Wicked
is the story of the "Wicked Witch of the West" from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, what you never had questions? You didn't ever wonder if the "Wicked Witch" had a name? Why was she wicked? How did
she become a witch? How did her sister become a witch? Well come along and watch me stumble through trying to give my interesting take on the story.
WICKED
We start off in Munchkinland, which is kind of funny since all stories in Oz seem to start off in Munchkinland, a young couple is having a spirited conversation about the days events the male, Frex, the husband is a pastor of sorts, a Unionist(in Oz a unionist is a believer in the Unnamed God) has been worked into a frenzy by a letter from a fellow minister(and his brother), Grine. It seems that some new curio is on it's way to his fair town of Rush Margins, that is filled with Lust and Sin, it is a dangerous device(or so the letter says) fueling the passions and wickedness of the flock. Frex is of course up to the challenge(or at least he wants to present said strong face to his pregnant wife), unfortunately the challenge is about to arrive on the same day as his first child. His wife, Melena, hopes for a male child, while the reasons she hopes for a male will be revealed later her love for her husband is undoubtable. So while Frexspar rides off from his lodge on the outskirts into town Melena sits back and waits for the inevitable joyful moment, though not happily. It seems Melena is of the Nobility, she is the heir to the title of the Third Thropp, but she left that life all to chase the novelty of living with the dashing young Minister.
This curio, this device from the devil, is called The Time Dragon a bit of mechanics and possibly magic that amazingly it seems will have a major significance in the life of the soon to be born child of Frex and Melena a harbinger that none could have expected. While Frex is on his way towards Rush Margins proper building up first his courage, then his determination and finally his ire with which he arms himself to batten down the piqued curiosities of fellow munchkinlanders it seems that a pair of old bitties is descending upon his house. Mid wives(or so they claim) for his young wife about to bear child, fortunately they know the threat that the time dragon provides to the minister, his wife and their unborn offspring. After a few tense moments where a few of the women dig through her delicate belongings(Melena is in no state to protest as she had taken some draught to help cope with the feelings of abandonment), the women spirit Melena away in hopes of avoiding any run in with the local rabble-rousers drunk and fired up from the dazzling images provided by the Time Dragon. While the two midwives are running with Melena in tow to move the child her poor husband is running for his life because his brother Grine's warning was true, it really did prey upon peoples baser instincts and to make matters worse the puppet play had turned some of his neighbors against him and they wanted blood, his. For the marionettes appeared to show that somehow a minister SIMILAR to him was hiding a fortune inside his noble bride, meanwhile he is attacked from behind. His life in danger he accepts the help of a kind unknown woman who spirits him into a root cellar until morning.
Oddly enough(or perhaps destiny partially revealing its hand) the place where the midwives find to hide is inside the very belly of the Time Dragon that was the source of the husband and wife's misery. And a storm brews, it seems to foretell a great and major event about to take place. As they work to free the child from it's hapless mothers belly they are shocked at what they see, the child is green not sickly but actually green an almost Olive drab, she also has razor sharp teeth which is unfortunate for a certain loose tongued midwife who suggested disposing of the poor child. The child also has a prominent hooked nose, almost like a weapon, hawk like and threatening. They leave the child in the arms of her mostly unconscious mother and depart from the belly of the Time dragon, the Mechanical Monstrosity the perfect housing place for the horrid child just born into the world. When morning arrives husband and wife are reunited both mother and father are mentally taking the blame for the child's cursed visage, Frex feeling it is a punishment for his failure to better prepare his flock for the threat of the Time Dragon, and Melena begins wondering if the father of her child is not her husband and possibly some unknown traveler she met many months ago in a moment of loneliness. Her husband traveling so much left the young passionate woman alone and in need of companionship and it is the munchkinlanders way to never turn away a visitor.
The child is name Elphaba, called Fabala by her father as a pet name, after Saint Aelphaba of the Waterfall and shortly thereafter arrives Nanny. Nanny has raised many of Thropps heirs and will do her duty to make sure that another one sees her way to adulthood, immediately Nanny notices that while the skin may be odd that Fabala has an almost hauntingly sharp wit to match her teeth, she also sees that Melena seems to not be getting close to the child forming no motherly bond whatsoever. The child is also odd she seems to cry and fight whenever taken near water so they have taken to bathing her in milk and toweling her off. The arrival Nanny instills some sort of normalcy in the life of the child, when she can walk Nanny even forces Melena to take Fabala to play with other children so that even if she is not fully accepted she will understand about the outside world and how to interact.
I'm going to jump ahead a bit in the story, we reach what is probably the late teens of Elphie and she is in Shiz, a place of higher learning and more urban than her home in Rush Margins which was essentially a farming community. The odd and private Elphie is paired with a lovely young Gillikinese girl named Galinda a spoiled, pampered, and arrogant socialite who's only concern is her own personal image and standing. While Elphie takes the pairing in stride it seems that Galinda is embarrassed to be forced to deal with her sickly room mate and many times tries to find a way to have the accommodations change but to know like. The schools head, Madame Morrible, will have nothing of it she either stays with Elphie or else forfeits her more cozy surroundings for a sort of Mass dormitories with other girls with less privileged backgrounds. So Galinda, her Ama(sort of a Nanny or guardian), and Elphie embark on a journey through higher learning, Galinda constantly trying to rub elbows with the other pompous socialites and Elphie mostly keeping to herself. Galinda proud of herself for the ease with which she handled her studies back in her homeland of Frottica was hard pressed to keep up with her studies in Shiz, her self supposed mental superiority tested and bested by the subjects she was learning at Crage Hall.
There is a boys school not far away where, at an interschool ball, they will eventually run in to Boq(a munchkinlander who had played with Elphie as a child), Avaric(another Gilikin), Crope and Tibbet(friends of Boq who work with him at the 3 Queens Library in Shiz). Boq has a huge crush on Galinda, and through a funny bit of bumbling enlists Elphie into (okay well maybe Elphie convinces him to await her help for a bit of fun) getting him a meeting with the lovely Galinda. After an awkward exchange(that borders on mortifying for Galinda) Galinda agrees to Boq's request to put him in the "friend zone" and they go about a semi normal routine of meeting each other and hanging out. Now if you remember from the movie Oz has some rather interesting inhabitants, animals and Animals. The lower case "a" is reserved for those beasts with no more than basic consciousness , the type you would see at a pet store, or a zoo, or even outside in the ground outdoors. An Animal though, it actually is a learned being, somewhat anthropomorphic the Sheep, Cows, Hippos and even Lions you meet can walk on hind legs, talk, even hold jobs and ride on passenger trains. Unfortunately for them the Wizard is not to fond of having Beasts talking to him, so the new grand ruler of all that is Oz has begun a campaign to have them removed from the cities and spirited back to the wild.
This enrages all Animals and especially one of the Professors at Crage Hall and brings about a close friendship between Elphie and Boq, since the 3 Queens library houses many ancient tomes that give insight into the storied and magical past of Oz. The co-conspirators Boq, Crop and Tibbet gather information in the 3 Queens and pass it on to Elphie to give to Professor Dillamond, a Goat who is a Fellow of Shiz University and on the Biological Arts faculty. He is determined to find the link between Humans and Animals, to dig into the history of Oz, before the Wizard, before Unionists possibly even before the Royalists in the days of fairy goddess and find a way to scientifically prove that Animals not only deserve to have rights but deserve to be treated the same as the human Ozian neighbors. Unfortunately a tragedy strikes the school and Galinda and Elphie personally and it causes the girls to be less trusting of the authorities around them. It also brings need of Nanny to Shiz so that she can chaperone Elphie and Galinda allowing them to stay in a more private expanse and not be forced into the dormitories. Galinda's long time guardian Ama Clutch has fallen ill, this also introduces us to Elphaba's sister Nessarose. Nessarose was born with no arms and she is brought along to school early so that Nanny can attend to her needs(and Elphie can help).
Not long after Nessa's arrival things shift to a meeting with the Wizard and Elphaba leaving her friends and sister and Shiz, she can no longer deal with the memories she has there nor the leadership of the Wizard. Through this part of the book we see little evidence of the "Wickedness" to which we here name is attributed, just a curious girl who keeps to herself, is blunt, honest and not too taken with a world that is not very taken with her. But as tragedies close to home often do we can see where her dissatisfaction with the world around her has begun. The next few chapters start to bring us down the familiar path from Elphaba daughter of Frex and Melena towards the Wicked Witch of the West we are all familiar with, though we do not see her perform many "evil acts".
For the most part I liked this book, I know "he who hates flashbacks" loves a book that was basically a 300+ page flashback, but in this case it was a good back story. From my take Elphaba was not so much wicked as anti current government, yes she made some hard line choices at times and reacted to some situations in a way that most would feel was abnormal or excessive but in the heat of the moment most HOPE they would do the right thing. In Elphies case the right thing was not always clear, she isn't so much the evil, hateful, crone who just hates a young girl and the world for no reason. No, she is a determined woman on a mission, trying to effect change in a world that she feels has gone off it's axis and needs to be righted. She seems to be a victim of rumor, bad PR and some ill fated choices brought on by regret, isolation and exhaustion. yes people will often fear what they do not understand, and who they can not know. Since it would be hard for her to avoid the obvious distinction of being the ONLY green person in Oz(her sister Nessarose and her brother Shell both skin tones like normal Ozians), she tended to work in the shadows and no matter how well intended those in the shadows are often mistrusted until their deeds and actions come to light, hopefully from the lips of either themselves or a party who will present their actions fairly and possibly favorably. One thing I found surprising was that for the most part witchcraft and sorcery was not that high on Elphaba's list of priorities her mind was more of science and knowledge, yes Galinda(if you haven't guessed, yes that is Glinda the good witch) studied sorcery while at Shiz but Elphie stuck to the sciences. Her foray into witch craft comes later in the book and is more self learned, as is her understanding of the way she was brought into the world and who she might be.
As for Dorothy it seems that while the movie portrayed their meetings quite differently she was less "cackle" and more exasperated, it seems that through a verbal promise the ruby slippers really did belong to her. Nessarose had promised her the enchanted footwear during one of Elphies visits to the family seat, and while Glinda may have been well intentioned(or possibly an unwitting aid to an outside agent, read the book) she caused her former room mate much stress and heart ache. Dorothy is also a little less naive, she seems more down to earth, the visitor from Kansas is earnest and determined she is in a foriegn world and really does just wish to get home. As for the Bucket scene, well all I can say is fire was involved, and a burning broom you'll have to read to the end to see for yourself. I think Elphaba falls in the light of an anti hero, maybe even a political activist. Her methods were not always conventional, she may not have been too trusting even with her closest loved ones but it does appear that whatever heart she had it was usually well intention. And while spiriting herself away to isolation lead to bad PR, for the most part it was less evil(in my opinion) and more pragmatic. She wasn't shown a lot of love and tenderness so she didn't see it, she didn't appear to understand those parts of the human existance and thus could not employ it in times when people needed fewer facts and more hugs and empathy. I know there are I think three more in this series of Off shoots from the main Ozian story I think I will check them out.
Wicked was also made into a play, while I know you can't usually fit all of the details that are in a book into say a movie, mini series or play I have heard that it was quite good. I may attempt to go see it whether it be in Memphis, Atlanta, or possible some other city with some of my friends. Oh I read this as an e-book on my Thrive(which I need to blog about too) I don't know if the deal is still going on but I know I got it for like $1.99 or $2.99 when I purchased it so you may want to check the amazon store. If you buy the paperback edition the link I posted above was $10.99. There also appear to be 4 more books in the series(called the Wicked years): Son of a Witch
, A Lion Among Men
, and Out of Oz
. Those are the other 3 titles in order I may pick them up later because I would love to see how they fill in the blanks of this new wrinkle added to L. Frank Baum's classic tale.
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