WICKEDly good!

So, I decided to read the novel Wicked by Gregory Maguire mostly because of my love of the Broadway musical. But let me just say, I'm glad my 5-th grade mind that loved the musical didn't read this book, because I definitely would not have understood it, or found it appropriate. The book had a very interesting pot, taking something we all thought we knew everything about and flipping it on our heads. The plot was captivating and witty, and the characters all played into what would become our fabled childhood heroes from The Wizard of Oz. I would recommend the book to most anyone high-school level or above and would give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Now on to the goods....

My favorite quote from the book that really stood out to me was - "Being born with a talent or an inclination for goodness is the aberration." This quote really embodies the essence and theme of the book (as well as the title for that matter!). The quote is saying that all people are born with the inclination to do evil, but are forced to fight it, and that someone who is born good is the one who is really odd, and not the other way around. This begs the essential question Elphie asks herself in the book (to quote from the musical), "Are people born wicked or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?" From the very beginning, Elphaba is faced with challenges because of her skin color and background. She at first sees herself as an aberration because of her skin color and thinks that she will never fit in anywhere. However, she grows to find that it is not because she is green that she is an aberration, it is because she has an inherent nature to do good. Throughout the novel, she feels the need to help others despite her own welfare, whether it be releasing a caged lion, caring for her sister, or taking on the most powerful man in Oz. In the course of events she comes into contact with some truly wicked people, including Glinda. Contrary to what we may think, Glinda was not always the perfect angel she is made out to be in the movie. She was, in fact, a stuck up aristocrat who wanted nothing to do with the affairs of the land. However, by the end of the novel, because of her rebel ways, Elphaba is no longer seen as a kind soul, but as a wicked one, and Glinda has been transformed from snobby aristocrat to beacon of goodness for the people of Oz. However, whether it was turning someone into a tin man, or capturing Dorothy, it was all out of good intentions that Elphaba acted, not out of wickedness. This points to two essential themes in the novel; don't judge a book by it's cover, and that people are born wicked, and we must fight to recognize and overcome it. Everyone in the novel judged Elfie for her skin, when in reality that judgment could not ave been more wrong. Also, the reversal of Glinda's roles in the novel reverses her own question against her, the answer, according to the novel, is that people are born wicked and they have goodness thrust upon them.

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