Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time: Literature Guide

I rarely find myself stumbling for words, but today I am. Sitting here with a blank page in front of me, having just read A Wrinkle in Time for the umpteen millionth time, I am at a loss for words. Where to start? The thoughts swirl around my brain, not quite crystallizing. I am waiting for that flash of understanding, that sudden immediate sense of knowing what to say and how to say it just like the one that came to Meg when she got what a tesseract is. It hasn't come yet.

So I am writing without any real sense of where I'm going to end up, no true understanding of what I want to say, what I can possibly say to convey to you the glory that is this book. And yet, it isn't even the best book in its series. No, that honor goes to A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book and perhaps the finest bit of children's fantasy ever put to the page.

This book is our introduction, our entree into the world of L'Engle, our first glimpse of wonders still to come. It is at once fantastical and believable, realistic and yet oh so improbable. It perfectly sums up the unpredictability of life and the joys inherent in just slogging through each day, making it to the next and the next and the day after that.

It is a tale of underdogs, of a small group of fighters who stand ever vigilant against the terrors and darkness trying to snuff out goodness, of a single ineffectual person facing the ultimate evil and triumphing. It is a story about the humanity to be found within beastly folks and the beasts found within the prettiest of beings.

It is also a warning to look underneath the surface, to try to understand things at a fundamental level, to judge on content and quality not appearance.

At its heart it is the tale of Meg Murry, one rather stubborn, impatient, unhappy girl lacking any real confidence in herself as she comes to the realization that she has value in the universe, that even someone with brown mousy hair can be important. It is also an indictment of the way people treat those who are different, those who are smart, those who don't fit in.

Conformity is the hallmark of our society and people who are unwilling or unable to accept this are often left out in the cold, made to feel worthless, forced into exile and away from the normal people who do conform. This is a tale for non-conformists.

Meg Murry doesn't fit in at all. She knows too many shortcuts in math, is unable to force herself to slow down and do things the hard way, so she comes across as stupid to most who know her. She doesn't have the patience to try to figure out unimportant things like geography and English and pretty much has no friends other than her brother Charles Wallace.

Charles Wallace too is an outcast, too smart for the world around him which insists on branding him a moron. Rather than fight it, Charles Wallace goes with the flow since it seems to make people feel superior. Only five yet speaking in complete sentences with a vocabulary that would make most college professors proud, Charles Wallace has a special bond with Meg, knowing when she is hurting and when she needs his comfort.

Calvin O'Keefe, on the other hand, fits in all too well. Smart, several grades ahead of his age, a basketball player, on the surface Calvin has it all. But in reality he hides his real self from the world to get by, to fit in. When he meets the Murrys he immediately fits in, for the first time feeling people understand him and can deal with seeing the reality of the smart caring person that is Calvin and not the image he usually projects for the world to see.

These three are whisked on a journey by Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which, three very old very strange women who know things they can't possibly know. Soon they learn the truth - that the Earth is fighting the Black Thing, a dark cloud surrounding the planet, a thing so evil that even stars die when they fight it. So it comes to pass that three small children are asked to do what the stars cannot - to fight the Black Thing and win, to fight and remain alive, to fight and save Dr. Murry, Meg's and Charles Wallace's father, a man who himself has been fighting but is now trapped on a planet that has given in, a planet where all thought, each action is strictly regulated. A planet where the Mrs. W's leave Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace armed only with advice and a special pair of spectacles to fight the good fight.

And surprisingly it is Charles Wallace, the smartest of our children, who gives in first, his arrogance and utmost belief in the power of his mind his undoing. And it is up to Meg to save him, to save her father, to save the world. Can she do it? One small girl against the ultimate evil. One dissenting voice against a planet of believers. And so it is we jump to the heart of the story, the individual struggle of good versus evil, the battle we each face every day to make the right choices, to do the right thing. This more than anything else is the heart and soul of A Wrinkle in Time, the idea that one person no matter how small how unpopular how unlikely a choice can make a difference in the world. I certainly feel more empowered having merely accompanied Meg on her voyage. I urge you to accompany her as well.