Why was the wonderful wizard of oz banned?

Answer 1

That fantasy stories were not considered good for children was one of the reasons why "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by Lyman Frank Baum (May 5, 1856-May 6, 1919) was banned.

Also, some experts in religion criticized the story for including good witches. They maintained that witches are always bad. They therefore objected to the presence of good witches on the grounds of "theological impossibilities."

Some experts in and practitioners of religion further criticized the story for its lack of a divine presence. The banning took place after World Wars I-II. Such experts and practitioners therefore were equating the lack of mention or participation of a divine presence with godless Marxist Communism.

Finally, some librarians additionally considered the book to be the parody of American Imperialism and racism which the author and his family never intended. They rejected the author's introductory explanation of the book as an American fairy tale to encourage children to cherish childhood's joyful wonderment. They even went so far as to object to "The Wizard of Oz" as a foolishly sentimental, poorly written, sensational, untrue-to-life and unwholesome book.

Answer 2

Perhaps it was because the book was really about the banker's gold (the yellow brick road), the silver slippers (ruby in the movie version) which may have stood for the silver coins that the populace wanted the government to mint to counteract the banker's hold on the economy (hence the recession/depression of the time),the wooden tin man(the manufacturing industry which needed oil [financing] to get it going again, the scarecrow(farmers in dire need of financing), and of course the cowardly lion (William Jennings Brian who was once called a Lion for his attack on the bankers in his run for the presidency in 1900 and calling at the time for silver to be minted and then backed off in 1904, hence the Cowardly Lion). J.P. Morgan ( The Wicked Witch of the East) and John D. Rockefeller (The Wicked Witch of the West) Oz of course could stand for ounces of gold. This, of course, is only my opinion.

J.D. Sharpe

Answer 3

Possibly vague veiled attacks on religion. A sort of deified Dollar Sign seems to pave the road- look at the allusions- Oz itself is an abbreviation for Ounce ( of Gold, Silver) we have an Emerald City, Yellow Brick road, etc. The whole idea seems to in a rather loose sense, depict a demagogue, deceptive master-mind and almost has overtones of George Orwell. There is a scene in the Movie ( not in the books) toward the end of the story- when the pilgrims ( for lack of a better word) are received at the palace of the Wizard. In color there is a shot of a man in an unusual green and white uniform that resembles that of a Bishop! there is some time-stalling in what looks like the back vestibule of a church, but is not- the Guy, sort of an ambassador or something ( he is not a security guard or cop), well does look like a Bishop- in fact I thought it was St. Patrick! There are vague attacks on belief systems. God is nowhere in the dialogue.