How Many Times Will It Take to Get It Right?

After reading that Melena had committed adultery, I am ready to move on and read something new. Hopefully progressing Elphaba’s storyline. I am kind of sick of the state that Melena is in. With her relationship with Frex not working out, she is out of options and out of time to have a good life. She should leave and run away with Turtle Heart. That would be interesting to read. It would also be interesting to she how Maguire would progress the relationship between Elphaba and her father, as well as, later in the book, see the emotional damage that Elphaba’s mother leaving caused.

Geographies of the Seen and Unseen

Throughout this chapter, the geography of the world of Oz is explained. Exactly as the title explains. Frex explains this to Turtle Heart as part of his understanding of the world of OZ. Being from a small area and not exposed to much history, or geography, he asks Frex to explain it to him. Little does he know that Turtle is trying to get him on his good side. J the conversation turns to politics after a nap is in question. They begin to talk about the ruler of Oz which turns out to be a child around Elphaba’s age. However there is a stand in for the moment until she is ready to be a ruler. Her name is Ozma Tippetarius, and the stand-in ruler is her father; Ozma Regent.

The Quadling Glassblower

This chapter starts off a year later. Elphaba is now older and a toddler. She and her mother have an interesting sort of relationship/bond. Melena has begun talking ot her as if she were an adult. Telling her things such as her and Frex’s sex life. She also sharing information on how she would go about killing Elphaba. Including the fact that she would not go near water. Indicating towards that movie, in which the Witch melts from being splashed with water. A man appears at the door of the cottage. His name is Turtle Heart, he is a glass blower from Quadling. He ends up blowing a piece of a mirror for the girls, and Elphaba is entranced in it. She does not take her eyes off of it. Meanwhile, Turtle Heart and Melena have sex many times, before Frex comes home with Nanny. Frex welcomes the stranger into his home.

What Could be Worse, Than to be Not Loved?

The situation in the novel so far has completed a complete 360º . In this case the story has flipped from the reader favouring the main characters but to favouring the underdog. This leaves the future of the story up to the characters to pan out themselves. Hopefully they make the correct choices and do not mess up in a sense that Elphaba’s life is at jeopardy. Similar to the circumstance at the end of the previous chapter. When the ladies wanted to leave Elphaba there to die, or even to kill her themselves. Some of the situations in this novel so far have felt like they are putting a life in risk. The next chapter should elaborate more on Elphaba’s relationship with her parents and her surroundings.

Maladies and Remedies

This chapter deals with the social aspect of the baby’s deformity. The young girl is given the name Elphaba, after Saint Aelphaba of the Waterfall. The reader also learns that Melena’s old nanny, has come to visit and help take care of the baby. She is not thrilled, due to the lack of enthusiasm that Melena and Flex are showing. The nanny helps the couple out by showing them that their baby is not abnormal, and only her skin colour is different. Frex on the other hand, decides to perform an exorcism on the child, to see if that will help with the discolouration of her skin. However this tactic does not succeed. During this, the nanny and Melena chat about a possible affair that could have led to the skin disorder. After learning that Melena was taking drugs, as well as drinking certain ‘drinks,’ the nanny discover that Melena drank a ‘miracle elixir’ while pregnant and that could have been that cause of the discolouration. The final line in this chapter shows a side of the story that no one has thought about up until this point. “Perhaps, thought Nanny, little green Elphaba chose her own sex, and her own color, and to hell with her parents.” (Maguire)