Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

“She would emerge. She always had before. The punishing political climate of Oz had beat her down, dried her up, tossed her away—like a seedling she had drifted, apparently too desiccated ever to take root. But surely the curse was on the land of Oz, not on her. Though Oz had given her a twisted life, hadn’t it also made her capable?”

In the Prologue, Maguire establishes fortitude and independence as two of Elphaba’s identifying characteristics. In peering into Elphaba’s own sense of self, Maguire immediately creates a juxtaposition between the rumors that are spread about her and the person she truly is. Here, Elphaba acknowledges her fall from grace, but she focuses on her abilities. Thus, the book begins by foreshadowing an unlikely protagonist who will twist the preconceived narrative notions about her. The Prologue implies that this book is about an untold story, about redemption, and about the marginalized voices we prefer not to listen to.

“Frex was distracted. He began to mumble in a general way about the nature of evil. A vacuum set up by the inexplicable absence of the Unnamed God, and into which spiritual poison must rush. A vortex.”

Frex’s fixation on religion is both a strength and a detriment. Frex takes life’s challenges in stride because of his faith, but he is also myopic about his religion, refusing to see how society is changing around him. His religious fervor also results in a savior complex. Here, his religious beliefs lead him to believe that there is a vortex of godlessness surrounding him. But Maguire implies throughout Part 1 that this vortex is the changing tides of society. Frex’s inability to see the signs in front of him foreshadows future conflict.