Wicked

Wicked, written by Gregory Maguire, is both a book and musical containing many symbols and conflicts of interest. Elphaba, born with green skin and the tendency to bite people with her sharp teeth as a child, is seen as an embarrassment to her family. Elpie, as they call her, wonder why she was born this way, and what they had done to bring such a horrid child to them. Was it an accident? Is it symbolic? Of course Thomas Foster, writer of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, would argue that there are never any accidents in literature and everything is symbolic. In Wicked, Gregory Maguire uses symbolism to communicate that the Wicked witch of the West wants much more than meets the eye. Symbolism is the most important theme in Wicked because everything in the story can have multiple meanings. Nessarose’s ruby slippers were much more than a pretty pair of shoes to Elphaba. “Should she pursue Dorothy, should she snatch those shoes away – and what were her real motives? Was it to keep them out of the hands of the Wizard ... Or was it to snatch back some small shred of Frex's attention? (5.10.1)” This quote explains that Elphaba was worried about the shoes falling into the wrong hands, but more importantly, the shoes were a symbol of her fathers love, care, and family acceptance. Foster’s book explains that a symbol never has one set meaning, which is why these shoes also represent power. Elphaba’s need to attain these shoes is what gives them such a power over the entire story. Another notable symbol of this book would be the mirror, given to Elphaba as a child by Turtle Heart. Through this mirror, unlike the others, she is able to fully understand what she is seeing through the looking glass. As an adult she loses the ability to see such as she once did, and thinks, “Who do we ever see but ourselves, and that's the curse." (5.11.21)” Elphaba has become “blind” to what she could once see. However, Foster shows us that the