Why was the Wizard of Oz written?

Answer 1

Baum took a great deal of inspiration from the old German fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, and wanted to make an American tale of the same caliber, but without the atypical horrors that were contained within the original tales. With this in mind, he set out and made a more child friendly tale, that would encompass all of the main values that the German tales projected. A great deal of the things in the book he took from his own life and imagination. The "Yellow Brick Road" was based on a real brick road made up of yellow blocks that were by the Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York where Baum went to school. There is a story that the Emerald City's castle was based on a real building in Castle Park near Holland, Michigan where Baum vacationed, though nothing has ever been proven and due to this I'd say that the story is bogus. There is also a story that it was based on the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA where Baum wrote some of the Oz books. According to an interview that Baum did in 1903, he got the idea for the name Oz from his filing cabinet, as one of the drawers was labeled O - Z, and he liked the sound of it.

Answer 2

That specifically an American fairy tale needed to be written and that generally fairy tales needed to be written in more children friendly ways were the reasons that author and Oz series originator Lyman Frank Baum [May 15, 1856-May 6, 1919] gave for writing 'The Wizard of Oz'. Baum characterized previous Fairy Tales as trying to teach children morals but giving them nightmares in the process. He felt that by writing the first successful American fairytale he could change the general trend in fairy tale writing. By 'The Wizard of Oz', he aimed to pioneer fairy tales that children would love instead of fear.

Answer 3

The challenges to culture of immigration, to economy of the monetary standard, to polity of international conflicts and to society of urbanization are events that were happening when "The Wizard of Oz" was written.

Specifically, thousands of Europeans left troubled home countries to enter the American land of opportunity. The U.S. government exchanged a monetary standard based on silver to that on gold. It chose to avoid as many international conflicts as possible what with a recent past of keeping the southwest safe for settlers, the nation in one piece and the island of Cuba friendly to American business opportunities. At the same time, society assumed a new shape through the pull of farmers to the greater opportunities available in cities bursting with growth from the support of government, moneyed interests and robber barons to the industrialization and urbanization of life in the United States of America.