Overview on Wicked

Overview on Wicked

Overview, Relationship to The Wizard of Oz, Sections of the Book

The novel presents events, characters and situations from the book and the film in new ways. These differences arise from the original Oz functioning as a mirror-image of Kansas in a cultural and economic framework: Oz was wealthy, prosperous and had excellent agricultural yields while Kansas was characterized by economic hardship, environmental difficulties and poor harvests. The two stories are set in similar and consistent but distinctly separate visions of Oz. Unlike the popular 1939 movie (The Wizard of Oz) and L. Frank Baum's (the author of the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) writings, this novel is not directed at children, and contains adult language and content. The novel is a political, social, and ethical commentary on what good and evil really are. It takes place in The Land of Oz, before Dorothy's arrival. The story centers on Elphaba, the misunderstood green-skinned girl who grows up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. Gregory Maguire fashioned the name of Elphaba (pronounced EL-fa-ba) from the initials of Lyman Frank Baum, L-F-B. The story is divided into five different sections: (1) Munchkinlanders (2) Gillikin (3) City of Emeralds (4) In the Vinkus (5) The Murder and Its Afterlife