Chapter summaries Elphie Gregory Maguire

Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

Spoiler Notice

This page reveals events of Chapter 19 (titled “16”) of Elphie. Proceed at your own risk.

Summary

In this chapter, Elphaba (now about seven) and her sister Nessarose (five) live with their parents and the cook Boozy in the marshes of Quadling Country. Nessa was born armless and cannot stand; she moves about in a wicker cart pushed by Elphie. Melena, pregnant again, endures repeated miscarriages as she hopes for an unblemished heir to supplant her two irregular daughters. Frex remains a stern Unionist minister.

One night, to entertain Nessa, Elphie announces she will hex a water-purifying stone into a marsh plum. She plans to substitute a real plum after Nessa sleeps, but falls asleep herself. In the morning, a flawless marsh plum sits on the chest—the stone is gone. Elphie is terrified and confused. Nessa insists they tell the family. At breakfast, Frex condemns magic as dangerous deception, while Melena dismisses the affair. Boozy later explains that hexes are fluid, not fixed, like water turning to ice or vapor. She says Elphie is “hexed” and “raw”—she has something invisible and changeable inside her. Afterward, the magical plum vanishes and the black stone reappears in the water basin, as if nothing happened.

Key Events

  • Nanny remarks that sisters grow apart.
  • Nessa’s armlessness is detailed; her wheelbarrow-like cart is described.
  • Elphie initiates the pretend hex, intending simple deceit.
  • A perfect plum materializes overnight; the stone disappears.
  • Nessa blurts the secret, provoking Frex’s lecture against magic.
  • Boozy articulates a Quadling view of hexes and labels Elphie as hexed.
  • The plum disappears and the stone returns to its original place.

Character Development

  • Elphaba experiences her first undeniable brush with inexplicable power. She does not will the transformation and fears its implications. Her attempt at a prank backfires, exposing her difference even as she feels resentment and curiosity about her own nature.
  • Nessarose craves attention and eagerly believes in the hex because it makes her feel included. Her childlike betrayal at breakfast shows her need for recognition over discretion.
  • Melena is physically burdened by failed pregnancies and obsessed with the prospect of a perfect heir. She is too preoccupied to engage with Elphie’s hex.
  • Frex reacts with alarm, seeing magic as a threat to his religious authority and a source of moral contamination.
  • Boozy emerges as a philosophical voice, offering a worldview in which identity and reality are never fixed. Her explanation frames Elphie’s strangeness as neither good nor bad, simply “raw” potential.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Magic and the Unknowable: The hex blurs the line between trick and genuine sorcery. The plum’s appearance and the stone’s return suggest a reality that resists rational explanation, echoing Boozy’s view that things are always moving “even when it look stopped and still.”
  • Otherness and Identity: Elphie’s green skin and Nessa’s missing arms mark them both as outsiders. Boozy notes that Nessa has a visible “took-away” while Elphie has an invisible “added something”—underscoring how otherness can hide beneath surfaces.
  • Deception vs. Truth: Elphie’s scheme to deceive Nessa becomes an uncontrollable truth, while Frex’s demand for “sobriety and clarity” contrasts with the family’s unspoken lies about miscarriages and murder.
  • Family Dysfunction: The Thropps are fractured by disappointment. Elphie’s care for Nessa carries both devotion and cruelty (she muses about upending the cart), and the parents’ neglect forces Elphie to grapple with her identity alone.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks Elphie’s first real encounter with a power she cannot control or explain. It plants the seed of her later identity as the Wicked Witch and introduces the idea that magic in Oz is neither stable nor inherently evil. Boozy’s fluid metaphysics will echo throughout the series. The hex also deepens the sisters’ bond, foreshadowing how Nessa’s neediness and Elphie’s secrets will collide. The family’s dysfunction and pressure for a “perfect” heir highlight the societal intolerance that will shape Elphaba’s rebellion.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Q: How does Elphaba’s “hex” challenge the boundaries between trickery and real magic?
    A: Elphaba intends only to fool Nessa, yet the stone actually transforms into a plum. She did not will the change; the plum later vanishes and the stone returns. This suggests magic operates beyond her intent, perhaps triggered by Nessa’s belief or Elphie’s latent power. Boozy’s philosophy—that hexes are always in motion—reinforces that the line between a trick and enchantment remains blurry.

  2. Q: Why does Frex react so strongly against the mention of hexes?
    A: As a Unionist minister, Frex views magic as a form of lying and danger. He insists on “sobriety and clarity” and sees hexes as a cheat that undermines his religious authority. His alarm also betrays fear: if Elphie truly possesses power, it would mark her as something his theology cannot accommodate.

  3. Q: What does Boozy mean when she says Elphie is “hexed” and “raw”?
    A: Boozy describes Elphie as having an invisible, transformative quality—something extra that changes like water to ice or vapor. Being “raw” suggests she is unformed, carrying a potential that is neither good nor bad, but always shifting. Unlike Nessa’s visible missing arms, Elphie’s difference is hidden and unpredictable.

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