Wicked Written by Gregory Maguire & No Way Back Written by Linda Newbery - Is conformity and stability more desirable than individuality and freedom for the female characters in these two texts?

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Nicholas Kinnaird

Text 1: Wicked 

Written by Gregory Maguire

Text 2: No Way Back 

Written by Linda Newbery

Is conformity and stability more desirable than individuality and freedom for the female characters in these two texts?

Word Count: 1002

Throughout both Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and Linda Newbery’s No Way Back it is clearly shown through key female characters that conformity and stability are more desirable than individuality and freedom. These characters are Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked and Ellie and Natalie from No Way Back. Both Glinda and Ellie look for conformity and stability and Elphaba and Natalie desire individuality and freedom within their texts.

Maguire’s key female character, Glinda, looks for conformity and stability throughout her life. Being from Gillikin, Glinda is expected to marry into a rich social strata and to be the ultimate socialite. She conforms to this expectation and the reader is manipulated to think she is happy. “She [Glinda] reasoned that because she was beautiful she was significant…” [page 65]. Glinda has always known that she was significant and this later on causes her to a the socialite. “Just put this on Sir Chuffrey’s account…have them sent along to our rooms in the Florinthwaite Club…content to be a good partner for my Chuffrey…” [page 208-209]. All the key elements in this quotation tell the reader that Glinda is married, has money and is a socialite. Here it is clear that she conforms to what is expected of her and social acceptance and happiness are consequences of this. Glinda conforming to expectations gives her the sense of her desired stability that she requires. When Ama Clutch relapses and ends up in hospital it causes Glinda to loose her stability. This is not returned to her until she gets close to Nanny. The death of Ama Clutch affects Glinda very emotionally and spiritually. All her life Glinda relied so heavily on Ama Clutch that now she is gone, as the reader, we see the mischievous side of Glinda emerge. “I [Glinda] have no Ama now…I am my own agent. I want to go to the Philosophy Club [Brothel] and see if it is true…” [page 163]. This mischievous side of Glinda does not last for long, as the stability of her best friend saves her.

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Mirroring this is Newbery’s character, Ellie, who like Glinda seeks conformity and stability. Throughout No Way Back, Ellie is expected to be good at school and to stay out of trouble. Ellie conforms to this by not joining in the fuss during history and not being involved in the theft. Newbery manipulates the reader to believe that Ellie is a goody-two-shoes that can not do anything wrong. “She’d [Ellie] had only one detention before in her whole school life…” [page 64]. This quotation shows that Ellie does conform to the expectations of her. Ellie conforming to the expectations of ...

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