"Wicked" by Winnie Holzman is an adaption of the original story "The Wizard of Oz" but "Wicked" tells the life story of the wicked witch of the west all the way from her astonishing birth to her school life in the city of Oz (that is as far as I have gotten). So far the adaption and the original story contrast sharply. I think that the author did this strategically because the original is such a classic.
The first reason I think the author contrasted "Wicked" with the original because in the original there was such a huge world created and so much of it was un explained. Hozman really knew that readers would buy her book to learn the back story of the magical kingdom. The first example of how Wicked elaborated on The Wizard of Oz is the regions that Hozman divided the Kingdom into and all the different races and species and stereotypes that came along with these new areas. For example, the people of the far south are considered very stupid because they dont speak the language of the northerners. The people of the west are extremely well educated and full of them selves. This is displayed throughout many of the main characters.
The second reason I think the author contrasted the two storys to much is because she wanted to take the idea that the two sister witches, good witch, and wicked witch, could be sisters in common but also extremely different and the author may have felt that the wicked witch was mis represented in the original. For example, throughout the portion of the story I have read the wicked witch of the west doesnt seem to wicked. She seems canny and smart and quick witted. In many ways, the "Wicked" witch of the west is much nicer and kinder than the character I assume will become the good witch.
After reading both the adaption and the original it is clear to me that the author had many motives for the choices she made in her writing. She chose to make the witch a nicer character to show that wicked is often mis represented. She chose to explain the original story much deeper because she, probably like many other readers, felt like the whole wonderful kingdom of Oz was not explained thoroughly enough.
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