Oz?

In conclusion, the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz” represents courage and the journey to find it. His character teaches us important lessons about the nature of fear, the importance of self-confidence, and the transformative power of confronting our insecurities.

Is Wizard of Oz about mental health?

The Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion represent the clinical syndromes of low self-esteem, restricted emotional expressiveness, and anxiety. The Wizard's method of "cure" is described together with three parallel cases from the author's practice.

What are the dark secrets of the original Wizard of Oz?

Judy was called fat and was forced to lose 12 pounds, and she was forced to wear a very tight corset to help hide her womanly figure. She was given a strict diet of just black coffee, chicken soup, and cottage cheese. Judy picked up smoking cigarettes and smoked up to 80 cigarettes daily to help keep her appetite down.

What do the ruby red slippers symbolize?

In the movie, the slippers represent the little guy's ability to triumph over powerful forces. As the item that she – a simple teenage farm girl from Kansas – steals from the dictatorial Wicked Witch and ultimately uses to liberate the oppressed people of Oz, they're nothing less than a symbol of revolution.

What did the silver slippers represent in The Wizard of Oz?

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.