The Shoes
Since the book is profoundly allegorical in many divergent ways, it is really not going too deep into hyperbole to suggest that at some level and in some way nearly everything and everyone is to some extent symbolizing something. What is important to determine from an analytical perspective is whether the symbolic meaning is directed toward the reader or toward a certain character or characters. An excellent example of this divergence are the shoes (not ruby slippers by the way) which ultimately drives the narrative once Dorothy finally arrives. The shoes are intensely symbolic for Elphaba in that her father made them expressly for her sister, Nessarose, and as such represent that she was his favorite. The reader, however, may not necessarily arrive at this same conclusion, but that does nothing to undermine the symbolic significance of the footwear.
The Wizard
The Wizard, by contrast, is clearly created to be a symbol of something much greater than he is himself for the benefit of the reader. This makes him a symbol in what might be term the conventional sense: he is an allegorical representation of our own world’s propensity to reward con artists and tricksters with a cult of celebrity which allows them to exploit social divisions and create an oppressive authoritarian regime. Or, put another way, he symbolizes fascism.
Animals
A difference exists in the book between Animals with a capital “A” and animal. The latter are exactly what we have in our world: creatures of sub-human sentience (at least as far as we can figure out) who fulfill all the uses for beasts there that they do here. On the other hand, Animals are the very same beasts, but who have been endowed with human-level abilities allowing them to do things that only humans can do in our world. The divergence between Animals and animals is not equitably considered by the residents of Oz, however. Thus, Animal with a capital “A” are symbols of oppressed groups of society who humanity has been devalued and thus are made easier to discriminate against.
The Clock of the Time Dragon
The strange clock which is the centerpiece of the first section of the novel has many different symbolic functions according to different characters, but for the reader its overarching importance is religious. It is the symbol of pagan beliefs which Elphaba’s minister father often vainly preaches against in his quest to convert non-believers to what is essentially the Oz equivalent of Christianity.
Elphaba
Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West really less through wicked witchery than because she is different. It is worth nothing that even in a land marked by characters who are quite unusual, Elphaba stands out in stark comparison as a result of her green skin. This physical Otherness is enhanced (some might complicated) by a personality which is not conducive to simply going along to get along. She is fiercely independent and hardly a conformist and this combined with her later departure from the mainstream into what is viewed as terrorism by the Wizard and his minions makes her a target for discrimination, suspicion and prejudice. And therein lies her greatest symbolic significance.
