SCC Cherokee Book Club – Gregory Maguire

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

 

Below are the discussion questions from the Chapter Two meetings on May 22nd and 29th.

 

1.  How has your view of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West), the Wizard and Galinda (Glinda) changed after reading Elphaba’s side of the story, The Wizard of Oz? 

 

2.  After seeing another side of the story, do you have a new favorite character or least favorite character?

 

3.  The color green can have many (sometimes clashing) connotations: luck, envy, inexperience, greed, new life, etc.  This color is used throughout the novel (in Elphaba’s skin color, the City of Emeralds, the green potion bottle Elphaba’s father used to suppress her mother).  Do you see any symbolic significance in the novel where the color green is used?

 

4.  How does the theme of misunderstanding and being careful not to judge a book by its cover come into play in this novel?

 

5.  The novel, Wicked, has been made into a successful Broadway musical, with plans for a motion picture based on that musical to be released in the next few years.  What actors do you believe would play the parts well?  Would they be similar to or different from the actors who played in the original film, The Wizard of Oz?  Why?

 

The next book will be The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

The meetings will be on Thursday, June 12 at 12:30 and Thursday, June 26 at 3:00

in Study Room 105 of the Cherokee Campus Library.

 

Submitted by Tanya Newman, Library Specialist (Cherokee County Campus Library)