A Wrinkle in Time
Publication Date: 1962
About the Author
Madeleine Camp L'Engle was born on November 29, 1918, in New York City. The only child of a foreign correspondent, L'Engle early on developed strong interests in reading, drawing, and writing. As a result of her father's poor health, the family eventually moved from New York City to Switzerland, and L'Engle attended a series of boarding schools in the United States and Europe.
L'Engle graduated with honors from Smith College in 1941 and pursued a career in the theater, believing that it would help prepare her to be a writer. While working in the theater she met her husband, actor Hugh Franklin, whom she married in 1946. When Franklin decided to give up the stage the couple moved to Connecticut, where they ran a general store and raised three children, Josephine, Maria, and Bion.
During this time L'Engle wrote three novels, but initially could publish none of them. Two of the books—A Wrinkle in Time and Meet the Austins—were later very successful, but publishers had trouble deciding whether they would appeal more to an adult or a young adult audience.
L'Engle has documented her career in four nonfiction books: A Circle of Quiet (1972), The Summer of the Great Grandmother (1974), The Irrational Season (1977), and Walking on Water (1980). She received the Newbery Medal in 1963 for A Wrinkle in Time and the American Book Award in 1980 for A Swiftly Tilting Planet. A Ring of Endless Light was named a Newbery Honor Book in 1981, and in 1984 she received the Catholic Library Association's Regina Award for her body of work.
L'Engle has been writer-in-residence at several schools, including Indiana University, the Ohio State University, and the University of Rochester. She currently lives in New York City.
Overview
A Wrinkle in Time is the story of a sister and brother, Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, who rescue their father from captivity on the planet of Camazotz—and in the process save the universe from the clutches of an evil power called IT. They are aided in their struggles by Calvin O'Keefe, a friend who travels with them across the universe.
The novel introduces an entertaining cast of characters, many of whom exist only in the realm of the imagination. Odd as some of these characters are— the three strange old ladies, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which, who guide the children through the galaxies; the tentacled monster, Aunt Beast; and IT, a disembodied human brain—both the characters and the plot seem believable.
A Wrinkle in Time is much more than an intergalactic adventure story. L'Engle examines such issues as the nature of good and evil, the meaning of love, and the importance of self-sacrifice. She wishes to show readers what constitutes noble and admirable human behavior, yet her story is never a sermon. It is, instead, a chance for the reader to watch Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace face challenges, overcome them, and grow as a result of their tests.
Setting
The story opens at the Murrys' New England farm. The children's physicist father disappeared without a trace some time ago, and their mother, also a scientist, is waiting patiently for him to return. The setting soon leaves earth; five-year-old Charles Wallace has met three very odd old ladies, who take the children on a journey across space and time. Eventually they reach the planet Camazotz. It is here that the Murrys' father has been imprisoned in a glass column, frozen in a state of suspended animation. Camazotz is remarkably similar to an ordinary world gone terribly wrong; everyone acts in exactly the same way, ruled by the evil force of IT.
Themes and Characters
A Wrinkle in Time tells the story of a battle between absolute good and evil for control of the universe. If Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin lose, everyone loses. The characters in A Wrinkle in Time range in type from "ordinary" humans to good witches to disembodied entities referred to only as Thing or IT. But even the human characters are extraordinary in the talents they possess and in the courageous behavior that they exhibit when put to the test.
The Murry children—Meg, her twin brothers Sandy and Dennys, and Charles Wallace—are all intelligent, Charles Wallace especially so. In the small New England town where they live, Meg and Charles Wallace are misfits; Sandy and Dennys are more social and thus fit in at school. The Murry parents are both highly intelligent and well-educated; Mr. Murry is a physicist, Mrs. Murry a biologist. Mr. Murry has been missing, however, for more than a year, and the gossip around town is increas ing.
Despite the strain of Mr. Murry's absence, the Murry household remains a warm, supportive place. L'Engle stresses that the Murry children are wise and loving because their parents allow them to express themselves and to explore the world in whatever directions their curiosity leads them. Love makes the difference in Meg's final battle.
Meg Murry sees herself as an outcast at school, a homely nobody who will never fit in. She constantly challenges authority and is often sent to the principal's office for insubordination. In truth, Meg is a special young woman who eventually discovers her inner strength and the importance of loyalty and love. Meg is the only person able to conquer the powers of blackness represented by IT, the grotesque disembodied brain that tyrannizes Camazotz.
Charles Wallace is a different sort of child. Wise far beyond his years, he talks more like an adult than a five-year-old child. His understanding of science and mathematics is perhaps as great as his parents', and he absorbs new information voraciously. His intellect, however, proves his downfall on Camazotz. Like many people, Charles Wallace is blind to his own limitations; he incorrectly believes that he can match wits with IT. He lacks the humility that would allow him to make wise judgments, and his arrogance causes him to become a robot-like slave to IT.
Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit—the three old women who function as the children's guides—are also fighting against the forces of darkness. First introduced as a ragtag trio that has occupied an abandoned house near the Murry farm, these three old women take on various forms as the adventure progresses. They lead the children to Camazotz by means of a "tesseract," a bending of time and space that allows a person to jump from place to place in the universe.
Yet Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit cannot fight the children's battles for them, nor will they give Meg, Charles Wallace, or Calvin answers to all of their questions. The children must make choices and find answers for themselves, and must learn to choose the path of love and fellowship on their own. The most that the three old women will do is offer advice. They tell Charles Wallace that he doesn't know all of the answers (and he forgets to heed their advice), and they give Meg a pair of glasses and advice that she eventually uses to save her father and brother. L'Engle teaches that love will make anyone strong, and that unselfish love for others can enable a person to overcome temptation and wickedness.
Literary Qualities
A Wrinkle in Time is a fast-paced adventure tale enlivened by a memorable cast of characters. A masterful writer who infuses the novel with suspense and emotion, L'Engle is also a devout Christian whose own search for a workable system of beliefs underpins this story. She makes use of symbols and allusions that clearly indicate that she is telling a story of the struggle between absolute good and absolute evil. L'Engle draws on a rich literary heritage, including the Bible, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The universe of A Wrinkle in Time is an imaginative one, populated by unconventional beings; L'Engle's use of characters drawn from myth and fairy tales reflects her interest in finding new ways to express traditional Christian concerns.
Not only does L'Engle deal sensitively with religious philosophy, she also has a wonderful ability to create believable human characters, particularly children. The anxieties experienced by Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are neither overexaggerated nor undervalued. L'Engle shows the reader children who, by virtue of their very weaknesses and uncertainties, are persons with whom young readers instantly sympathize. Calvin and the Murry children realistically demonstrate such familiar apprehensions as fear of ridicule and rejection; a sense of injustice at the ar bitrariness of adult rules and regulations; and a notion of inadequacy and uncertainty. Throughout, L'Engle's treatment of her characters' inner problems is both sensitive and thought-provoking.
Social Sensitivity
Although L'Engle is a Christian author, A Wrinkle in Time is never didactic and is largely free of explicit references to Christianity. Jesus is mentioned as one of Earth's greatest "fighters" against the evil represented by IT, but so too are Buddha, Gandhi, Einstein, and Michelangelo. L'Engle stresses that the most important virtue is the unselfish love of others—a basic tenet of nearly every world religion. Her characters are often faced with the choice between self-interest and the well-being of others; the most admirable learn to see the wisdom—and the joy—of thinking of others first.
In A Wrinkle in Time, L'Engle juxtaposes views of two different planets to explicate her themes and examine the nature of evil: Camazotz is a planet of darkness where IT rules; Earth, which is only "shadowed," still struggles against destruction. L'Engle is concerned with salvation on a universal scale, but she is equally interested in exploring the individual battles that must be fought every day in order to prevent darkness from conquering even more territory. A Wrinkle In Time allows her to explore this notion and to show readers that the choices that each person makes have a direct impact on the destiny of every other creature.
Topics for Discussion
1. Although Charles Wallace seems to be the "smartest" of the Murry children, it is Meg who frees her father and ultimately conquers IT. Why do you think this is so?
2. Why does L'Engle seem to believe that the uniformity of the people on the planet Camazotz is such a bad thing?
3. Why does Charles Wallace start reciting nursery rhymes when the man with red eyes starts to interrogate the children?
4. What does Aunt Beast mean when she tells Meg that "We are all called according to His purpose, and whom He calls, them He also justifies. Of course we have help, and without help it would be much more difficult"? Who is doing the "calling," what is the help, and where does it come from?
5. Meg realizes an important lesson at the conclusion of the book when she rescues her brother, Charles Wallace, from the clutches of IT. IT knew everything about hate, but Meg knows about love. How is love able to help her to save her brother?
6. What does Charles Wallace mean when he describes himself as a "sport" in chapter 2?
7. What does Mr. Murry mean when he says that Charles Wallace "thought he could deliberately go into IT and return. He trusted too much in his own strength"?
8. In what ways does the town on Camazotz differ from a typical American suburb? What is L'Engle criticizing in her depiction of this town?
9. What is it about the Murrys that makes the other townspeople look on them with suspicion? How does the family differ from the other families in town?
Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. L'Engle has said that she believes all things to be inter-connected; thus, if something happens to one person, it has an effect on everything in the universe. How does this attitude shape A Wrinkle in Time? Does this idea resemble the Hindu and Buddhist concept of karma in any way? How?
2. When Calvin visits the Murrys for the first time, he says that he feels that he is going home. What is lacking in his own family life that makes him react in this way? What does the Murry family have that his own family does not? Why is Calvin attracted to Meg, who sees herself as a social outcast? What special qualities does she possess that Calvin sees but she cannot yet see herself?
3. L'Engle would characterize herself as a Christian writer, yet her book doesn't talk about the Bible or the teachings of Christianity. What values does A Wrinkle in Time say are important? How do these values correspond to those taught in the Old and New Testament? In what ways?
4. Meg has trouble bowing to authority, particularly when it seems that the rules are silly or pointless. This is especially true with regard to her problems at school. What is it about Mr. Jenkins, the school principal, that rubs her the wrong way? Why does he think that Meg is a problem?
5. Even Charles Wallace's high I.Q. does not prevent him from falling victim to his major weakness, pride. How does IT exploit this weakness? What does IT want with Charles Wallace? How close does IT come to succeeding, and why does IT fail?
6. Read one of the sequels to A Wrinklein Time: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, or Many Waters. Focus on one of the characters, and examine how this character changes or develops in the later book.
7. Pick several "unreal characters" (like Mrs. Whatsit or Aunt Beast) and an "unreal" location (like Camazotz) and discuss how L'Engle makes her more fantastic fictional creations believable.
Related Titles
A Wrinkle in Time is the first in a series of books—which also includes A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet—often referred to as the Time Trilogy. L'Engle added a fourth book, Many Waters, to the series in 1986. Each of these books focuses on different members of the Murry family as they continue to wage battle against the powers of darkness that threaten to dominate the universe.
In A Wind in the Door, Meg must help Charles Wallace stop a threatened rip in the galaxy that will destroy earth. Instead of traveling to distant planets, Meg, Calvin, and Mr. Jenkins—the school principal who has caused Meg so much grief—travel within Charles Wallace's cells to battle a virus. They are helped on their quest by a cherubim, Proginoskes, who gives his life for his friends. Many critics judge this second book the least satisfying of the series.
The third book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, follows Charles Wallace and a unicorn named Gaudior on a journey through time and space as they try to solve a puzzle that will avert nuclear war. Meg, now married to Calvin and pregnant, stays at home and sends her brother information through a form of telepathy called "kything." The puzzle is finally solved by Mrs. O'Keefe, who played only a minor role in the previous books.
The final book in the series, Many Waters, chronicles the adventures of the twins, Sandy and Dennys, who learn the meaning of love and self-sacrifice while living with Noah and his family in the last days before the great flood.
For Further Reference
Kingman, Lee, ed. Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books, 1956-1965. Boston: Horn Book, 1965. The article on L'Engle includes an excerpt from A Wrinkle in Time, her acceptance speech for the Newbery Medal, and a delightful biographical article by her husband, Hugh Franklin.
L'Engle, Madeleine. Trailing Clouds of Glory: Spiritual Values in Children's Literature. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975. A discussion of the need for children's literature to provide spiritual touchstones, with excerpts from many classic children's books that L'Engle sees as fulfilling this need.
Newquist, Roy. Conversations. Skokie, IL: Rand McNally, 1967. A more compact discussion of many of the issues L'Engle touches on in her autobiographical work A Circle of Quiet.
Townsend, John Rowe. A Sense of Story: Essays on Contemporary Writers for Children. London: Longman, 1971. The essay on L'Engle is a thematic discussion of the Austin and Murry books and includes an extract from a paper she gave in 1964.
More Books by Madeleine L'Engle
And Both Were Young, 1949
Meet the Austins, 1960
A Wrinkle in Time, 1962
The Moon by Night, 1963
The Arm of the Starfish, 1965
The Journey with Jonah, 1967
The Young Unicorns, 1968
Prelude, 1968
Dance in the Desert, 1969
Intergalactic P.S. 3, 1970
A Wind in the Door, 1973
Prayers for Sunday, 1974
Everyday Prayers, 1974
Dragons in the Waters, 1976
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, 1978
Ladder of Angels: Scenes from the Bible Illustrated by the Children of the World, 1979
A Ring of Endless Light, 1980
Camilla, 1981
A House Like a Lotus, 1984
Many Waters, 1986
Melissa E. Barth
Appalachian State University