A Wrinkle In Time

“Mr. Jenkins, you’ve met my mother, haven’t you? You can’t accuse her of not facing facts, can you? She’s a scientist. She has doctors’ degrees in both biology and bacteriology. Her business is facts. When she tells me that my father isn’t coming home, I’ll believe it. As long as she says Father is coming home, then I’ll believe that.”

Meg is still a child here. She believes what her mother says because she believes her mother, as an adult and a scientist, is all-knowing. Meg believes this so much that she tells anyone who doubts exactly how she feels. This passage also shows how Meg is more capable and confident than she realizes. Meg spends much of the book believing she is helpless and stupid, but her ability to stand up to her principal (an adult with authority) shows she isn’t as afraid as she thinks.

“I don’t think it’s that. It’s being able to understand a sort of language, like sometimes if I concentrate very hard I can understand the wind talking with the trees. You tell me, you see, sort of inad—inadvertently. That’s a good word, isn’t it? I got Mother to look it up in the dictionary for me this morning. I really must learn to read, except I’m afraid it will make it awfully hard for me in school next year if I already know things. I think it will be better if people go on thinking I’m not very bright. They won’t hate me quite so much.” 

Charles Wallace says this to Meg on their way to the haunted house. Charles Wallace is both aware of how different he is and how that difference makes others feel. By purposefully holding himself back, he acknowledges the bias people hold against anyone they deem better than they are. Because Charles Wallace doesn’t speak to people outside of his family, people believe he is not intelligent, which is easier for them to deal with than knowing Charles Wallace is far advanced. They feel sympathy for him. If they knew how intelligent Charles Wallace was, they would hate and fear him, which would make it more difficult for Charles Wallace and the Murry family.

“But I love her. That’s the funny part of it. I love them all, and they don’t give a hoot about me. Maybe that’s why I call when I’m not going to be home. Because I care. Nobody else does. You don’t know how lucky you are to be loved.”

These lines from Calvin show how he foils Meg. Meg’s family is torn apart by distance, but despite Mr. Murry’s distance and time away, he still loves his wife and children. By contrast, Calvin’s large family lives in a small house. There is little space between them, and they are torn apart by anger, something much more difficult to fix than distance or time.

“She was completely alone.

She had lost the protection of Calvin’s hand. Charles was nowhere, either to save or to turn to. She was alone in a fragment of nothingness. No light, no sound, no feeling. Where was her body? She tried to move in her panic, but there was nothing to move. Just as light and sound had vanished, she was gone, too. The corporeal Meg simply was not. […] She was lost in a horrifying void.”

Meg meets her first tesser with fear and confusion. Her greatest fear is being left alone, and within the tesser, all she takes with her is herself (who she is). For most of the story, Meg relies on others to fix and save her. To complete her character growth, Meg must learn to take only herself everywhere, and not just in the tesseract.

“But she finds it so difficult to verbalize, Charles dear. It helps her if she can quote instead of working out words of her own.” 

Mrs. Whatsit says this about Mrs. Who when the children get annoyed with Mrs. Who’s constant quoting. Mrs. Who struggles to verbalize and uses the words of others to communicate important or complex messages. Her name reflects her tendency to quote, as she takes on the wisdom of “who” she borrows words from.

“‘You see,’ Mrs. Whatsit said, ‘if a very small insect were to move from the section of skirt in Mrs. Who’s right hand to that in her left, it would be quite a long walk for him if he had to walk straight across.’

Swiftly Mrs. Who brought her hands, still holding the skirt, together.

‘Now, you see,’ Mrs. Whatsit said, ‘he would be there, without that long trip. That is how we travel.’” 

Here, Mrs. Whatsit explains the tesseract in a way the children can understand. The tesseract is a shortcut, much like the mathematic shortcuts Meg’s father taught her before he disappeared. It is ironic that Meg grasped complex mathematical concepts with such ease, but she has the most difficulty understanding the tesseract.

“But then she seemed to hear a voice, or if not a voice, at least words, words flattened out like printed words on paper, ‘Oh, no! We can’t stop here! This is a two-dimensional planet and the children can’t manage here!’”

These lines come when the group briefly stops on a two-dimensional planet. Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace are born of Earth (a three-dimensional world), and their biological makeups don’t allow them to survive without that third dimension. The Mrs. Ws don’t realize this until they see the children’s bodies failing. For all their wisdom and experience, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which are not perfect. They make mistakes like any other being.

“‘And we’re not alone, you know, children,’ came Mrs. Whatsit, the comforter. ‘All through the universe it’s being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it’s a grand and exciting battle. I know it’s hard for you to understand about size, how there’s very little difference in the size of the tiniest microbe and the greatest galaxy. You think about that, and maybe it won’t seem strange to you that some of our very best fighters have come right from your own planet, and it’s a little planet, dears, out on the edge of a little galaxy. You can be proud that it’s done so well.’”

Mrs. Whatsit describes the scope of the battle against darkness—how it is both enormous and tiny at once. These lines show how small Earth is in the vastness of the universe, but they also reveal Earth is not insignificant, despite its small size. The many warriors who’ve come from Earth foreshadow Meg’s victory on Camazotz.

“Even though she was used to Mrs. Whatsit’s odd getup (and the very oddness of it was what made her seem so comforting), she realized with a fresh shock that it was not Mrs. Whatsit herself that she was seeing at all. The complete, the true Mrs. Whatsit, Meg realized, was beyond human understanding. What she saw was only the game Mrs. Whatsit was playing; it was an amusing and charming game, a game full of both laughter and comfort, but it was only the tiniest facet of all the things Mrs. Whatsit could be.” 

This is the first place where Meg realizes how vast and multifaceted the universe is. The children just learned Mrs. Whatsit gave up her existence as a star to battle the darkness. Up until now, Meg understood Mrs. Whatsit as she was—a kindly old woman dressed in odd clothing. Now, she sees how many different things Mrs. Whatsit is, even if she can’t understand them all. Meg learns that “understanding” does not mean “seeing”; though, she isn’t quite aware of it yet.

“They were standing on a hill and as Meg looked about her she felt that it could easily be a hill on earth. There were the familiar trees she knew so well at home: birches, pines, maples. And though it was warmer than it had been when they so precipitously left the apple orchard, there was a faintly autumnal touch to the air; near them were several small trees with reddened leaves very like sumac, and a big patch of goldenrod-like flowers. As she looked down the hill she could see the smokestacks of a town, and it might have been one of any number of familiar towns. There seemed to be nothing strange, or different, or frightening, in the landscape.” 

This is Meg’s first look at Camazotz. After the long journey, learning about the darkness, and discovering her father is imprisoned on Camazotz, Meg built the planet up as a terrifying place. Faced with it now, she’s taken aback at how much it reminds her of Earth. If she doesn’t look too hard, it could be Earth, which foreshadows how Earth could fall to the darkness if its own shroud of darkness is not removed.

“In front of all the houses children were playing. […] Meg felt vaguely that something was wrong with their play. It seemed exactly like children playing around any housing development at home, and yet there was something different about it. […] As the skipping rope hit the pavement, so did the ball. As the rope curved over the head of the jumping child, the child with the ball caught the ball. […] All in rhythm. All identical. […]

Then the doors of all the houses opened simultaneously, and out came women like a row of paper dolls. The print of their dresses was different, but they all gave the appearance of being the same. Each woman stood on the steps of her house. Each clapped. Each child with the ball caught the ball. Each child with the skipping rope folded the rope. Each child turned and walked into the house. The doors clicked shut behind them.”

The people of Camazotz live to a beat—IT’s beat. Here, the children see the result of that beat at work. Play, an activity often associated with wild abandon and unpredictable fun, is reduced to simple activities in rhythm. This passage shows the stark difference between Camazotz and Earth. The two planets may look alike, but they are not the same—one of the book’s major themes.

“In front of one of the houses stood a little boy with a ball, and he was bouncing it. But he bounced it rather badly and with no particular rhythm, sometimes dropping it and running after it with awkward, furtive leaps, sometimes throwing it up into the air and trying to catch it. The door of his house opened and out ran one of the mother figures. She looked wildly up and down the street, saw the children and put her hand to her mouth as though to stifle a scream, grabbed the little boy and rushed indoors with him. The ball dropped from his fingers and rolled out into the street.” 

The boy and his mother represent how the people of Camazotz are not happy with their situation. They live in a dystopian society. The chosen few of IT’s elite bask in the greatness of IT. The rest of Camazotz’s citizens live in fear of IT and what will happen if they deviate from the planet’s beat.

“‘I run a number-one spelling machine on the second-grade level.’

‘But what are you doing here now?’ Charles Wallace asked.

‘I am here to report that one of my letters is jamming, and until it can be properly oiled by an F Grade oiler there is danger of jammed minds.’” 

Charles Wallace exchanges these words with a man who is waiting at CENTRAL Central Intelligence. The spelling machine here represents Camazotz on a smaller level. When the spelling machine works, students learn, knowledge grows, and life continues as it should. A problem with the machine could result in stagnation and a breakdown of the learning process. IT runs Camazotz like a well-oiled machine. With the beat in place, people work, play, and live in perfect rhythm. If the beat falters, minds could break free, collapsing the society IT built.

“‘No,’ Charles Wallace said. ‘I have to go on. We have to make decisions, and we can’t make them if they’re based on fear.’” 

Here, Charles Wallace touches on how fear is the primary force that holds anyone back from their full potential. Earlier in the book, Charles Wallace told Meg he wanted people to think he was dumb because he was afraid of how they would react if they knew how intelligent he was. Charles Wallace made decisions based on fear. Now, Charles Wallace decides they must keep moving forward, even if they are scared. They can’t rescue Mr. Murry or help the people of Camazotz if they stagnate.

“Charles Wallace put his hands on his hips defiantly. ‘The spoken word is one of the triumphs of man,’ he proclaimed, ‘and I intend to continue using it, particularly with people I don’t trust.’ But his voice was shaking. Charles Wallace, who even as an infant had seldom cried, was near tears.” 

Charles Wallace acts so much like an adult that it is easy to forget he is a child. Here, he speaks to the red-eyed man at CENTRAL Central Intelligence, the first being to unnerve Charles Wallace. Though he pretends to be brave, Camazotz and its mental silence terrify Charles Wallace. He is used to tuning in on people’s feelings, but he can’t reach anyone, putting him out of his comfort zone and making him revert to a childlike state.

“Meg hesitated, looking from the man with red eyes to Charles and Calvin. She wanted to reach out and grab Calvin’s hand, but it seemed that ever since they had begun their journeyings she had been looking for a hand to hold, so she stuffed her fists into her pockets and walked along behind the two boys.—I’ve got to be brave, she said to herself.—I will be.” 

This passage comes after Charles Wallace enters IT. Meg starts to stand on her own and come into herself. She realizes that, as much as she protected Charles Wallace, she also relied on him to protect her. With her brother under IT’s influence and beyond caring about her, Meg’s first instinct is to reach for Calvin, the only other person there. Having matured during her journey, Meg forces herself to be brave and protect herself.

“‘Father? What is a father?’ Charles Wallace intoned. ‘Merely another misconception. If you feel the need of a father, then I would suggest that you turn to IT.’” 

These lines spoken by Charles Wallace while he is within IT contrast Mr. Murry’s role in the story. To Meg, her father is the answer to all her problems. Because Mr. Murry left when Charles Wallace was a baby, Charles Wallace does not know Mr. Murry in the same way Meg does. Charles Wallace offers IT as an alternative father because IT is the closest thing to a father he has ever had. Perhaps if Charles Wallace and Mr. Murry had more of a relationship before Mr. Murry disappeared, Charles Wallace would not have thought this way, even when controlled by IT. These lines also foreshadow that Meg’s father cannot fix everything.

“It was almost a tangible feeling as the atoms of the strange material seemed to part to let him through to her. In their beach house at Cape Canaveral there had been a curtain between dining and living room made of long strands of rice. It looked like a solid curtain, but you could walk right through it. At first Meg had flinched each time she came up to the curtain; but gradually she got used to it and would go running right through, leaving the long strands of rice swinging behind her. Perhaps the atoms of these walls were arranged in somewhat the same fashion.”

Charles Wallace rearranges the atoms in a wall so he, Meg, and Calvin may pass through. Here again, Meg draws a parallel between Camazotz and Earth, showing how similar the planets are. The wall/curtain also represent Meg’s growth on a micro level. Her initial wariness and gradual confidence with the curtain reflect how she overcomes her fear of the tesseract, of not finding her father, and of not saving Charles Wallace.

“Despair settled like a stone in the pit of Meg’s stomach. She had been so certain that the moment she found her father everything would be all right. Everything would be settled. All the problems would be taken out of her hands. She would no longer be responsible for anything.

And instead of this happy and expected outcome, they seemed to be encountering all kinds of new troubles.”

Mr. Murry’s role of fixer to Meg mirrors how many of Camazotz’s people view IT. Meg wants to hand over all responsibility to her father, much like Charles Wallace handed over his to IT. Without realizing it, Meg does the same thing as IT’s willing subjects, which leads to the same emotions of anger and fear. Only when Meg fully stands on her own does she release her negative emotions, much like the Mrs. Ws and other beings of the universe who fight against IT.

“Because ITs completely unused to being refused. That’s the only reason I could keep from being absorbed, too. No mind has tried to hold out against IT for so many thousands of centuries that certain centers have become soft and atrophied through lack of use. If you hadn’t come to me when you did I’m not sure how much longer I would have lasted. I was on the point of giving in.” 

Here, Mr. Murry explains the nature of his captivity on Camazotz to Calvin. Mr. Murry’s admitted willingness to give in offers definitive proof he doesn’t have the perfect strength Meg believed. This passage also reveals IT’s weakness. Like any other being with any other skill, lack of use causes an area to become frail. Like the Mrs. Ws, IT is very old and powerful, but even so, IT can make mistakes and grow weak.

“She had found her father and he had not made everything all right. Everything kept getting worse and worse. If the long search for her father was ended, and he wasn’t able to overcome all their difficulties, there was nothing to guarantee that it would all come out right in the end. There was nothing left to hope for. She was frozen, and Charles Wallace was being devoured by IT, and her omnipotent father was doing nothing. She teetered on the seesaw of love and hate, and the Black Thing pushed her down into hate.”

The escape from Camazotz damages Meg. This passage shows her thoughts while lying nearly frozen on Ixchel, just after she learns her father left Charles Wallace behind. IT and the darkness nearly captured her during the tesseract, which led to her body and heart freezing. Meg shows the progression of how IT takes control here. Charles Wallace went willingly into IT, and the transition was smooth. Meg resists and suffers. She believes anger and hatred will make her feel better, but they only push her farther into the darkness. She makes her situation worse without realizing it, which suggests IT only feeds off the natural negativity in a being to exert control.

“As the tall figure cradled her she could feel the frigid stiffness of her body relaxing against it. […] The beasts must be good. They had to be good. She sighed deeply, like a very small child, and suddenly she was asleep.

When she came to herself again there was in the back of her mind a memory of pain, of agonizing pain. But the pain was over now and her body was lapped in comfort. She was lying on something wonderfully soft in an enclosed chamber. It was dark. All she could see were occasional tall moving shadows which she realized were beasts walking about. She had been stripped of her clothes, and something warm and pungent was gently being rubbed into her body. She sighed and stretched and discovered that she could stretch. She could move again, she was no longer paralyzed, and her body was bathed in waves of warmth. Her father had not saved her; the beasts had.” 

This passage represents Meg’s backslide before she completes her character growth. On Camazotz, Meg told herself to be brave and forced herself not to lean on Calvin. She was determined to save herself. When her father didn’t fix everything, she began to regress. Here, she acknowledges she didn’t save herself—the beasts of Ixchel saved her through warmth and unconditional love, which foreshadows Meg rescuing Charles Wallace with love.

“If it was impossible to describe sight to Aunt Beast, it would be even more impossible to describe the singing of Aunt Beast to a human being. It was a music even more glorious than the music of the singing creatures on Uriel. It was a music more tangible than form or sight. It had essence and structure. It supported Meg more firmly than the arms of Aunt Beast. It seemed to travel with her, to sweep her aloft in the power of song, so that she was moving in glory among the stars, and for a moment she, too, felt that the words Darkness and Light had no meaning, and only this melody was real.” 

Aunt Beast and the other beings of Ixchel have no eyes and, thus, do not see. As a result, they process their world and universe in ways beyond sight to which Meg is blind, however, Meg can feel and appreciate the singing of Aunt Beast, which satisfies Meg’s need for comfort and support.