Wicked GLD (To end of Galinda 4)Sam, Jocelyn, Brenda

Basic Questions Overall, what was your impression this

section? Was it confusing? Easy? Boring? Give us

your opinion. What about it was confusing and etc? Give us some high and low points about the

section

Summary Before the story begins the witch observes

Dorothy and her gang. After the prologue Elphaba is born to Frex and Melena, however she is green. The family secludes themselves after The Clock of the Time Dragon orders the townspeople to kill him and his family. Isolated in woods Turtle Heart stumbles upon the family and they make nice. Turtle heart and Melena engage in foul play, right under Frex’s nose and Melena becomes pregnant. The book skips ahead and Elphie is off in college with her new roommate Galinda.

Characters Frex Melena (Frex’s wife) The Nanny Turtle Heart the Glassblower Elphaba Gawnette Galinda

Elphaba (nicknamed Elphie or Fabala)

She becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. She enters the world inside the Clock of the Time Dragon. Her family worries that her green skin and awful teeth serve as punishment for some past sin.

Melena (Elphaba’s Mother) Melena seems to be the

most realistic character. Melena challenges conventional ideas of marriage, fidelity, and parenthood. Though she’s far from being an ideal mom, her maternal role is a crucial one in Elphaba’s life. Melena feels lonely that Frex is always out and finds comfort with strangers and sleeps around.

Frex (Elphaba’s father)

It is unknown if Frex is really the father the father of Elphaba or the expecting baby. Melena doesn’t know who the father could be her lover or her husband. He is a minister and thinks it’s his fault that Elphaba was born the way she was.

Turtle Heart Turtle Heart is a

wandering glassblower from Quadling Country. He comes upon Melena’s home while Frex is out preaching. Melena and Turtle Heart have an extended affair. He might be the father of the expecting child.

The NANNY The Nanny helps raise

Elphaba and is there for Melena’s aid as well. She is the first person to really accept Elphaba for who she is and inserts a lot of strong opinion on her care. Melena trusts Nanny and confides in her often revealing a lot of insight.

GALINDA Comes from a rich

family. Thinks highly of her looks and becomes Elphaba’s roommate in college. She is not fond of Elphaba and makes jokes and laughs about her with friends behind her back.

The novel opens with a scene in which the Witch overhears Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman gossiping about her. She’s “possessed by demons,” they say. “She was castrated at birth… she was an abused child…she’s a dangerous tyrant.” How does this scene set the stage for the story, and what themes does it introduce?

Gregory Maguire fashioned the name Elphaba from the initials of the author of The Wizard of Oz, Lyman Frank Baum-L-F-B pronounced EL-Fa-Ba.

Why do you think Gregory Maguire did this?

“Perhaps, though Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents.”

Do you think it’s possible that Elphaba could’ve chose her own sex?

Wicked flips the Oz we knew from the classic movie. To what extent does Maguire’s vision of Oz contradict the Oz we’re familiar with? How have Dorothy and the other characters changed or remained the same? Has Wicked changed your conception of the original? How?

Elphaba’s Father “ The obvious theory is an

elf,” said Nanny. “I wouldn’t have sex with

an elf!” Melena shrieked. “No more would I,” said

Nanny, “but the greed does give one pause. Are there elves in the neighborhood?”

“There’s a gaggle of them, tree elves, up over the hill someplace.”

Could Elphaba’s father be an elf?

What is the significance of Elphaba’s green skin? What are the rewards of being so different, and what are the drawbacks? In Oz and in the real world? What are the meanings associated with the color green, do any of them fit Elphaba’s character?

At this point of the story do you think Elphaba is evil? Are her actions evil? Is there such thing as evil?

What about the Clock of the Time Dragon. Does the Clock simply reflect events, or does it shape them? Why is it significant that Elphaba was born inside it?

The first section of the book ends powerfully when the young Elphaba is discovered under the dock after being gone missing, cradled in the paws of a magical beast as if sitting on a throne. How do you interpret this scene? Do you think this scene foretells something?

“Boys study, girls know, That’s the way that lessons go. Boys learn, girls forget, That’s the way of lessons yet. Gillikinese are sharp as knives, Munchkinlanders lead corny lives, Glikkuns beat their ugly wives, Winkies swarm in sticky hives. But the Quadlings, 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.

What do you think of this nursery rhyme?

Prologue: On the Yellow Brick Road

What is your first impression of the witch as the narrator describes how she watches Dorothy and her friends?

Do you think she was actually castrated at birth?

Munchkinlanders - The Root of Evil

Why would Melena talk about her baby as a “parasite?”(pg 9)

Nanny’s proverb: “Born in the morning,

Woe without warning;Afternoon childWoeful and wild;Born in the evening,Woe ends in grievingNight baby borningSame as in the morning. “(pg 11)

What do you think this means? Do you think it foreshadows anything of importance?

Munchkinlanders – The Clock of the Time Dragon

What is this “Clock of the Time Dragon?” Your thoughts on what it could be and

what its use is? Why do you think that the townspeople

listen to the clock? Like why did they decide to go after Frex

and kill him as the clock stated?

Munchkinlanders – The Birth of a Witch

What do you think of the midwives? Wanting to ditch Melena, kill her and the

unborn baby and etc. Why would there be confusion about the

baby’s gender? Why are people not fond of Melena,

Frex’s wife?

Munchkinlanders – Maladies and Remedies

What do you think of melena's character and personality? Why call for her Nanny instead of her

father? She scared of what her father will say/do?

Do you think there is reason that they continuously portray elphy (thats what im going to call her for now) as an animal

Pinlobble Leaves “For days Melena couldn’t bear to look

at the thing. She held it, as a mother must. She waited for the groundwater of maternal affection to rise and overwhelm her. She did not weep. She chewed pinlobble leaves, to float away from the disaster.

What do the pinlobble leaves remind you of? (pg 25)

Munchkinlanders – The Quadling Glassblower

What was the first thing that Turtle Heart (the glassblower) made for Elphaba?

Munchkinlanders – Geographies of the Seen and the Unseen

Who is Lurline and why is that name important? (pg 55)

Munchkinlanders – Child’s Play Is there a significance to Nanny’s

comment about a beast in the woods surrounding the house? (pg 58)

What does “The child was extravagant punishment for a sin so minor she didn’t even know if she had committed it.” (pg 61) mean? Does predict something?

Munchkinlanders – Darkness Abroad

Elphaba’s first word is horrors, could this allude to anything later in the book or does it have any significance?

“Behind her was a low growl. There was a beast, a felltop tier, or some strange hybrid of tiger and dragon, with glowing orangey eyes. Elphaba was sitting in its folded forearms as if on a throne. “Horrors,” she said said again.”

What was your favorite part of this section of the book?And why?