Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time

I decided to (finally) read this book before the new movie came out. I didn't see the movie...

     In the back of my library's copy of A Wrinkle in Time is a transcript of the speech Madelaine L'Engle made when she received the Newbery Award. In it she says "A writer of fantasy, fairly tale, or myth must inevitably discover that he is not writing out of his own knowledge or experience, but out of something both deeper and wider." Reading this book really struck a chord in me. It evoked fears and desires that have been within me since my childhood. The trust and faith one has in his parents, the fear of rejection or failure, the strength and support you gain from the people you love, all of these feelings came flooding back as I read L'Engle's story. That's what a good fantasy story does, it speaks to something inside us that is at once deeply human and yet beyond our comprehension. "What a child doesn’t realize until he is grown is that in responding to fantasy, fairly tale, and myth he is responding to what Erich Fromm calls the one universal language, the one and only language in the world that cuts across all barriers of time, place, race, and culture."

     Telling the story of a young girl named Meg Murry and her the quest she embarks on to find her long missing father, the book impressed me with its seamless blend of science fiction and fantasy. Camazotz is a dystopian world in the tradition of Orwell and Huxley and the planet's overlord, IT, a giant telepathic brain, could be ripped right out of a 60's Marvel comic. Similarly tessering, the books form of inter-dimensional travel that lands Mr. Murray in trouble, is an almost Trekian sci-fi concept explained using what Futurama's Philip Fry would call "a simple analogy."

     On the other hand, the book is filled with many supernatural characters. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, referred to by Calvin as messengers from God, are mysterious and ethereal. The form they choose to take at the beginning of the book, that of a trio of elderly women, is only for the benefit of Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace. The three beings grasp of human language and form is limited. Mrs. Who can only speak using literary allusions and and Mrs. Which is almost invisible and can only speak in slow, broken fragments. Yet this is not portrayed as a weakness but a result of their higher power. They are so far above human beings that our customs are difficult to grasp.

     Therein is the crucial difference between sci-fi and fantasy. Both contain concepts which are beyond our current mode of existence but, as I alluded to before, while science fiction is grounded in the possible fantasy touches something beyond human understanding and existence. Perhaps Mr. Murry says it best when he tells Meg, "I think that with our human limitations we're not always able to understand the explanations. But you see, Meg, just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist."

Madeleine L'Engle with her grandaughters

     At its heart A Wrinkle in Time is a coming-of-age tale. Meg must come to terms, as we all eventually must, with the fact that her father is neither omnipotent nor infallible, that she is stronger then she knows, and that it is ultimately up to her to face IT and save her brother. In many ways she is the classic Campbellian mythic hero, who hears the call, is counciled by a wise mentor (Mrs. Whatsit), crosses over into a new realm (through the tesseract), faces trials (mainly on Camazotz), is reborn and returns to her home a more fully formed individual.

     This is something I can really relate to personally. Seeing the fallibility of my parents was a long and painful process. Like Meg, I often felt anger toward my father for not living up to the unrealistically ideal image my childhood had built around him. Similarly, I have had much difficulty (and still sometimes do) taking responsibility for my own actions and choices. Its so much easier to let others make the important decisions but, in the end, only you can decide your fate, as Meg does when she faces IT on her own.

Sunrise as seen from the International Space Station

     It contains many Christian themes, both explicit and more subtle. In meeting with the three Mrs. W's Meg becomes entwined in a larger cosmic conflict between good and evil, light and darkness. The Black Thing, the novel's dark, demonic source of all evil, is seen enveloping the world. By choosing to fight against it, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin follow in the footsteps of other heroic men and women throughout history who have done the same, chiefly Jesus Christ.

"Who have our fighters been?" Calvin asked.

"Oh, you must know them, dear," Mrs. Whatsit said. Mrs. Who’s spectacles shone out at them triumphantly, "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

"Jesus!" Charles Wallace said. "Why of course, Jesus!"

Through this passage the novel acknowledges Jesus as the source of strength and courage against darkness and evil. The way the novel portrays evil is itself really evocative. The cold chill and sense of dread left by the black thing, and everything it touches reflects the inner trepidation we all feel in the presence of evil. Who hasn't shuttered at hearing of a callous murder, rape or other malignant act. By contrast the overwhelming force of IT's vile mind, threatening to rob our hero's of their free will, can be seen to represent the power of sin to enslave us, to rob us of grace and make us numb to the saving power of God's light. 

     Finally, A Wrinkle in Time is about the power of love. Not romantic love but true love, the love of God for his creation. It's Meg's love for her friends and family and for Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, that she is able to defeat IT and save her brother. She loves him but hates what he becomes after being consumed by IT. Before leaving to try and save him Mrs. Whatsit gives her a gift: her love.

"But how could she use it? What was she meant to do? If she could give love to IT perhaps it would shrivel up and die, for she was sure that IT could not withstand love.

But she could love Charles Wallace. She could stand there and she could love Charles Wallace."

     In the end it's the power of love and of family that allows Meg to triumph. We all have to grow up and face life on our own, but its always with the love and support of those around us, the love that has helped to shape us into the people we are now. More subtly the novel is touching on the seeming paradox at the heart of the Christian creed: that it is in loving surrender and trust that we truly overcome evil and sin, that we can be reborn if only we die to our old selves. It's moments like this that make A Wrinkle in Time a truly timeless (no pun intended) book.