Animal Mobility Banns

The Animal Mobility Banns represent the most visible and consequential policy of the Wizard's regime against the sentient, speaking beings known as Animals. First mentioned during Galinda's train journey to Shiz, the Banns are a set of proposed restrictions that would confine Animals to designated transports and, as Doctor Dillamond explains, would require him to give up the privileges he earned through years of study. The Banns are not merely about travel; they target professional mobility as well, prohibiting Animals from working in the professions or the public sector, effectively herding them back to farmlands and wilds. The Wizard's government uses the Banns to systematically dismantle Animal participation in society, a process that Elphaba, Doctor Dillamond, and their allies resist through research and activism.

Origins and Implementation

The Banns are first introduced as a proposal during Galinda's conversation with Doctor Dillamond on the train to Shiz. The Goat explains that the Wizard has thoughts of restricting Animal travel on public conveyances except in designated transports, and that his own ancient mother would be forced to ride in a pen. The Banns are later proclaimed as law, effective several weeks before Doctor Dillamond's biology lecture where he informs his students. The restrictions are not limited to transportation; they also bar Animals from working in the professions or the public sector, effectively forcing them back to farmlands and wilds if they want to work for wages at all. The Wizard's government uses the Banns to systematically dismantle Animal participation in society, a process that Elphaba, Doctor Dillamond, and their allies resist through research and activism.

Doctor Dillamond's Resistance

Doctor Dillamond, a Goat and a Fellow of Shiz University on the Faculty of Biological Arts, becomes the central figure of resistance against the Banns. He is a unionist himself, yet he works to prove scientifically that there is no inherent difference between humans and Animals, hoping to undermine the Wizard's justification for the Banns. Elphaba works as his amanuensis, taking dictation and filing, and she becomes deeply committed to his cause. The research involves manipulating lenses to peer at bits of tissue, and Doctor Dillamond makes a breakthrough, composing arias out of what he sees. However, his work is cut short when he is murdered, his throat slit as thoroughly as if he had wandered into an abattoir. The official story claims he broke a magnifying lens and stumbled against it, but Elphaba and her friends believe it was murder, likely orchestrated by Madame Morrible and her tiktok servant, Grommetik.

Consequences and Aftermath

The Banns have devastating consequences for the Animal population of Oz. They are forced into hiding, their children are banned from studying at Shiz because they cannot hold a pencil to write an essay, and they are subjected to violence and imprisonment. The Gale Force, the Wizard's paramilitary police, frog-marches Animals and collaborators out of town. The Banns also create a climate of fear and suspicion, as seen in the attack on Fiyero by enchanted antlers during a life sciences lecture, which is suspected to be a setup. The Banns are a key factor in Elphaba's radicalization, leading her to go underground and work with a network of renegades to oppose the Wizard's regime. The Banns also contribute to the broader political unrest in Oz, including the secession of Munchkinland under Nessarose's leadership. The Banns are a central political conflict in the novel, representing the Wizard's systematic oppression of a sentient population and the moral failure of a society that allows such discrimination to continue.