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Wicked: on Elphaba

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tlpounds
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Wicked: on Elphaba

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Ophelia posed and answered the following question,

How do you interpret the fact that Elphaba's first word was "horrors"

a- Turtle Heart had just said it, and she thought it sounded important, and she liked the sound of the word?

b- it reflected her life with the "divine children" of Rush Margins ?

c- it reflected her life at home?
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tlpounds
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Yes, Elphaba heard the word "horrors" from Turtle Heart, but I don't think she repeated it because she "thought it sounded important," or that she "liked the sound of the word." (With that being said, however, there is no right or wrong answer to this question!)

I get the feeling that, along with her green skin, she inherited some form of ESP (i.e. precognition) from her father (whoever he may be
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Ophelia

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No, "horrors" meant something to Elphaba before it should have, and I think we will see as we read more into Wicked what that first-word irony is about.
Yes, I thought it would be that.
Ophelia.
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tlpounds
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Week 3 Discussion Question #1

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On page 185, you can find the following quote:

[Avaric:] "And that skin. I wouldn't want to have skin the color of shit."
"What a thing to say," said Elphaba. "If you ask me, that's a shitty opinion."
"I forgot, Elphie. Skin is your issue too," said Avaric.


What is the significance of Elphaba's green skin? What are the rewards of being so different, and what are the drawbacks? In Oz
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tlpounds
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While doing some cursory research for this question in order to my "juices flowing," I came across an interesting article about "being different" and what it means http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20030708.html
Here is an excerpt from that article:

To attract a mate of a specific type, animals differentiate themselves. "Since females "choose" their mate in most species, males have evolved garish ways of drawing attention to themselves
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tlpounds
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tlpounds wrote:Is this what you got for the color green and its meaning for Elphaba's character?
Chris from my reading group wrote, "Green is more often associated with the color of envy. I don't know if the author is actually trying to portray this at all. It might just be the card he was dealt by the fact that the movie showed her as green. She definitely did seem envious of Dorothy with her shoes. Likewise she sees that her Father liked her sister best. Who knows, I could just be reading into it too much."
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Ophelia

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My first idea about Elphaba being green is that the colour itself was not important, it was a way of making her different in a fashion that would not be possible in reality, as is also the case with Nasserose (has anybody ever been born with no arms at all?).

I thought the two other colours she could have been were purple and bright orange ( Looking at some of our young people 's choice of hair colour, these three, IMO, go together in making a statement: I'm unusual.)

I tried to think of who our what, apart from students 'hair, could be green: some frogs are green... this line of thought did not take me far.

I was going to dismiss all the usual interpretations that go with green (hope, spring, etc...), but your friend Chris may have a point with envy.
I think we should keep this possibility in mind.

By the way, when (if ever) you think the time is right, in the sense of not hurting your group, you might consider extending Chris an invitation to visit BT... :)


P-S: The site bmezine.com is very good, thank you for the reference.
The beginning of his posting has reminded me of one more thing I have wanted to write about for a while.
So I'll use this link in a new thread, something about being different.
Last edited by Ophelia on Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tlpounds
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Hi Ophelia.

I will extend the invitation to Chris, although don't be offended if he doesn't accept. I know for a fact that he works between 50 and 60 hours a week, and the only way I got him to "join" my reading group is because I work here with him and could guilt him into keeping up with his reading everyday :D

It really is a shame, though, because he has so much input to give...but I know how there's not enough time to do everything you want, so you have to make sacrifices. Unfortunately, reading and participating in a book club is not one of his priorities.

Anyway, I will talk to him about it today. I'm sure he'll be flattered :)
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Constance963
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I just assumed the author made her green because she was green in the movie so I didn't give any particular significance to the green itself. Intersting too is the link of green to the emerald city.....
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Constance963
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Oh, and I just loved that Elphaba's first word was "horrors". Interesting that she would wait to speak until she found a word that had some significance. At the time I originally read it I just thought it was kind of funny but in a way it is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Those of us who have seen the movie know what happens to the witch so the word is certainly appropriate for what is to come.
My wedding day! 08-08-08
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