In the book "Wicked," why does the Wicked Witch of the West react so badly to water?

Question

I've read "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" once and "Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" twice, and "Son of a Witch" once.

I'd like to believe that Elphaba isn't really dead, so I'm a little biased.

I haven't been able to find anything in the Macguire books to explain why Dorothy's splash of water would kill her.

In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," I think it says it's because she's old and dusty (but I can't find that now that I'm asking this.) If that's true, it doesn't fit with "Wicked" because she's not extremely old in that book.

I've only read "Son of a Witch" once, but I don't think I saw anything to explain it there either.

If you've read it, could you please explain it to me?

Answer 1

The way I remember it, Elphaba even as a child shrunk away from water- she instinctively knew not to go near it. I don't think her family tried to wash the green off of her, either, I think it just was. She described water as stinging her skin. I also don't think it was due to her being from an affair, because it's pretty likely that Nessa Rose was also illegitmate.

As for my hypothesis... There are children who have forms of sensory integration issues that can make simple touches unbearable. Children with Autism can sometimes have very odd understandings of touch, so what if it's something like that. That would mean she wouldn't die, but she sure as heck wouldn't like being doused unexpectedly. Ok, I know it's a stretch, but I'm a School Psychologist, what can I say? Heck, her first word was 'Horrors'. That suggests she's a different kind of kid, wouldn't you say?

Answer 2

I think at one part of Wicked, Boq says that he thinks that Elphaba is allergic to water, but that's never set in stone. Many people believe that in Wicked it was more symbolic. Elphaba was conceived from an affair, and many believe that this burdens her soul, making her unclean so that the water melts her. Also, in the musical of Wicked, it states that Elphaba's soul is so unclean that pure water melts her. There are many theories like this, but the real answer is unknown.

Answer 3

I'm not quite sure either. In the book, I think Galinda says that she's allergic to water. Also, in the musical Wicked during the song "Thank Goodness" someone says that "her soul is so unclean, pure water can melt her." And in the musical too, Elphaba doesn't really die, she falls through a trap door.

Answer 4

I am watching the wizard of Oz right now. That's why she is called a wicked witch not caring about anything else but those powerful ruby slippers.

Answer 5

When Dorothy throws water on the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" the Witch asked, "Didn't you know water would be the end of me?"

Noted in "The Annotated Wizard of Oz" by Michael Patrick Hearn: "It is a well known fact," Robert Bruns wrote in a note to his poem "Tam O'Shatner, a Tale" of 1790, "that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the nextrunning stream. When Tam O'Shatner stumbles upon a witches' Sabbath in the woods, he flees on horseback and escapes their wrath because "a running stream they dare na cross." Accused witches were often tested by ordeal by water. It was considered to be the most decisive proof of witchcraft, because man cannot decieve the element of water. The suspect was bound and flung into a river; if she floated, she was guilty and could be executed by fire. This method of justice appeared as early as 1950 B.C., in the code of Hammuarabi; the French courts carried it out with conclusive results as late as June 1696. Baum refers to "the ducked witches of years agou" in the Aberdeen "Saturday Pioneer" (March 29, 1890).
Many students of Oz believe that the magic in Baum's books may be rationally explained, that it is based on certain scientific principles and is no more than an extension of natural laws. Dr. Douglas A. Rossman argued in "On the Liquidation of Witches" (The Baum Bugle, Spring 1969) that the melting of the Wicked Witch of the West was due to hydrolysis. Adhesion, the sticking together of molecules in contact with each other, may be broken down either by water or some other powerful force, like that of a house falling from the sky. Like the Wicked Witch of the East, the Wicked Witch of the West is so old and dried up that she cannot even bleed; she has no bodily liquids to combat strong outside influences. Little is keeping the molecules together. Only her black arts have kept her from literally falling apart. Water breaks down the weak adhesion of the body, and she melts into a brown, shapeless mass. The impact of Dorothy's house landing on the Wicked Witch of the East breaks down her molecular structure, and she crumbles into dust. Celia Catless Andersen noted in "The Comedians of Oz" (Studies in AMerican Humor, WInter 1986-1987) that the Wicked Witch of the West "is justly destroyed by the emblem of household drudgery, a bucketful of water." A slightly revised version of thsi chapter appeared as "Melting a Wicked Witch" in "L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker" (1911).

Regarding "Wicked" if I remember correctly, that author takes poetic license with the story and explains Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, having an allergy to water due to her being dunked in it so much and so often when she was younger by her parents trying to wash off her green color. She is also not an old, elderly woman in this novel like in Baum's book, she is more a young lady but the water does kill her.

The musical explains it as more of a phobia than an allergy, she just does not like water, it is not necesarily deadly to her. And in the musical, the water does NOT kill her, but she does pretend to melt so that everyone thinks she is dead and she can run off safely with her lover Boq and never be hunted again.

IMO, Baum's work is the best, of course, since is the original. The novel "Wicked" was an interesting idea, but I think the musical "Wicked" did a better job with it. Less of a jumble, more clearly told with better character development. I did not care for "Son of a Witch" at all. I think it was just written to make money off the popularity of "Wicked."

Answer 6

She was a girl. Made of sugar & spice & everything nice.