Yesterday I finished reading Wicked (yes, the book about the Wicked Witch of the West; yes, I know there's a musical based off this book and no, I haven't seen it but I love the music). I'll never be able to watch The Wizard of Oz the same way again, I don't think. I'll be thinking of Elphaba and her struggles.
The main reason I brought up this book when I rarely ever bring up the numerous books I read is because I started thinking, as is only natural after this book, about what is evil. It's been suggested in the book that evil fills the void left by the absence of good, or that it is not the intent but the deed since most people feel the urge to do something "evil" at some point but not all act on it. It seems to me that for something to be evil it needs the intent and the deed. A person can do something bad for a good reason but they aren't always considered evil. A person can also have both good and evil sides to them, I believe, so evil to me is more than just the absence of good.
Elphaba, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch, was never evil in my opinion. She did bad things and she wasn't always likable but she seemed to have good intentions most of the time. I can't say whether I think Wicked's version of the Wizard is evil or not, though. He did evil things but I can't speak for his intentions the way I can of Elphaba's. They seem largely selfish, though. He most definitely wasn't good.
That's enough of my analytic rambling for now. The nature of evil is interesting food for thought, though. At any rate I highly recommend this book, the author is a very great story teller, and I consider there to be a big difference between authors and storytellers.
Callie
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