Not So Different After All

"Well at least I'm not a blond-brained brat who can't even tell which side of the wand is the tip!" Elphaba growled at Galinda. The girls were fighting again. There had been a break in their history lesson for group work and just through bad luck, Elphaba and Galinda wound up as a couple. Rather than discussing the material Dr. Dillamond had set out for them, though, they quickly devolved into arguing. Again. Like always.

Galinda gave a shriek, putting a hand over her heart and flashing Elphaba the most offended and scandalized look Elphaba had ever seen.

"Elphaba Thropp!" the blond snapped, sounding beyond indignant. "I cannot believe you!"

"What?" Elphaba snarked. "That blond brain of yours short-circuiting on basic Ozian now too?"

"No! I cannot believe that you, of all people, would resort to such senseless, witless, sexist, antiquated, inaccurate, offensive, mean stereotypes about blonds!" Galinda wailed, sounding betrayed.

"Well in your case, it isn't just a stereotype!" Elphaba shot back, rolling her eyes at the fact that a blond joke was what was angering Galinda now.

"I am serious, Elphaba Thropp!" Galinda repeated furiously. "I expected better from you!"

"Are we sure about that?" Elphaba sneered. "After all, how many digs have you taken about my skin?"

"In every insult I made about your skin, I only mocked its appearance, but I never once linked it to your character!" Galinda shot back. While this confession still didn't exactly put Galinda in the best of lights, it did bring up an important distinction. She was right. While both Elphaba and Galinda had insulted one another's physical appearances, Galinda never ever associated Elphaba's with her character. She never said that the green skin made Elphaba evil, mean or stupid. The insults about Elphaba being mean only came from the fact that the Elphaba Shiz knew was very coarse and nasty. Galinda would then tie in green humor from there ("It looks like the artichoke is steamed!") but she never once made the connection that because Elphaba was green, she was also mean. Elphaba, however, had done exactly that.

While Galinda was definitely no genius, Elphaba would constantly make blond jokes and attribute Galinda's stupidity to her hair color. Even though everyone inherently knew such a notion was preposterous, that did not stop her from reveling in the cruel humor that all blond jokes were built upon. Galinda, however, drew the line there.

"For one who claims to be so hurt and victimized about her physical appearance, you certainly don't mind doing the same to others, don't you, Elphaba?" Galinda challenged. "I mean, how hypocritical and blind are you that you can act like the martyr here because someone insults your appearance only for you to whip around and do the same thing to everyone else?"

"Again, could the same not be said for you?" Elphaba snorted.

"I never once judged your character or personality based on the way you looked," Galinda replied frostily, voice suddenly growing eerily low and soft. "You, however, took one look at the gold hair and started making blond jokes."

"Well it was that and the pile of luggage you were rolled in on," Elphaba snorted again.

"And what does that have to do with my intelligence?" Galinda demanded.

"Well you certainly proved that you don't have much of it," Elphaba replied, flicking her head towards Dr. Dillamond to remind her about all the stupid essays she'd ever given him.

"But that came after you first started making those blond jokes about me, before you ever knew about my intellectual level!" Galinda argued.

"Or lack thereof," Elphaba replied smugly, but instead of getting mad and retorting like usual, Galinda only harrumphed and turned away from Elphaba and did not address her for the entire rest of class.

At first, Elphaba greatly enjoyed Galinda's sudden silence, but after a time, it became unsettling. Surely Galinda wasn't that offend by a simple blond joke, right? They were classics! And of course everyone knew they weren't true! And yet... and yet... they still hurt. Wasn't that the reason why Elphaba had used one at all against Galinda? Because they still hurt? And while Galinda still wasn't totally innocent herself (what with the artichoke joke and all), she did still have a point that while Elphaba would use Galinda's looks to judge character, Galinda never did likewise. And Elphaba even found further proof of this when she found several trashed copies of what looked like a letter from Galinda to her parents.

Dearest, darlingest Momsie and Popsicle,

There's been some confusion over rooming here at Shiz, but of course, I'll rise above it! For I know that's how you'd want me to respond... Yes! There's been some confusion for you see my roommate is...

And this was where all the letters differed. Not a single one could agree on a proper or accurate way to describe Elphaba, and not a single one ever mentioned her green skin. Not one, not even once. She saw words like weird, strange, eccentric, odd, rude, standoffish, aggressive, mean different, passive-aggressive, intimidating, mean, brutish, stubborn, uncivil, wild, pouty, childish, distant, cold, impolite, irreverent, blasphemous, and a host of other negative words, but never once did Elphaba see anything related to her skin color... So Galinda had written to her parents about Elphaba to complain, but she hadn't brought up skin color in the letter... Elphaba felt her stomach sink as she remembered her own letter...

My dear father,

There's been some confusion over rooming here at Shiz, but of course, I'll rise above it! For I know that's how you'd want me to respond... Yes! There's been some confusion for you see my roommate is... blond.

Then suddenly, Galinda's words from earlier came rushing back to Elphaba.

"For one who claims to be so hurt and victimized about her physical appearance, you certainly don't mind doing the same to others, don't you, Elphaba?" Galinda challenged. "I mean, how hypocritical and blind are you that you can act like the martyr here because someone insults your appearance only for you to whip around and do the same thing to everyone else?"

And although the same thing could apply to Galinda herself, Elphaba finally began to see Galinda's point. Hmmm, maybe they were not so different after all...

Elphaba took another look at the early drafts of Galinda's letter home. Even the phrasing was eerily similar. Hmmm, maybe they really were not so different after all... Now the green girl began to have second thoughts about the brainless blond who might not have been quite as brainless as she thought... Hmmmm...

AN: Based off the letters home. I'm just impressed that judgmental Galinda took the time to write out that comically long description about Elphaba because it implies that she actually put legit thought into her letter home to tell her parents what Elphaba was really like, rather than just saying "green".

Maybe I'm reading into things, but IMO, that kind of speaks to Galinda's character that as shallow as she is, she has her moments of depth. And likewise, as nonjudgmental as Elphaba likes to think she is, she can sometimes be just as quick as Galinda to make those one-word remarks ("Blond!").

I mean I know it was probably for the humor and to contrast the two, Galinda having a long description and Elphaba a short one, but underneath the humor is, IMO, a deeper message (as one who loves to overanalyze, finding deeper messages is my specialty) which says that Galinda may not judge by appearance as much as we think... Or I'm just crazy. Both are valid options here. LOL. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this weird analysis fic!