Chapter 4: 2

This page contains spoilers for Elphie Chapter 4. Proceed with caution.

Summary

The chapter opens with lingering whispers about Elphie’s teeth—rumors of snake dentures that still cling to her. Melena, Elphie’s mother, has dragged Nanny along on a journey to Quadling Country so the old nurse can wet-nurse the new baby just as she did for Elphie. The younger child’s gums are soft and pink, and her emerging baby teeth are ordinary, but Elphie’s own dental history remains a source of unease.

Melena takes stock of her fading assets, convinced that her fine bosom is nearly all she has left of her once-potent social capital. Her upbringing at Colwen Grounds in Munchkinland instilled a confidence that now feels hollow. In a rare moment of reflection, she acknowledges that she has sidestepped her family’s oversight for four years but hasn’t entirely escaped its influence.

Elphie herself has no memory of possessing daggered milk teeth. Her adult teeth arrived unnaturally early and in a more conventional shape, and she doesn’t recall yanking out the loose ones herself. The suggestion lingers that no one else dared reach into her mouth.

Nanny routinely warns Elphie not to kiss the baby, fearing she might startle it. The child, nearing two years old, remains small and immobile—much like a far younger infant. She rests in a sling suspended from the bough of a moss palmetto, shielded by mosquito netting. Nanny assures Elphie that jaguars dislike the smell of moss palm fruit and that monkeys cannot untie the knots, so the baby is safe.

Yet the promise of safety does not calm Elphie. Dimly recalling the sharpness of her own milk teeth, she entertains the thought of chewing through the cords to leave the bothersome creature at the mercy of the thieving monkeys—the same animals that take everything not tied down or caged.

Key Events

• Rumors about Elphie’s snake-like milk teeth are revisited.
• Melena drags Nanny to Quadling Country to help care for the new baby.
• Melena laments the loss of her physical allure, clinging to her bosom as her last asset.
• Elphie’s second teeth have come in early and without the monstrous reputation of her first set.
• Nanny forbids Elphie from kissing the baby out of fear that Elphie’s appearance will frighten her.
• The baby, nearly two and developmentally delayed, hangs in a tree sling for protection from predators.
• Elphie secretly imagines gnawing the strings to expose the baby to monkeys.

Character Development

Elphie (Elphaba)
The chapter deepens the portrait of Elphie as a child marked by otherness. Her milk teeth are the stuff of local myth, and even after they are gone, the memory of her dangerousness persists. Elphie’s willingness to entertain a violent fantasy—sacrificing the baby to monkeys—shows a simmering resentment and a capacity for darkness that will define her later life. She is isolated, feared, and beginning to internalize the role of the monster.

Melena
Melena comes across as profoundly self-absorbed. Her appraisal of her assets reduces her worth to her physical beauty, specifically her “fine embonpoint.” She is haunted by the loss of her looks and by the weight of her upbringing, which gave her poise but little substance. Her priorities have shifted from family legacy to mere survival, and she views the new baby mostly in terms of the labor it demands.

Nanny
Nanny serves as a protective buffer between the children and the dangers of Quadling Country. Her warnings to Elphie reveal a persistent anxiety about Elphie’s potential to scare the baby, but she also offers pragmatic reassurances about jaguars and monkeys. She is the practical, weary caretaker who steps in where the mother cannot.

The Baby
Silent and immobile, the baby hangs in a sling, utterly dependent. Her delayed development—still resembling a much younger child at nearly two—hints at the congenital condition that will define Nessarose. She is a passive presence, yet her very vulnerability triggers Elphie’s darkest impulses.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Monstrosity and Otherness
Elphie’s teeth symbolize her place as an outsider even within her own family. The whispered tales of snake dentures cast her as something unnatural from the start, even though the evidence is long gone. The fear that she will scare the baby reinforces her isolation.

Vanity and Maternal Neglect
Melena’s fixation on her physical assets highlights a hollow maternal affection. Her sense of worth is tied to a fading beauty, and she seems more concerned with her own decline than with the emotional needs of her daughters.

Sibling Rivalry and Resentment
Elphie’s fantasy of exposing the baby to monkeys is a stark expression of jealousy. The baby absorbs the attention that might otherwise fall on Elphie, and Elphie’s response—however dark—is a child’s clumsy attempt to reclaim a place in the world.

The Natural World as Threat and Sanctuary
Quadling Country is both a refuge and a danger zone. Nanny’s careful precautions—the mosquito netting, the smelly fruit, the knots—underscore the constant predation of jaguars and monkeys. The wild is indifferent, and survival depends on vigilance and ingenuity.

Why This Chapter Matters

This brief chapter accomplishes a surprising amount of character- and world-building. It roots Elphie’s otherness in a concrete, almost grotesque physical detail—her teeth—that will echo through the novel. It also introduces the dynamic between the two sisters in miniature: one is feared and resentful, the other helpless and beloved. Melena’s self-absorption foreshadows the neglect that will shape Elphie’s childhood, and the baby’s suspended state prefigures Nessarose’s later dependence. Finally, Elphie’s unspoken threat shows that her moral complexity begins not with grand politics but in the private, unguarded thoughts of a frightened, angry child.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the chapter’s focus on Elphie’s teeth contribute to the novel’s exploration of her otherness?
The teeth serve as a physical emblem of her difference—so extreme that people whisper about snake dentures. Even after the sharp milk teeth have fallen out, the stigma remains. Nanny’s fear that Elphie might scare the baby simply by kissing her shows how otherness is projected onto her body regardless of her current appearance. The teeth become a lasting mark, setting the stage for Elphie’s lifelong role as an outsider.

2. What does Melena’s reflection on her own physical assets reveal about her character and priorities?
Melena measures her value entirely in terms of her looks, especially her bosom, which she considers her last remaining social asset. This shallow self-assessment betrays a woman who has invested little in maternal love or moral substance. Her nostalgia for her upbringing in Colwen Grounds further suggests that she relies on outmoded notions of status rather than facing the messy demands of motherhood.

3. Why might Elphie entertain the thought of leaving the baby vulnerable to monkeys, and what does this suggest about sibling dynamics?
Elphie’s fantasy is a violent expression of jealousy and helplessness. The baby receives care and protection that Elphie herself may no longer command; Nanny’s attention is split, and Melena’s vanity keeps her at a distance. By imagining the baby consumed, Elphie momentarily reclaims power and gives voice to her own sense of being a cast-off. It is a dark, childlike logic, but it reveals how deeply the family’s neglect has already wounded her.

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