Molly Ransone Post #10

(Post #10) Student’s Choosing: Wicked

I am obsessed with the musical Wicked. I have seen it twice on Broadway and once on a national tour. After seeing the musical so many times I decided that I had to read the book that inspired the musical. George Maguire wrote Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire did this book as a spinoff of the Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum. I was expecting this book to be exactly like the musical but I was shocked because it is very different. The book is very dark compared to the uplifting catchy songs of the musical. I really like the musical better because I found the book too depressing for my taste. The musical Wicked reminds me a little of Lewis’s book Till We Have Faces. In the musical Elphaba has a sister named Nessarose. Elphaba is very protective of Nessarose, because Nessarose is handicapped. Elphaba is a very gifted witch and is sent to go meet the famous Wizard of Oz. Elphaba discovers that the Wizard is a terrible man and he was responsible for silencing the talking Animals of Oz. Elphaba goes into hiding to help the Animals. At the end of the musical the Wizard of Oz is trying to arrest Elphaba for defying him. He does this by getting his assistant to drop a house on Elphaba’s sister.  Elphaba’s love for her sister drives her to become wicked. The Wizard uses Elphaba’s sisterly love against her. In Till We Have Faces, the main character Orual uses her love for her sister Psyche as a coercion tactic. My favorite lines from Till We Have Faces are, “I was wrong to weep and beg and try to force you by your love. Love is not a thing to be so used” (Lewis, 204). Both the Wizard of Oz and Orual use love as a way to get what they want, but this is wrong. Love is not a bargaining tool!