What I thought. . .

While reading Wicked, I sometimes had to go back and read a few pages again in order to understand what the author was saying. The author gave good imagery, so I was able to get the setting in my mind, which made it easier to read and understand. I found it interesting that the story was not always told in Elphaba's point of view, sometimes it was told in Glinda's, or Fiyero's point of view as well. What really got me into the book was the mystery and suspense within the book, and how all the characters were connected in some way.

In the first two parts when Elphaba was a baby, and when she was in Shiz University were my favourite parts in the novel because, readers were able to see how Elphaba was when she was a child, and when she was at Shiz University. I was able to read about the people she met, and how they affected her life, and her future. I did not find the last few parts as interesting, but when Elphaba learned about Dorothy and how Glinda gave Dorothy her sisters shoes, I became interested. This is because it reminded me of Wizard of Oz, so then I started to compare the novel to the book, and I was able to get the background story of the end of the Wizard of Oz when Elphaba and Dorothy finally meet. Now that I have read the book, I am really looking forward to seeing the play sometime in the future.

Overall, this book was very entertaining and it taught me to not judge a person by their appearance, and that there is always two sides to every story. It also taught me that there is no absolute good or evil, as one might think after seeing Wizard of Oz before reading Wicked.

PART 2: GILLIKIN

Characters:
Galinda
Elphaba
Doctor Dillamond
Madame Morrible
Ama Clutch
Boq and Avaric

Crope and Tibbett

Grommetik
Nessarose
Fiyero
Nanny

Summary:

-Galinda is on a train on the way to Shiz University. She sits next to Doctor Dillamond who is a Goat, and a professor at Shiz University.

-Ama Clutch, her minder, was going to join her in a few days because she had stepped on a nail before getting onto the train. Because of this, Galinda was forced to room with Elphaba.

-When Ama Clutch arrives, she does not care that Elphaba's skin is green, unlike Galinda.
" 'Odd, isn't it? I thought all Munchkinlanders were tiny. She's a proper height, though. I guess they come in a variety of sizes. Oh, are you bothered by the green? Well, it might do you some good, if you let it. If you let it. You affect worldly airs, Galinda, but you don't know the world yet. I think it's a lark. Why not? Why ever not?' "(Maguire, 71)

-Galinda had friends that did not know who her roommate was, and she was embarrased to tell them because they had a high social status. But Galinda's friends already knew who Elphaba was, and what she looked like, and they began gossiping about her. But Elphaba did not care.



Madame Morrible



-Elphaba and Galinda had become friends by spending more and more time together in their room.
-At a poetry soiree, Madame Morrible invited boys from Three Queens and Ozma Towers. That is where Galinda met Boq, whom recognized Elphaba from the daycare her Nanny and mother took her too when she was a child.
-During one of Doctor Dillamond's classes he told his class how the Wizard of Oz proclaimed Banns of Animal Mobility, so the Animals were not allowed to travel, and Animals coming of age were prohibited from working in the professions or the public sector. They would instead be herded back to the wild.
-"The Goat closed his eyes. 'I'm not married, Miss Galinda. But I might be. Or I may. Or perhaps I have nieces and nephews. They have already been banned effectively from studying at Shiz because they can't hold a pencil to write an essay with. How many Animals have you ever seen in this paradise of education?' Well, it was true; there were none." (Maguire, 89) 
-Boq has a crush on Galinda, so Elphaba tries to get them together. But Galinda tells Boq that she will not be more than friends with him because they have two different cultures and she also told him he is too short, because he is from Munchkinland.



Boq



-Elphaba tells Boq about how her mother died after she gave birth to a boy named Shell, and soon Nessarose will be at Shiz University. Elphaba is helping Doctor Dillamond determine by science what the real differences are between animal and Animal tissue, and then Animal and human tissue. If they can prove that there is no inherent difference between humans and Animals then, Elphaba believes that the Banns on Animal Mobility will be removed. Boq agreed to help Elphaba and Doctor Dillamond secretly.

-Doctor Dillamond was murdered.
"The girls all shrieked and Ama Vimp ran forward to tuck the blanket down, but in the sunlight all had looked down and seen the twisted shoulder and back-thrown head of Doctor Dillamond. His throat was still knotted with congealed ropes of black blood, where it had been slit as thoroughly as if he had wandered into an abattoir." (Maguire, 128)

-Ama Clutch ended up in the hospital because she had seen the murder and eventually she started going crazy and seeing hallucinations.
-The story that the students were told was that he had broken a magnifying glass and fell against it, and cut an artery in the process, yet no one truly believed it.
-After, Nessarose arrived at Shiz University with Nanny. Galinda then changed her name to Glinda in honour of Doctor Dillamond. When she first met him, he was unable to pronounce her name correctly, and would always call her Glinda. Glinda then took up sorcery.



Cowardly Lion



-A new professor, Doctor Nikidik brings in a lion cub and asks the class if the lion was an animal or Animal. Immediately, Elphaba asks him where his mother is, and notices how terrified it is. Two girls then stole the lion and ran out of the room. The baby lion then went on to be the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz.

-Nessarose gets a pair of silver shoes from her father as a gift, and they will soon be the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. Elphaba does not get anything from her father which supports her theory that her father loved Nessarose most.

-"Elphaba drove her fingers through the curlicues of shavings. There was nothing in the box, nothing for her." (Maguire, 149)

-Ama Clutch was in the hospital still, and when Glinda and Elphaba went to visit her, she was on her deathbed. She told Glinda that Grommetik was the one who killed Doctor Dillamond for Madame Morrible. After that, she died.
-Madame Morrible tried to convince Nessarose, Glinda, and Elphaba to become one of the Wizard's "ambassador of peace". Elphaba will go to Munckinland (east), Glinda will go to the Gilikin (north), and Nessarose will go to the Quadling Country (south). Madame Morrible then puts a spell on them which makes them unable to speak to one another about her proposition.



Glinda and Elphaba in
Emerald City



-Elphaba and Glinda then travelled to Emerald City, where they met with the Wizard and plead the case of the Animals. But the Wizard ignores them and they have to return to Shiz. But, Elphaba stays behind and makes Glinda go on her own, and tells Glinda that they can never see eachother again.

RELATIONSHIPS:


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Elphaba and Doctor Dillamond

In the novel, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, there are many relationships, between all the characters. Elphaba has a closer relationship with her father than with her mother at the beginning of the novel, and she seems to have a relationship with Turtle Heart as well. In the second part Elphaba meets Galinda and Doctor Dillamond where she begins a relationship with both. Galinda is her roommate at Shiz University, and at first they dislike eachother but then they become friends. Although at first, Galinda is ashamed to admit that she is friends with Elphaba because of her social status, and because Galinda's other friends are high-class and find Elphaba and her skin colour odd, and different. Doctor Dillamond is a Goat at Shiz University, and he is also one of Elphaba's professors, one whom she takes a liking to. This could be because he is a Goat, and she treats him like he is just a regular person, while everyone else in Oz does not like the Animals. Elphaba stands up for Doctor Dillamond when Madame Morrible or any of the other students are disrespectful to him. When he is murdered, Elphaba is upset and while other students say it was an accident, Elphaba is convinced it is a murder done by Madame Morrible.
Then Nessarose comes to Shiz University and Elphaba develops a relationship with her as well, it may not be the loving sister relationship, because they argue often about religion but readers can see that Elphaba cares about her sister. Nessarose also has a relationship with Nanny because Nanny is the one who is taking care of her while she is at Shiz because she is handicapped and Nanny is like a mother to Nessarose. In addition, later on in the novel readers can see that Nessarose has father-daughter relationship as well because, when Nessarose is Eminence Thropp Frex spends most of his elderly life with her. He cares for her very much and at one point in the novel, Elphaba admits to Galinda that Nessarose was her fathers favourite.



Fiyero and Elphaba



Elphaba then begins a relationship with one of her old classmates at Shiz University, a prince of the Arjiki tribe in the Vinkus. He had an arranged marriage when he was young, and when they are older and out of school Fiyero sees Elphaba, and they soon begin an affair. Readers are able to see that Fiyero cares for Elphaba immensley, and because of this Fiyero is murdered by the Gale Force because Elphaba is an "agent" and she was attempting to kill Madame Morrible the night that Fiyero was murdered.

After Fiyero was murdered Elphaba went to go find Samira who was Fiyero's wife so she could tell her that she was having a secret affiar with Fiyero. She never got to tell her though, but Samira and Elphaba soon began a friendship, because Elphaba was staying with Samira and her family, and in the novel Samira would sometimes confide in Elphaba. In the end, Samira and her sisters were murdered by the Wizard's army, except for Samira's daughter named Nor, she was taken as a slave.

In conclusion, throughout the book Elphaba makes and breaks some relationships with the people she has met throughout her life, and some of these people changed her outlook on life.

PART 1: MUNCHKINLANDERS
Characters:
Frexspar Thropp
Melena Thropp
Elphaba Tropp
Nanny
Turtle Heart

Summary:
-Elphaba Thropp is born, with green skin, and sharp teeth.
-Nanny arrives, and starts to question Melena about the father of Elphaba. Melena then starts drinking and Frex leaves town to spread word about the "Unnamed God", and Nanny goes back to her home.
-The year after while Frex is still away, a glassblower from the Quadling Country named Turtle Heart came to Melena's house, and she invited him inside. He blew a glass reflecting ball for Elphaba, and he later has an affair with Melena while Frex is away.
-Frex returns from his trip, and Turtle Heart is still in the house, but Frex does not assume that anything is going on between them.
-Frex tells Turtle Heart how he sees the Land of Oz, compared to how Turtle Heart sees the Land of Oz, since Turtle Heart has not been to many places, so he only knows what they would look like on a map, or what he has heard from other people.
-Nanny returns and decides to take Elphaba out to play with other little children, but Mariam is afraid for her child to be outside without her.
"Slow and deliberate as Elphaba is, at least she's unharmed here! I may not be able to summon much maternal warmth, but i feed her, Nanny, and I keep her from hurting herself! How cruel, to inflict the outside world onher! A green child will be an open invitation for scorn and abuse." (Maguire, 48).
-Nanny and Melena end up taking Elphaba to Rush Margins, and took her to a house full of children. She almost ends up biting one of them with her sharp teeth.
-After, Frex moved out again, and he was gone for multiple days at a time. Nanny started to question Melena and Frex's relationship, and figured out that she and Turtle Heart were having an affair. Once she realized this, Nanny started to question what Melena knew about Turtle Heart, and if she really knew him, like she knew Frex.
-Turtle Heart tells the story of why he left the Quadling Country, and this was because of "horrors", (which also happens to be Elphaba's first word). The horrors that Turtle Heart speaks of is how workers from Emerald City are ruining the Quadling Country, by putting in roads, and getting rid of plants.
-Frex suggests moving out of Munchkinland and going to Quadling Country, and Melena then tells him at that moment that she is pregnant so she doesn't plan on going anywhere. Yet, Melena did not know if the father was Frex or Turtle Heart, and the question is not really answered throughout the rest of the novel, but I assumed that the father was Turtle Heart.
-Nanny tells Melena that she got a special elixr to make sure that her second baby does not turn out to be green. The lady who gave Nanny this elixr is called "Yackle" and she predicted that there would be greatness for Melena's children.
"She said Elphaba will be more than you credit, and your second will follow suit. She said not to give up on your life. She said history waits to be written, and this family has a part in it." (Maguire, 59)


"Boys study, girls know, That's the way that lessons go. Boys learn, girls forget, That's the way of lessons yet. Gilikinese are sharp as knives, Munchkinlanders lead corny lives, Glikkuns beat their ugle wives, Winkies swarm in sticky hives. But the Quadling,  Oh the Quadlings, Slimy stupid curse-at-godlings, Eat their young and bury their old, A day before their bodies get cold. Give me an apple and I'll say it again." (Maguire, 53)
-This quote was said by Nanny before she questioned Melena about how much she really knew about Turtle Heart, it was an old nursery rhyme.

"Perhaps, thought Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents." (Maguire, 31)

CHARACTERS

Elphaba Thropp:

-Protagonist

-Born with green skin, black hair, sharp teeth, and very afraid of water

-Older sister of Nessarose

-Grew up in the Quadling Country

-Befriends Galinda at Shiz University

-Cares very much about The Animals, Animal Rights Activist

-She then becomes the Wicked Witch of the West in the future

Galinda Upland:

-Part of the high society in Gillikin

-Elphaba's roomate. She dislikes her at first but they then become good friends

-Her name was originally Galinda, then she referred to herself as Glinda

-Behaves snobby and mean,

-Becomes the Good Witch of the North in the future

Nessarose Thropp:

-Younger sister of Elphaba

-Supposedly favourite child of Frexspar Thropp

-Born with no arms, so she is unable to balance without help

-Unionist like her father

-Also attends Shiz University

-Could possibly be the daughter of Turtle Hear and not Frexspar

Madame Morrible:

-Headmistress of Shiz University's Crage Hall, which Glinda and Elphaba attend

-Suspected that she is responsible for Doctor Dillamond's death

Doctor Dillamond:

-Talking goat and Professor at Crage Hall in Shiz University

-With Elphaba's help he researches the differences between animals and Animals

-He is murdered by a slit throat, and it is suspected that Madame Morrible made her servant Grommetik kill him in order to keep his findings secret

Melena and Frexspar Thropp:

-Elphaba's, Nessarose and Shell's parents

-Melena dies shortly after Shell's birth

-Melena had an affair with Turtle Heart, and Nessarose could be the daughter of Melena and Turtle Heart

-Melena had mostly pagan traditions while Frexspar was

-She drank alcohol very often, and ate pinlobble leaves which act as a tranquilizer 

-Frex is a unionist priest, and has passed on his religious beliefs to Nessarose

-Elphaba believes that Frex favours Nessarose over his other children

 " 'Your fathers favourite?'

 'Oh thats easy', said Elphaba, jumping up and finding her books on her shelf, and getting ready to run out and stop the coversation in its tracks. 'That's Nessarose. You'll see why when you meet her. She'd be anyone's favourite.'" (136)

Nanny and Ama Clutch:

-Nanny is part of the Thropp family, although it is never said if she is related by blood or she is employed by them

-She is the caretaker of Nessarose, and the chaperone of Nessarose, Elphaba and Glinda (when Ama Clutch dies) at Shiz University

-She speaks her mind and it seems as though she is not afraid to do so

-Ama Clutch is Galinda's chaperone

-She loses her sanity when she witnesses the death of Doctor Dillamond

 " 'She reached a shaky hand out to the nail and picked it up and held it in her palm, tenderly and she talked to it' " (129)

Fiyero Tiggular:

-He is the prince of the Arjiki tribe in the Vinkus

-Meets Elphaba at Shiz University, and later has an affair with her



CRITICAL ARTICLE #3
This article is a book review written by Michiko Kakutani, and he is stating that Gregory Maguire's book is "deadly dull". The theme that Michiko believes Gregory Maguire is trying to express is that "people who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us". In Wicked, Elphaba was not wicked she was just misunderstood by her family and friends, Glinda was obsesses with money and status, and the Wizard of Oz is the evil one because he instituted murder against minority groups. In this book review, Michiko Kakutani, states that Gregory Maguire did a very good job for coming up with adventures for Elphaba and her friends but with his insistence on politicizing Oz turns a world of fun, spontaneous fantasy into a sad, and uneventful realm. In addition, he says that his awkward and bulky language further weighs his story down along with the fact that Elphaba and her friends spend too much time debating on the nature of good and evil and the difference between sorcery and science. Michiko Kakutani also says that certain passages in the novel makes the reader long to go back to the original Land of Oz that Baum created for audiences nearly a century ago.

Kakutani, Michiko. "Books of the Times-Let's Get This Straight:Glinda Was the Bad One?" New York Times, 24 Oct. 1995. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DF1738F937A15753C1A963958260&n=Top%2fFeatures%2fBooks%20Reviews>.

CRITICAL ARTICLE #2
There was a boy who grew up with books. They were his escape. He first started writing children's books for 15 years, then decided it was time to write an adult fiction novel. The writer is Gregory Maguire and his first novel was based on the Wizard of Oz and the title was Wicked. It was based on the wicked witch of the west and who she really was when she was younger, and what gave her the title of the wicked witch of the west. The novel sold over two million copies and then went on to be a musical, and Gregory Maguire kept on writing great novels one after another.

The reason he became interested in writing is because his parents were very strict and he was never very into sports as a child so he used a lot of his spare time reading and doing arts and crafts. When he was 8 or 9 he started to write and illustrate his own stories and he said that the beginning of his writing career was because of the novel, The Children of the Green Knowe. The reason why he like the Wizard of Oz so much was because his parents did not let him watch much TV as a child but that was the one movie he was able to watch and he and his siblings loved it. His inspiration for the novel was because of a newspaper headline that had Hitler's name in it, and it got him thinking about good and evil and if an individual could be born "bad". He almost wrote a novel about Hitler but then he realized that noone had ever written about the second most evil character almost everyone knows and that is the Wicked Witch of the West.



Scarecrow from Wizard
of Oz



He does at least five revisions because he feels like he is smoothing out his work each time and that makes him feel more confident in his work. Also, Gregory Maguire says that one of his favourite moments in the play Wicked is when Glinda finally gets over her fear of what her friends think and dances with Elphaba at the ball. This is his favourite because the audience can see the "beginning of a friendship--one of the best things in life". His favourite character from the Wizard of Oz is the scarecrow because without him Dorothy most likely would never have made it to Emerald City, and therefore she would have never gotten home. His advice for young writers is to keep a journal, write letters and talk to friends about what you enjoy from libraries or bookstores, and most importantly keep reading.

Fraser, Stephen. "Wicked with words: Gregory Maguire reimagines fairy tale." Writing! Feb.-Mar. 2006: 8+. General OneFile. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CA141492675&v=2.1&u=ko_k12hs_d21&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w