The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is famous for its use of symbolism and allegory, especially in the use of color. Baum's political satire and allegory for the Populist movement relied on color to symbolize the key issues of economic debate. Dorothy's Silver Shoes, the Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City (Oz) are all used to represent the discourse in change of the monetary standard in the late 19th century. The Yellow Brick Road represents the gold standard, the Silver Shoes represent the bimetallic standard of silver and the Emerald City represents both Washington D.C. and the greenback standard. The book is saturated in symbolism. For example, when Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City, he is pointing out that they follow the gold standard to D.C. and are lead by Dorothy's silver shoes, or bimetallism, which protect them on their journey. Baum's use of symbolic color for the shoes, the road and the city add dimension to this novel that is primarily thought of as a child's book.

Color in Children's Literature is one of the earliest forms of symbolism. From picture books that teach children to associate color with emotions ("My Red Elephant is Mad Today" by Tristan Greer) or more advanced color allegories ("The Wizard of Oz" by Frank L. Baum) color is an easy symbol for children to identify and relate to an object. Teaching color symbolism in your classroom can facilitate meaningful learning by incorporate other disciplines, such as art and history.