The Glass Castle (By Jeannette Walls 2005) #1

It's and interesting story how I came to begin reading this book. My family's neighbors, over the Christmas break, asked us if some of their family members could stay in our house for a couple of nights while we were out of town. We tentatively said yes, hoping that our house would not be destroyed or ransacked by these strangers. When we came back from our vacation, we found the house in tact. As I came into my bedroom, "The Glass Castle" was sitting on my bed with a postcard stuck inside from the author. She wrote that she had stayed in my room and was giving me her book, a memoir of her life, as a sign of gratitude. I know that story didn't really have anything to do with the actual book, but knowing that this woman slept in my bed and used my bathroom gives me a feeling of being much closer to her and her story than I would have if it was any other book.
So now to the actual assignment.
In her book, Walls tells the story of her crazy childhood with two very strange parents. So far, her family is constantly on the move, never staying in one town for more than a few weeks. Although not directly stated, I can glean that their situation is due to unpaid taxes and other such crimes. The book is written from Wall's point of view, who at the moment is only four. So she does not fully understand what is going on. Her father tells her exciting stories about how they are on the run from the FBI and the Mafia, which her four year old self believes. But the reader can understand that this is not true and must try to make her own assumptions. Wall's choice to tell the story from a young child's point of view causes the reader to have a very restricted idea of what is going on. Walls does not know what issues her parents are going through, so neither does the reader. Her mother and father's parenting styles are unorthodox to say the least. They believe in not nurturing children, but to let them fend for themselves. Having had a childhood opposite to that myself, reading Walls' thoughts as a child is strange. To her, her parents are doing her a favor, and making her grow stronger. After a while, when she is still four, she doesn't even seem to notice when blood is pouring from scrapes on her knees. Reading the book from her perspective shows that while she was young, she was much older mentally and more capable of dealing with pain than other four year olds.

Wicked #6

Now that I have finished the book, I think that the ending was very unsatisfactory. In the end, like in the movie, Dorothy throws water on the Elphpaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West. This causes Elphaba's death. It was never clearly stated that the water made her melt, but I am assuming that that is what happened. I found it interesting, though, that in the book Dorothy throws water on the Witch in an attempt to put out a fire that had started on her robes. In the movie, however, Dorothy throws the water in order to kill the Witch, though I might be remembering that wrong. The book really plays up Dorothy's innocence, and with that, her ignorance of cruelties in the world. Another interesting anomaly is that in the Broadway play, Fiyero, Elphaba's lover, does not die. He is transformed into the scarecrow by a spell performed by Elphaba in order to save his life after he has been brutally beaten. In the book, Fiyero is beaten, but Elphaba is not there to help and it is assumed that he dies. When Elphaba comes across Dorothy and her trio of friends, she plays with the idea of the scarecrow being Fiyiero in disguise, but she soon thinks nothing of it. Also in the play, Elphaba does not die. She falls down a trap door when Dorothy throws water on her, sneeks out, and joins Fiyero the scarecrow as they walk into the sunset. The play's ending is defenitely happier than the book or movie's.
The ending was so unsatisfying because nothing was really resolved. The Wizard of Oz, who Elphaba was trying to rid of power, was still in power; Elphaba never found out why Glinda had enchanted the ruby slippers to stay on Dorothy's feet; Elphaba was never able to save her friend Nor from the Wizard's imprisonment or find out what had happened to the rest of Nor's family; and Elphaba never found out what happened to her long lost lover, Fiyero. These were all big questions within the book, and some of them were never even addressed in the slightest. The Witch's death was very untimely to say the least.
But overall, I really enjoyed this book and found it provided very interesting insight into the book "The Wizard of Oz", the movie, and the play.

Wicked #5

The defining moment for Elphaba is when she and Glinda sneak off to the Emerald City to see the Wizard. When they are there, Elphaba tries to persuade the Wizard to stop the segregation against Animals, animals who can speak and posses human intelligence. The Wizard had been passing laws that restricted the rights of Animals, such as taking away their right to hold jobs and use public transportation. Elphaba confronts the Wizard about this and tells him that his decisions are wrong. The Wizard gets very angry and Glinda tries to make Elphaba leave and apologize to the Wizard. Up until then, Glinda and Elphaba had been close friends, but this one moment shows the beginning of there separation. Glinda goes on to become a wealthy public figure, while Elphaba, still fighting for what she believes in, becomes poor and alone. Elphaba's fight with the wizard was the defining moment of her new life, for afterwards, she drops out of school and disappears for many years, all the while working undercover to try and assassinate the Wizard and his minions. Glinda and Elphaba's differences are the main factors controlling how their lives unfold, and that one moment with the wizard was necessary to show Elphaba what she was meant to use her life for, fighting the Wizard for Animal rights and a ridding Oz of his and other's rule.

Wicked #4

Throughout the entire book, Elphaba has a strong aversion to water, saying that it burns her skin. I believe that this is a metaphor for her aversion to being baptised. Elphaba's Family is extremely religious. Her father is a holy man who preaches about the Unnamed God, and her sister grows up to be a follower of the Unnamed God, going on long rants about morality and religion to anyone who will listen (she eventually becomes a religious leader for all of Munchkinland). Elphaba always questioned religion and claimed that there was no Unnamed God, though not speaking of this to her family. Her aversion to water is her aversion to religion and her family forcing religion onto her. Because water is the symbol of baptism, the first step in becoming a religious person, Elphaba feels a biological fear and hatred towards it.

"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire Post #3

In the first passage of the book, there are many foreshadows to how the book's story will unfold. For example, when Elphaba's mother is pregnant with her, she says that she "Is only a host for the parasite" (Maguire 6). This leads the reader to believe that the baby is not welcome to its parents; that the baby must have something wrong with it. As the reader soon finds out, there is something wrong with the baby, for she is green and has teeth shaped like daggers. This theme of Elphaba never fitting in with her surroundings is present throughout the entire book; such as when she goes to high school and has few friends and is made fun of, and when she lives on her own and takes a vow of silence for two years, causing herself to be astranged from everyone. From her beginging, Elphaba was never meant to fit in.