Today I'm opening the floor for discussion on Part 3 of
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Follow me below the fold for my own musings...
Welp, it sure was lucky for us that Fiyero happened to stumble upon Elphaba in that church, that he followed her home, and that she didn't kick him to the curb and disappear again, and that the two of them started making with the whoopee, or we'd never know what our girl was up to in Part 3. Secretive little minx. (Sorry, but it's starting to bug me that Elphaba is such an enigma, and that we continue to have to see her through the eyes of others. I wanna know what
she's thinking, dammit.)
Okay, okay. So there was a bit more of a peek into the workings of her mind this time around, seeing as how she was occasionally communicative, almost at times downright forthcoming, with Fiyero. Almost.
And what she communicated really grabbed me. Not so much the part about her being a part of some kind of underground resistance -- I saw that one coming. But what she communicated about herself, especially because the person she was saying these things to was the person she loved, who loved her. She denies, at first, being Elphaba, even though such a denial is downright silly on its face. Then, at various times:
...it seems to me that to be human is to be capable of the most heinous crimes in nature.
I who have always been unbecoming am becoming un.
...I'm not a harem, I'm not a woman, I'm not a person, no.
I don't exist...
I have no self. I never did, in fact, but that's beside the point.
There's more, but you get the point.
It's easy to assume that she says these things because she's subjugated her individuality, even her humanity, to her cause, but I think it's more than that. I'm just not sure what, exactly. Maybe she knows exactly who and what she really is, and what her purpose really is. Or maybe she's just internalized the reactions people had to her as an infant and child, and has come to believe what they believed of her. It's hard to say.
This is the most overtly political part of the book, at least so far. The parallels with Nazi Germany are rampant. The Oz version of the SS, the Gale Force (isn't Dorothy's full name in The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale? Hmmmm. As that guy on Laugh-In used to say in that dreadful German accent, verrrrry interrresting.)
We get a look at a concentration camp of sorts, except instead of being out in the provinces somewhere as you'd expect (well, as I'd expect), it's right in the middle of the Emerald City. Which is seriously creepy.
We get a history of the Quadlings, who before now are the most mysterious of all the peoples of Oz, and of the rape and pillage of their land for rubies. (Reminded me of the last fifteen years of the US's escapades in the Middle East, just because those people over there are sitting on top of "our" oil...). This book was written after the Gulf War, so maybe Maguire did that on purpose. Maybe. I wonder, though, where all these rubies are. Unless I've missed something, they have not (other than Nessarose's shoes) made an appearance anywhere. Hmmm, again.
My final thought: How did the Gale Force find out about Elphaba, and where she lived? Poor old Fiyero was the unlucky bastard wot showed up instead of her when the Gale Forcers set up an ambush in her flat, but (presumably) he's not the one they were waiting for. I assume they were there waiting for her. How the heck did they find her? More importantly, how the heck did they find out about her? Glinda had more than a sneaking suspicion that Fiyero knew where she was... did she, could she have, set the Gale Force to follow Fiyero and have him lead them to Elphaba?
Next week: Part 4, In the Vinkus.
Okay, it's your turn now... what do you think?