In the last section of the book “Murder And the Afterlife,” we see Elphaba’s ideas about monsters have changed after she finds out the Wizard has imprisoned Nor and is keeping her in chains in awful conditions: “She fell to her knees, her forehead dropping almost to the floor...She had no intention of surrendering the Grimmerie to such a monster, ever.” Because the Wizard is cruel to Nor and seems to have no sympathy for her, he becomes a monster. The fact that he commits evil against an innocent person, hence breaking a moral norm, makes the Wizard a monster in Elphaba’s eyes, though she previously did not view him as such. 

The other character who becomes a monster, ironically, is Elphaba. Though she herself is too blinded by her emotions to see it, many of her actions are very cruel and make her seem monstrous. One of the moments where The Witch becomes monstrous is in one of the last scenes in the book when she becomes angry at Dorothy and begins threatening and interrogating her. Her status as a monster is not only revealed by the fact that Dorothy is terrified of her, but also by Lirs reaction. In this scene, Liir steps in to defend dorothy , yelling, “You old hag, let her alone,”(Maguire 399). In this moment the Witch is a monster in both the eyes of Dorothy and the eyes of her own son. Liir’s choice to call The Witch a “hag” further reveals how she had become evil. The word “hag” is used to describe particularly evil and monstrous witches. Because some witches in Oz are considered to be good, this description of Elphaba as a hag shows that she is not good, but rather is a monster. Because both strangeness and maliciousness are needed to define a monster, the strangeness of Elphaba’s skin is not enough to label her as such. It is only when her actions become malicious and harmful to others that she is seen as a monster.

“John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don't want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John... only more so!” (Gilman 650). In this next quote, Jane is fully convinced that she is sick and is relying on her husband to help her to get better. Little does she know that she is actually becoming worse and this is just allowing John to gain more power. His next move is to now put fear into Jane by threatening her. John tells her that she will have to be sent to Weir Michell if he doesn't see improvement in her “sickness” by fall. This supposedly sickness that she has is put on her by John. From the quote we know that Jane does not to go at all because she heard that Weir Michell is just like John but “only more so”.   This begins worrying Jane and makes her start to believe that she is at best staying under the care with John. It seems that Jane is becoming vulnerable and falling straight into John’s trap. 

This last quote is what shows that Jane might be starting to catch on and see John for the monster he really is or it can maybe be that John’s plan is working. Either way, it seems that John is winning here, Jane is now stating that she is becoming a little fearful of him. This is probably a good thing for John. If Jane is scared of him then she might be afraid to go against him so she’ll just keep going along with the way John controls her.

“How many babies’ bodies pile up on top of each in the grave?”(Moraga 111). 

In the play, the dead bodies of the community children are crucified as a silent protest of the cancerous pesticidal conditions. They hang these dead, limp bodies of children to demand the attention of the government. Amparo asked this quote during a live broadcast demanding to know how many dead babies will it take until the government finally decides to step in and help save these innocent farmer worker and their families. Amparo knows that bringing up the fact that many babies are dying will receive a lot of attention and probably a lot negative backlash towards the government for allowing this to happen to innocent babies. The fact that babies are dying from this shows that the government had no morals. Babies are supposed to be growing up not dying a couple months later just after being born.

From birth, Elphaba has been seen as a monster because she was seen as different or odd. Due to her unique looks, her parents didn’t care as much for her compared to how they cared for her sister Nesarose. Since there was a lack of parenting and love for the child, the parents are the real monsters here. “Shall we go walk by the edge of the lake today and maybe you’ll drown?” (Maguire, pg42) Elphaba’s mother, Melena, is not an ideal parent especially since she told her daughter negative thoughts. Such negativity towards a child causes them to be insecure, which can be seen in Elphaba’s personality as she goes through her life. Unfortunately there are consequences with having neglect towards an individual. Neglect may cause one to have a low self esteem and even cause them to have difficulties in trusting others. Taking that  into consideration, neglect brings upon many negative aspects, it's no wonder that Elphaba is not much of a social person. Despite the fact that Nanny also thought that Elphaba was scary looking, she still took the courage to take care of the unwanted child. She was the one that looked past her physical features (her green skin) and her imperfections. Not much changes as Elphaba grows more mature. 

As time goes on and Elphaba gets older, she gets the opportunity to live the life of a college student. Unfortunately her life doesn’t seem to be any different than it used to be. She is described as still looking the same with her green skin and slender body, just with her teeth adjusted to adulthood. Since she isn’t like the other popular girls like a character named Galinda, a girl that is of high standards. Saldy, her life hasn’t changed regarding the point that she is still left alone on many occasions. Elphaba gets excluded from little get togethers that the girls have, and they usually make fun of her and they see her as a joke. “I-wrote-the-letter,’ heaved Pfannee between her gales of laughter. Avaric began to chuckle, and Elphaba’s eyes went wide and a little unfocused.” (Maguire, pg 157) So instead of Ephaba being the monster, society is considered to be the monster in this situation the individuals are the ones being disrespectful towards her, especially since she do anything to them. Considering the fact that she was left alone most of the time, she has become more self-conscious about herself and more vulnerable towards the thoughts and opinions of others.

Word Count: 517 

Word Count With Quotes: 566

The final setting that was represented through the graphic novel was represented by violence. Rufus made the mistake of making Alice learn a lesson because she tried to run away, she didn't live long after that. "I didn't see much in the dim light until my eyes adjusted. Then they turn to look at the place where I had been strung up and whipped. 'Oh Alice… Oh No." ( Duffy et al. pg 218-219) The image in the panel illustrated how Alice was hung, showing that she hung herself in misery thinking that her kids got sold. It was a scary sight to behold taking into consideration all the shading and color that was added within the image. The image depicted Alice to be within the deep shadows along with her lifeless body. Adding to that was Dana's sad crying face which made the image depressing overall, allowing the reader to be filled with dread and trembling fear. The way that monstrosity was shown wasn’t the fact that the death scene was a scary sight to behold, it was the way that Rufus acted. He was the monster by telling such a painful lie to one that he supposedly loved. It was his actions towards others that made him the real monster in the story. 

Word Count: 431

Word Count With Quotes: 506

Neglect:

Being Excluded: